Mike Elko stresses importance of relationships with Texas high school coaches

Mike Elko is one incredibly busy man at the moment starting fresh at Texas A&M, but he’s made time to establish relationships in one important area: Texas high school football.

With signing day wedged in here in late December amid all the chaos of the end of the college football season, the coaching carousel, and now, the Transfer Portal open season, Elko had to build/retain the Aggies’ 2024 class on the fly.

Given that six of his 16 high school commits in the class came from the state of Texas, he prioritized building those foundational relationships throughout the state’s high school scene. He explained as much on the SEC Network during National Signing Day.

“I think obviously, listen, we were on the road for two weeks and you can wear a lot of hats when you go on the road,” Elko said of the recruiting process before delving into what he and the A&M staff accomplished in their short time so far.

“Part of that was getting into some high schools and seeing some coaches that are well-respected across the state. Part of that was showing up at the Texas High School Association board meeting and just kind of delivering to them a message about where we believe Texas A&M football fits in relation to high school football in this state.”

Mike Elko and his assistants, like most college football staffs, are currently living on the road trying to flesh out next season’s roster. He said they were constantly on the phone with recruits while they pinballed around to various high schools and recruit’s homes and wherever else over the last few weeks.

“In between every one of those stops, you’re making about 25 phone calls, trying to keep up with everything else going on.”

However, they made sure to reserve time for the high school football coaches.

“You’re trying to balance a lot of things but the Texas high school coaches are something that are really important to us and our relationships with them will go a long way in building this foundation to take this program, ultimately, where we want it to go.”

If you want to know just how deep the talent pool is in the Lone Star State, look no further than the On3 Industry Rankings for 2024. The state of Texas produced six of the cycle’s 32 total five-star prospects, 10 of its top 50 players, 17 of the top 100 and the stats go on and on. Plus, those six five-stars all ended up at different schools — Florida, Georgia, Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M and Clemson.