Photo by: Jack Coil/Texas A&M Athletics
Mike Elko Press Conference Quotes: Arkansas
Oct 13, 2025 | Football
BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION--Texas A&M football coach Mike Elko met with the media on Monday in his latest weekly press conference.
The fourth-ranked Aggies (6-0, 3-0) begin a three-game road swing Saturday afternoon in Fayetteville against the Arkansas Razorbacks (2-4, 0-2). Kickoff on ESPN is set for 2:30 p.m. Fans can also listen to the game along the Texas A&M Sports Network (1620 AM/94.5 FM locally) or worldwide inside the 12th Man Mobile App or at 12thman.com.
Opening Statement…
"Thanks for coming out. Recapping the Florida game, starting with our players of the week. Scout team defensive player of the week was Tommy Culligan. Scout team offensive player of the week was offensive lineman Nelson McGuire. And really kind of a shout out to our entire offensive line scout group, those kids are doing a phenomenal job with our weekly practices. They've had a really, really strong three weeks. And then Aiden Herrera was our special teams player of the week.
"Linemen of the week…offensively, we gave it to the entire offensive line. And I thought that was probably the most complete offensive line performance that we've had since I've been here. So it was hard to single out one guy. We played penalty free. We played sack free. We played TFL free. We ran the ball for over 180 yards. And so we just kind of gave it to the whole group. Defensive lineman of the week and also the SEC co-defensive lineman of the week was Dayon Hayes. And then in terms of players of the week on offense, we went with Nate Boerkircher. Obviously had a couple big catches and those were key. But some of the things that he did late in the game, in the run game, in terms of setting edges and establishing some push at the line of scrimmage really helped salt that game away. Defensively we went with Albert Regis, who just continues to be an unheralded force in the middle. Extremely difficult to block in the run game. Got involved with a sack and a caused fumble as well. And then special teams player of the week was Tyler White. I thought he hit some critical punts, and I thought the one he hit at the end of the half when we were pinned back and they had a chance to get points on the board going into halftime--he had a 51-yarder that they had to fair catch--that was a really big moment in the game and a really big punt."
Recap of Florida…
"It's not a whole lot different than what we talked about after the game. I thought we played a complete balanced game. It was the first time where we went from good to bad to good, and those things are good signs. When things are good and you stay good, that obviously happens. But when you can have some adversity on defense and then straighten it out and finish the right way--when you can start well on offense, have some adversity, and then find a way to put the game away--I think those things are all good signs of growth and kind of where we're headed. And then just the thing that I'm probably most proud of, just that you put numbers on this, is the way we finished the game. We outscored them, 10-0 in the fourth quarter. I thought we were the stronger team down the stretch. They go for it on a 4th-and-6, we stop them, (then) we run 20 of the next 21 plays and eat up almost 11 minutes of clock and give them the ball back down 17 with less than 1:20 left in the game. If you can play football like that, you're going to win a lot of games."
on Arkansas…
"Now it's on to Arkansas, which will be a real tremendous challenge for us. Offensively they've been playing elite football. They're averaging over 500 yards a game. They're averaging just under 40 points a game. They have the second fewest punts in the conference. They score. They score a lot. Obviously, Coach Petrino has done a phenomenal job calling offenses for a really long time. Now, as the interim head coach, returning to Fayetteville, you can imagine probably the emotion that will be into that game for him and for that team. So we will get their best. Defensively they made a change in coordinator going into the game last week, really thought they tried to streamline what they were doing, put their kids in a position where they could be confident in what they were doing and play fast. I would anticipate that will continue to get better and better each week that they get more comfortable with what they're doing. And so we're going to have our hands full. Fayetteville is going to be a really challenging place to play. Anytime you go on the road in this conference it's a big challenge. This is going to be a huge challenge for our program to go on and get the next one. We'll look forward to a great week of prep and a great opportunity to go out next week and continue this thing moving in the right direction."
