Mike Elko seeking consistency in Texas A&M offense

The Texas A&M Aggies have exceeded most people’s expectations in their first season under Mike Elko. Despite that, Elko still sees room for growth on the team moving forward.

One place where Elko believes the Aggies need to improve is in their offensive consistency. In particular, he believes the team is capable of being better in the passing game than they’ve shown to this point in the season.

“We’re still just looking for some consistency in the throw game,” Mike Elko said. “And it’s just, it feels like we’re still working through a lot of the timing elements of it. That sounds like coach speak, but it’s the reality. We’re not in a really good timing rhythm of the quarterback going through his progressions in the right timing, the wideouts being in the right windows in the right timing. Then, when all of those things are happening, then sometimes the o-line is failing, and that happened more Saturday night than it has in previous weeks. But then all of a sudden, okay, we’ve got it and the quarterback is about to throw it, and then we get sacked.”

For the season, Texas A&M is 113th in passing offense, averaging 179.6 yards per game through the air. The Aggies have nine passing touchdowns and four interceptions on the season.

One possible reason for those inconsistencies in the passing game has come from the inconsistencies at the quarterback position. Conner Weigman came into the season as the starter, but missed time due to injury and was replaced by Marcel Reed. Once healthy, Weigman returned to the starting role but was benched against LSU for Reed. Now, there is a question about who will lead the offense moving forward.

“I just think we have to get our passing game working in a rhythm that it can be more productive and more efficient for us if we wanted to go down the road the way we want to,” Elko concluded.

Now sitting at 7-1 overall and 5-0 in SEC play, Texas A&M is first in the SEC standings. They’re in excellent position to make the SEC Championship Game and the College Football Playoff. However, they’d improve that position with a more consistent passing game.

Mike Elko addresses Texas A&M QB decision between Marcel Reed, Conner Weigman

Following his decision to bench Conner Weigman for Marcel Reed, Mike Elko shared that the coaching staff plans on evaluating the position moving forward.

“Yeah, I think the possibility is there for a lot of things. I think we’re going to look at this week, figure out what we think the right thing is for us, what we think gives us the best chance to win moving forward. It’s probably too early in our minds to make that decision. Even if we did, we probably wouldn’t tell you right now anyway,” Elko said.

“But no, I think we just want to see how this week plays out, see what we think gives us the best shot to go into this environment and be successful, and then go forward from there.” 

Mike Elko will lead Texas A&M on the road this Saturday when the Aggies take on South Carolina. That game will likely set the tone for the passing game moving forward this season.