Elko Exudes Confidence in SEC Media Days Appearance
ATLANTA — One thing about Mike Elko is he pays close attention to things around him. For instance, he didn’t start his march to the podium at SEC Media Days Thursday until he heard the opening strains of the Aggie War Hymn over the loudspeakers.
“For those of you who thought I would walk out to ‘The Eyes of Texas,’ you lost your bet,” he quipped, referencing Texas coach Steve Sarkisian’s introduction with Texas A&M’s fight song playing instead of his own.
Elko’s observations extend to his football team as well. Since taking over for Jimbo Fisher in January 2024, he has stressed the need to change the program’s culture. He said Thursday that progress has been made, but work remains to be done.
“The challenge for us has been to elevate that culture to a championship-level culture, so that we are acting in our lives every step along the way as champions,” Elko said. “I said this to a lot of people when I got hired, this off-season, it’s going to be our commitment to doing that every day that is ultimately going to get Texas A&M football where it wants to be. We are trying to speed that process up as much as we possibly can, but we’ve laid a really strong foundation for who we are as a program, who we want to be, and where we want this thing to be going forward.”
It look at midseason that the Aggies were well ahead of schedule, sitting atop the SEC with a 7-1 record. But they lost four of their last five games, leaving fans and players frustrated by another November collapse.
“As painful as it is, as it was for us and our fans and everyone involved, we had never been in that position before. We had never been the hunted team. We had never been in November competing for an opportunity to get into Atlanta with our destiny in our own hands,” Elko said. “I think you learn how you have to elevate your game in those matchups when you become that team. Going on the road in back-to-back weeks, we didn’t play the football that we needed to play to finish it.”
Elko doesn’t want his team to forget that feeling, but he also believes Texas A&M is primed to make a big step forward this year.
“On the field, we’re really excited to get into year two. I don’t think you can quantify how challenging year one truly is. When you have to go into a place and build everything, build culture, a program, build scheme, build practice habits, build practice tempo, design, everything. There’s so much that’s on the table in year one,” he said. “I think both I and our staff are really excited about the growth that will happen between year one and year two in our program.”
Elko noted that the Aggies return seven starters on offense, including all five starting linemen (and the two primary reserves) and all four of its primary running backs. But the spotlight falls on redshirt sophomore Marcel Reed, who will enter camp entrenched as the starting quarterback for the first time.
“What I’m most excited about is the fact we have quarterback Marcel Reed taking a huge jump for us this year,” Elko said. “He’s had a phenomenal off-season. I think he’s put on some necessary strength and mass to kind of hold to the rigors of SEC football. I think he understands now what it takes to be an SEC quarterback week in and week out. I’m really excited for him to go out and become the difference maker that we know he’s capable of being this year.”
In order to help Reed, the Aggies went out and added speedy receivers in transfers KC Concepcion and Mario Craver to go with Terry Bussey. They also added a pair of pass-catching tight ends in Amari Niblack and true freshman Kiotti Armstrong.
“We added and developed some weapons at the wide receiver and tight end position to help (Reed),” Elko said. “I think we’re primed to develop on what was a really strong offensive year for us last year. In SEC play we led the SEC in points per game. As we move into year two of Collin Klein’s system, that will take a bigger jump.”
The centerpiece of the offense could be the running game, with an All-SEC back at the top of the depth chart.
“It starts with Le’Veon Moss, who is on his way to being the leading rusher in this conference, leading rushers in the nation last year. A big, powerful runner who probably has more track speed given the size and the way he runs the football. Rueben Owens, unfortunately we didn’t have at all last year. He’s a dynamic player, good at the backfield catching the football. A lot of home run potential. I think he’s really excited to be able to get out there at 100% and show the college world what he’s capable of,” Elko said. “Amari Daniels has been a talented back for us, our leading rusher at times. Two years ago he was our leading rusher. Certainly a kid that is capable of being a number one back in a lot of systems. We’ve got to find ways to utilize him. EJ Smith is going to have a huge year for us. He was a kid who was really beat up at times last year in the off-season and never really got the training and the preparation that he needed. He’s been really healthy this off-season. I think that’s going to kind of allow him to take his game to the next level. We’re talented with four backs. You need ’em because in this conference they go fast.”
A&M also returns eight starters on defense, including its top two linebackers, its starting safeties, its starting nickel and two starting corners. One of those returning starters, cornerback Will Lee, will likely be a preseason All-SEC selection.
“He’s our best cover guy. I think what he does for us, locking down one side of the field, really gives us an advantage on defense,” Elko said of Lee.
The returning players known the defense, which was supposed to be the Aggies’ strength last year, ended up being a disappointment. Elko expects that, with a year in the system, the mistakes made last year will diminish.
“Those kids last year were put into a really challenging situation, having to bring in so many new starters from so many different programs who had never really played together, never had played in our system,” he said. “I think at times we got it right, at times we didn’t. But those kids coming back, I think, have a chip on their shoulder to bring Texas A&M defense back to where it belongs.”
The Aggies have an experienced team for the first time in many years, which Elko believes will be an asset this season. Having experienced major highs and painful lows in 2024, A&M’s players should know what it takes to be successful.
“They know what the expectations are … so the work this off-season I think has been at a really high level because of that,” Elko said. “There’s still another step, though. We have to take that experience and turn it into being really good football players, being technically sound, being fundamentally sound, going out and playing the game at the level that we can. I think experience creates knowledge, but we’ve got to use that knowledge through the rest of the summer, through fall camp, then really every week in the season to go out and put the football product together that it needs. Experience is a really good starting point, but if you don’t utilize it the right way, it can be wasted.”
While he didn’t guarantee a championship, Elko clearly feels his program is heading in that direction.
“It’s an exciting time to be the leader of this program. It’s an exciting time to be at this university,” he said. “I think all arrows are trending in a very positive direction for where this program is headed.”
2025 Texas A&M schedule
Aug. 30: UTSA
Sept. 6: Utah State
Sept. 13: @Notre Dame
Sept. 27: Auburn
Oct. 4: Mississippi State
Oct. 11: Florida
Oct. 18: @Arkansas
Oct. 25: @LSU
Nov. 8: @Missouri
Nov. 15: South Carolina
Nov. 22: Samford
Nov. 28: @Texas
Projected lineup
QB: #10, Marcel Reed (RS-So.)
RB: #8, Le’Veon Moss (Sr.)
TE: #17, Theo Ohrstrom (RS-Jr.)
WR (X): #2, Terry Bussey (So.)
WR (SLOT): #1, Mario Craver (So.-TR.)
WR (Z): #7, KC Concepcion (Jr.-TR.)
LT: #60, Trey Zuhn (Sr.)
LG: #71, Chase Bisontis (Jr.)
C: #54, Mark Nabou (RS-So.)
RG: #55, Ar’maj Reed-Adams (RS-Sr.-TR.)
RT: #78, Dametrious Crownover (RS-Sr.)
DE: #50, Dayon Hayes (RS-Sr.-TR.)
DT: #5, DJ Hicks (Jr.)
DT: #17, Albert Regis (RS-Sr.)
DE: #9, Cashius Howell (Sr.-TR.)
MIKE: #21, Taurean York (Jr.)
WILL: #0, Scooby Williams (RS-Sr.-TR.)
NICKEL: #7, Tyreek Chappell (RS-Sr.)
CB: #4, Will Lee (Sr.-TR.)
S: #1, Bryce Anderson (Sr.)
S: #25, Dalton Brooks (Jr.)
CB: #6, Julian Humphrey (Jr.-TR.)