I know it was a big emphasis in the offseason to finish, and if you can elaborate a little bit more on the teams' ability to finish fourth quarters defensively and offensively, it seemed like you're at your best, controlling the tempo, controlling the game in the fourth?
"Obviously I think you've got to give a lot of credit to Tommy Moffitt and his staff. I think you've got a lot give a lot of credit to our kids in terms of how hard they worked in the offseason. And then some of it just becomes--and we talked about this--what comes from winning these games in the fourth quarter? What comes from finding a way to win the game against Notre Dame in the fourth quarter? I think you get a confidence about how you play. There's been times in the past where I've been here where, even last year quite a few times, where it felt real nervy in the fourth quarter. And kids weren't certain of what was going to happen. Right now that feel is not there, and we've got to work hard to make sure it stays that way. But when we get into the fourth quarter, there's a confidence. You can kind of see it on the sideline when we switch from the third to the fourth quarter. There's an energy about it, that our guys know that they're going to go into that quarter and be strong and play well. Those are all critical factors to being a winning program. Now again, we talk all the time about this…that's rented. And you've got to pay rent on it every week to give yourself a chance to go do it again. But certainly for the last few games that it showed itself to be really good."
When you saw the schedule layout initially with heavy home games the first half of the season, heavy road games the 2nd half. What was your takeaway? And do you have a preference on whether you like it that way or if you like it more staggered?
"At the end of the day, no matter how the schedule shapes out, it ultimately comes down to how you perform that's going to shape it, right? Had we not handled business on the road in these early games, then the schedule would look extremely daunting and there'd be a lot of question marks around where we are. Because we handled the schedule the right way early, there's uncertainty about how we're going to do on the road. You flip it, and who knows, it's probably the same conversation. At the end of the day, people talk a lot about schedules and schedule difficulty, and you really don't know. You just have to let it play out. And I've said this too…there's a lot of conversation about where certain teams in this conference are relative to each other. It's so early to have any idea on any of that. You've just got to let teams play. You've got to get a much bigger sample size. You've got to get many more data points to figure out where this whole thing is going to fill out. And so to me, you don't really think like that. You just think, okay, we've got this game and we've got to get ready for it. The one thing that they at least did was put the bye week in, so it's not three straight road games. That probably would have been a little bit on the challenging side or the distance of road games isn't quite as far as it could be. It's not like we're going out east twice in a row. To that point, I think they probably looked at some of the logistical parts of it and didn't feel like it was that bad."
And with Le'Veon Moss, when do you expect him to be back and any update on his status?
"Yeah, I'm sorry. I should have started with that. Lev's going to be out probably for a significant period of time. It's an unrelated injury to anything that he's been dealing with, has nothing to do with last year, has nothing to do with he'd been dealing with earlier this year. It's an isolated injury that happened on that tackle. It's an ankle, not a knee, which is a really positive sign. He's going to have to go get it looked at and we'll kind of figure out where it's at. It certainly will not end his season, but it's going to be a significant amount of time."
Can you talk about the importance of the depth in at the running back position, how at the end you're just wearing teams down, able to put a fresh back in there, and they're all producing?
"We have a lot of really talented players. It's why we talk a lot about just being ready. Our guys will tell you, I'm fairly blunt and honest when we have these conversations. Everybody wants the football, and so we go into last week with five tailbacks who all want the ball 25 times and all are probably capable of carrying it 25 times. But we can't do that, right? And so everybody just has to stay ready. All of a sudden Lev goes down and now Rueben's got to be the primary ball carrier. And then that opens up some carries for Amari (Daniels) and for Jamarion (Morrow) to get in there, and they give us some good runs. Amari converts a 3rd-and-short, Jamarion converts a 3rd-and-short, and then he gets into 4-minute offense at the end of the game. Now we're able to put in a fresh EJ Smith out there, we really trust his ball security, and he rips off some really good runs and he's fresh and ready to go and ready to do his job the way he needs to. I think it's a credit to what Trooper Taylor does with that group. And I think it's just a credit to those kids that they just work and they're ready to go when their numbers are called."
