Elko ready to get year 2 started

Texas A&M coach Mike Elko is tired of talking. He’s ready to see his team back on the field.

“It’s here. It’s time,” he said Tuesday at the last press conference before training camp starts Wednesday night. “There’s always a buzz in the air when you hit this moment.”

Elko said his team is essentially healthy, with true freshman Marcus Garcia the only player on the roster currently dealing with an injury. Going into his second season as head coach with a healthy roster is a refreshing change for Elko after last season’s injury woes.

“We lost (center) Mark Nabou real early for a really long period of time. We lost (nickel) Tyreek Chappell to a freak thing for a long period of time. Losing (running back) Le’Veon (Moss) at the end, losing (running back) Rueben (Owens) at the beginning — we had some guys go down to some freak things,” Elko said. “Usually, those things balance themselves out over time, and so hopefully we’re ready for a good run of luck. We could certainly use one of those at Texas A&M.”

Elko isn’t relying purely on hope as the season approaches. He believes his team has a much better idea of what is expected of them and how to get there this year than it did last year.

“I just think you’re working with so much more knowledge, and we’ve talked about that a lot this off season, but I just think you have such a better feel for what this group is capable of, what this group needs, where it needs to get better, and so you’re able to kind of really go in with a tailored plan to attack it right,” he said.

One area where Elko definitely wants to see an attacking mindset is on the offensive line, which improved significantly in 2024 but is largely remembered for what it didn’t do — get a push to convert fourth and ones against South Carolina and Texas. The offensive line, which entered last season as a major question mark, is now expected to be a strength, and Elko believes the experienced group has adjusted appropriately.

“I think in terms of mindset and how they play the game (there have been improvements). There’s been a massive shift,” he said. “We’ve spoken about this a little bit, but just some of the little things, you know, how hard we play, how we play to the whistle, are picking people up off the pile, are protecting our quarterback, are playing with energy about how we finish plays. Those are the things that I look at as a coach. Obviously, there’s a technical component of it, and that falls a lot more into coach (Adam) Cushing’s lap, but I just think … we wanted the offensive line to be the heartbeat of our offense and to some degree of our team, and I think we’re just getting closer and closer to doing that.”

The Aggies weren’t just able to return all five starters on the offensive line this season, but went out and added some weapons for quarterback Marcel Reed in the passing game. Wide receiver Mario Craver and tight end Amari Niblack should be significant factors, but the biggest name to join the receiver corps is former All-ACC selection KC Concepcion, late of N.C. State.

“What an unbelievable playmaker,” Elko said of Concepcion. “I think he’s absolutely lived up to (his reputation). I think his his work ethic, his professionalism and his ability to impact the game is exactly what we had hoped it would be when we recruited him here. And so I think he’s ready to go on and have a really really big year this year for us.”

Texas A&M hasn’t drawn a great deal of national attention as they prepare to 2025, with most eyes drawn elsewhere. Elko, bluntly, could not care less.

“I mean, if the expectations are there, we’ve got to go out and perform. If we’re flying under the radar, we got to go out and perform like I know what this team’s capable of,” he said. “I don’t want to be cliche, but we’re a bigger, faster, stronger team. Now we got to go play football. We got to play football.”