Elko provides first update of training Camp

Texas A&M coach Mike Elko tends to avoid making bombastic statements, and he wasn’t about to change habits during his Tuesday press conference.

“It’s camp, it’s five practices in. So you’re going to want big statements and let you know how everything is, and I don’t have any of that for you,” he quipped during his opening statement.

What Elko does seem to have is a greater comfort level with his team, with most of his players now having a year in his defense of offensie coordinator Collin Klein’s offense.

“I worded it to them this way in the first team meeting … one of the biggest challenges is you’re at an age group that, across the board, kind of see things that’s challenging and difficult, because that’s just what teenagers do. The reality is is you’re in the elite 1% of your age group … and so there’s a certain responsibility that comes with that, to put in the work to take advantage of the blessings and the opportunities that have been put upon you. And I think that’s the mindset we want to have in this program,” he said. “So it’s a daily process. I think we’re making progress.”

One player who seems to be increasingly comfortable is quarterback Marcel Reed, who is going through his first camp as the starting quarterback. Elko said Reed has shown noticeable progress in the passing game when compared to last year, when the then-redshirt freshman had moments where he struggled significantly.

“I think he’s a lot more comfortable going through the progressions. I think that’s when you talk about passing game … this gets a lot of conversation that gets had about, like, separation and guys getting open, and so much of the passing game is timing them to them, and that’s what as coaches studying every day like those are the things that you’re trying to see is, are the eyes getting to the windows at the same time the routes are getting to the windows,” Elko said. “That’s a lot of how we’re going to improve our passing game; it’s just an overall efficiency of timing and operation.”

Elko did raise some eyebrows when discussing who could be snapping Reed the ball, including an All-SEC tackle in the equation.

“Mark (Nabou) and Koli (Faaiu) are the obvious two, and I think Trey Zuhn is another kid who is getting a lot of reps at that position,” he said. “We move kids around a lot so that we can always ensure the best five kids are out there. And there’s certainly lineups that have Dametrious Crownover and Deuce Fatheree as the best five.”

Defense focusing on limiting explosives, perimeter leverage

A&M’s best group last year was supposed to be its defensive line, but it disappointed in an up-and-down year that still saw three players taken in the first two rounds of the 2025 NFL Draft. Even though the names have mostly changed from last fall, Elko believes the experience on the defensive front will be a benefit.

“I think there’s a lot of pieces in there, a lot of veterans who played a lot of football. We’ve got to see them put it all together consistently here over the next week and a half, when we get full pads on,” he said.

Elko also mentioned a couple of players who are trying to work themselves into the equation, one at defensive tackle and the other at defensive end.

“Just a couple of names that maybe haven’t been on the radar, that have flashed a little bit, and then maybe are trying to get themselves in the mix. Dealyn Evans has had a really strong three days that’s been really good to see from him. We kind of challenged him to step up and try to go get one of those spots in the (defensive tackle) rotation, and that’s been cool to see,” Elko said. “I think Marco Jones, with the summer development that he had, I think, has elevated himself even a little bit more from where he was in the spring.”

Elko said that the defensive coaching staff has been emphasizing cutting down on explosive plays, but the defensive line also has another area of concern to address.

“Where we got in a lot of trouble last year was losing perimeter leverage. Whether that was a run that that kind of got through and then got outside, or a run that was designed to get outside, we did a really poor job at times of leveraging the football properly,” he said. “What you do is, is you go out and you put all of them on tape, you show them to the guys consistently when you get into practice now, like when you point something out in practice and you say, okay, ‘Hey, this is the run from South Carolina. This is the play right here. This is the decision you make that cost you the ability (to make a tackle).’ There’s a little bit more understanding of how it can impact them. Whereas maybe last year in fall camp, you were saying, ‘Hey, don’t do this.’ They kind of get a little bit of that, ‘Yeah, okay,’ but they don’t really know the issue with doing that.”

Explosive plays were a major problem for the secondary, but Elko expects having all of the starters at safety, nickel and cornerback returning will help reduce the number of big plays given up.

“What is noticeable is there’s a much better comfort level playing together. You just talk about, you know, communication lines. When you’re familiar and comfortable playing with the guy next to you, it makes it a lot easier to communicate through the difficult concepts and combinations that get thrown at you,” heh said. “And so when you talk about Will Lee, Bryce Anderson, Dalton Brooks, Marcus Radcliffe, Dezz Ricks, that group of kids now has played a lot of football together between ball camp, spring ball, the season. You see certainly an uptick in their familiarity with each other, then you see the new guys kind of getting comfortable with the system, with the communications, with the schemes. And you see that happening at a faster rate because there are guys who are more comfortable with it.”

For the Aggies, the pads will come on next week and things will get increasingly serious. Elko said that he wants each player to view every practice as an opportunity to win a job.

“Our job as coaches to create an environment where everything is up for grabs every single day, and that you allow competition to drive performance to a higher level,” he said. “And so in that end, there’s 22 open spots, and there’s the ability, every day, for someone to come out and elevate themselves, you know, not only into the top 22 but into a higher role, into more reps, into more opportunities.”

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