I know it's a small sample size, but how is this Arkansas program different with Bobby leading things, and what are the hallmarks of his offenses?
Oh, it's probably hard to say from a program standpoint. I think the hallmarks of his offenses are they're really good. I mean, you guys were here, you witnessed it firsthand. I think they do a really good job of stressing you. They identify weaknesses in your defense. I think they're very multiple in how they can attack you. They've got a talented quarterback who can run and throw the football. They present the challenges of a running quarterback and the challenges of a West Coast passing attack. And that's always difficult to go against. They're different. They use different personnel groups. They try to match up personnel to put themselves in advantageous positions. I think this will be the fifth time now that I've gone against him and he's certainly one of the best play callers in the country."
Is there a greater level of comfort knowing if Le'Veon is going be out that the offensive line did just come off what you said was maybe one of their better performances?
"No, I think, listen…and I said this after the game…I love Le'Veon. I wish LeVeon was healthy. We're going to miss him. He's been a warrior for this program. He given us everything he had to get ready for this season. I hope this goes as fast and as smooth as it can. But injuries are a part of SEC football. And if we're going to allow injuries to impact or derail things, we can't do that. It's just next man up mentality, and that's not to dismiss what it's going to mean to lose him because he's going to be a huge loss, but it has to be a next man up mentality in order for us to play in this conference. You can't do it any other way."
Talking about finishing, a few of your players have just mentioned how difficult practice has been throughout the whole year, and that that's really what prepares them to outlast other teams, especially late in the game. Have you seen an elevated level of energy and practice habits this year?
"Yeah, I think for sure. We're starting to learn what it means to put in the work on Tuesday and Wednesday to give yourself a chance to have success on Saturday. I'll share this with them too at times, but I don't know if that's as difficult as they make it out to be. You want it to be challenging. You want them to continue to stay fresh. We do good-on-good work Tuesday/Wednesday. We do situational work Tuesday/Wednesday. We talk about this all the time. It's one thing to know the game. It's another thing to play it. And so part of what you have to do during the weekly practice prep is learn how to take angles, learn how to press the football, learn how to throw with rhythm and timing on offense. It's not just learning what to do. It's trying to figure out how to execute that at a high level. And I think when your practice habits get better, that stuff shows to be better in the game. The kids are starting to see that. You show them what it looks like on a Tuesday practice. You show them then what it looks like in a game on Saturday and it kind of creates that effect that you're looking for of continuing to do it that way."
I'm curious what you thought maybe the biggest lessons y'all learned from the Notre Dame experience and coming out on top that can maybe help in this road trip, or even drawing back at times from last year and some of those games?
"Yeah, it's going to be really hard. I think that was my takeaway from all of it. Anytime you go on the road in this conference you've got challenges. That's the nature of being on the road. There's no easy environments. There's no easy teams. There's no good opportunities. And so anytime you have to go play games on the road, you're going to be dealt with a lot of challenges and a lot of adversity and you better be ready to overcome them."
What can you say about this program's ability to take in players and develop them into game winning players?
"That so far we've done a pretty good job. I said this and it's always funny how this plays out--and this is no slight at Carter's operation over there—but we have our own internal grading scale and grading system. We get very excited with some of the players that we add, regardless of what popular opinion may be…We spend a lot of time evaluating, and we're not perfect. Like anybody, we're not perfect. The NFL's not perfect. But we feel like we have a really strong internal system of how we go about it. Over the course of time, there have been guys that we've been really excited when we've added them that maybe, for whatever reason, the perception wasn't as high. I think that's proven to be accurate. Tyler Onyedim was an enormous get for us. Cashius Howell we felt like was a really big get for us. When we added Jamarion Morrow late in the recruiting cycle, we felt like that was a really big get for us. Those things maybe are some prime examples."
Last year was the last year that the A&M Arkansas game was played at AT&T Stadium. What do you think is, from a coach's perspective, the difference between playing in a neutral site like that and the game being moved back to the campuses, especially in the SEC?
"Well this year I wish it was at AT&T Stadium. Next year, I'd probably be glad it's in Kyle Field…I'm not even sure if it's on the schedule next year. I haven't looked at it. No, obviously, every other year, it's good and bad. It's good for the campuses. It's good to have this game here at Kyle Field when it happens. I sure it's great for them to have the game in Fayetteville when it happens. The thing from a coaching perspective is when you have to go on the road, you'd way rather go play at a neutral site. When you have an opportunity to play at home, you'd rather play at home. It just kind of is what it is and you've just got to deal with it."
Le'Veon Moss being injured is something you guys dealt with last year. The difference is now you have a healthy Rueben Owens. What does Rueben Owens bring to this group, specifically his running style, and how does it differ from Moss and his style?
"I don't know if it's a ton different. Rueben's a lot bigger than people give him credit for. He's a lot thicker than people give him credit for. Rueben's starting to hit his stride which has been really good. It took him a while to get back from his injury. He hasn't had a ton of reps in this offense because of the injury. He really didn't get healthy-healthy until the middle of fall camp where he was really starting to run and cut the way he wanted to. So yeah, I think it's good for him that now he's kind of hitting his groove and it's going to be really big for him to go out there and shoulder the load."
Nearly every press conference you've spoken about the humility that the Aggies have developed over the recent years. Every time we see your players talk, they're not boastful or proud. They are just happy to be and proud of the team that they're on right now. Was there a point in your coaching career where you realize that this mentality works? This mentality wins games, builds championship teams?
"(laughing) I've got a couple stories on that one. I'm chuckling internally a little bit. I tell this one in recruiting a lot. Probably the first time humility hit me is my first year at Stony Brook, when I had a desk next to the bathroom in a trailer. And I spent the whole day listening to it flush. And so that was a good starting point for my humility in my coaching career. But no, I think--and I've said this a lot--there's humility and there's confidence. And those are two things that can coexist. We are extremely confident in the program we're building. We're extremely confident in the team that we are. We're extremely confident in how we coach, how we recruit, how we develop. We believe we do it as well as anybody in the country. But I don't think that's necessary to go out and pound your chest about. We want to be the group that just kind of goes to work, does our thing, produces. That, I think, is always something that pays dividends. I don't know that it's necessarily anything more than maybe just a reflection of leadership and kind of how we go about our day-to-day conversations in our day-to-day process. But yeah, we'll be very humble and very confident. That the program we would like to be."
Your depth at running back is well documented, but it would seem like your depth overall this year is much better than was last year. Is this about where you want the program to be yearly, where your depth is right now?
"I think from a depth standpoint…yeah. I think you want to have quality players at every position. I think that the more we recruit will create some balance on the roster too. And what I mean by that is, it's always nice to have talented freshmen as the fill-in pieces. When we got here, it was well documented that the roster was very much in flux with the coaching change and what happens through coaching changes and just kind of where some of the roster inefficiencies were. As you start to situate it and you start to stack recruiting classes, and that becomes a piece of it, then you're adding portal pieces…you can kind of complete the roster a little bit better. Defensive tackle is a perfect example, right? I don't know that we have the proper number of upperclassmen that you would like, but it's hard to convince kids--when you have Al, and you have DJ Hicks, and you land Tyler Onyedim--it's hard to convince the next SEC-capable defensive lineman to come join that group. And so when you could supplement that with two classes of freshmen, three classes, and that development, that's where you can get it where you want to be. And so Dealyn Evans' role becomes critical. DJ Sanders and Landon Rink, their roles become critical. The more it's able to go like that, the more the depth will probably be right and we're probably a year away from getting it exactly how we would like it to be in that regard."
Daymion Sanford, I wanted to ask you about him. Is he playing his way to potentially taking that job and running with it? And how do you balance him and another guy that's done pretty well here in Scooby Williams?
"Yeah, it's a good problem to have. You would way rather have two kids playing at a really high level and try to figure out how to manage it than be trying to figure out who can play at a really high level. It's such a testament or a credit to Daymion in how he has handled these last three and a half weeks. Because he went out again and made a bunch of impact football plays. He has earned the right to stay on the field. Scooby Williams has earned the right to play, given his track record here and the things that he's done. So it becomes our job to try to figure out creative ways to make that happen. I think you even saw a handful of snaps on Saturday where all three of them were on the field together, and that's the flexibility that we as coaches have to create to make sure that we're able to get enough snaps for the players who weren't getting on the field. And you can't always get it right. Scheme, offensive scheme, that all plays a role in it. But it just creates flexible pieces for you as a defensive coach to kind of get guys out there in places where they can be successful."
What does a stout run defense do for a team with championship aspirations and is it possible to compete for titles without being strong in that area?
"I'm sure if we weren't strong in that area we would have to find a way to compete because that's what we're here for. I think what it does is it puts people in off-yardage situations. I think if you look at the 3rd-and-off-yardage situations that we've been able to put people in, a lot of that is a testament to the run defense and the ability to just keep people off schedule. If people can run the ball for five, six yards and stay in that 3rd-and-3, 3rd-and-4 world, I'm sure we're not talking about the success that we're having on third-down defense. A large part of the success is the distance. The distance plays a huge role. And I think a large part of that is tied into your run defense."
Since one of the last times we talked, the one-time transfer window has passed. I believe you said you're in favor of that. How have y'all started to maybe adjust to that or just your general thoughts on since it's passed?
"I don't know that there's an adjustment to it because there was always going to be that window and we were always going have to get ready for that window. So preparations for that window have been long underway. I think the benefit of it and why I'm so in favor of it is we know when that window's over, our roster's going be set, and there's not another window coming. In this world of revenue share, which is really--it's code word for salary cap--there's a salary cap now. It would be extremely difficult to manage a salary cap through two free agency windows. To try to predict how that would all go out and how to manage money through two windows I think would be extremely difficult, if not impossible. That is the benefit of it. And for that reason, just knowing that the roster is going to be set when it's set, I think is why I'm in favor of it."
What was the feeling to be able to get Bryce Anderson back on the field and how do you manage his continued scaling up to that?
"Given where he was three weeks ago laying on that field at Notre Dame, given the relationship that I've had with him all the way back to recruiting, his family all the way back to recruiting…it just was great to see him back healthy, injury-free. That was a really scary moment. And to see him back playing the game that he loves, it's just a really cool thing."
How about (Arkansas QB) Taylen Green, how has his game improved since last year?
"I think he's one of the best quarterbacks in the country. He's got the ability to hurt you so many different ways. He's got a big arm. We saw that last year. He can make a lot of throws. He's got unbelievable escapeability. He's hard to pressure because he can get out of pressure and really hurt you. And then he's got the ability to be a running quarterback. They use him enough as a running quarterback to create problems and stress and dilemmas. I think he's a big piece of the reason why they're as successful as they are. He certainly playing as well as anybody in the country right now."
How do you prepare your team mentally to go on the road to face a struggling program, knowing the target is on your back?
"I think long before we even talk about anything that you just said, I just turn the film on and show them that they're averaging 40 points a game and 500 yards a game. And they shouldn't listen to any of the standard narratives that get created around records because if you do that you'll wind up in a really bad spot."
The fourth-ranked Aggies (6-0, 3-0) begin a three-game road swing Saturday afternoon in Fayetteville against the Arkansas Razorbacks (2-4, 0-2). Kickoff on ESPN is set for 2:30 p.m. Fans can also listen to the game along the Texas A&M Sports Network (1620 AM/94.5 FM locally) or worldwide inside the 12th Man Mobile App or at 12thman.com.
Opening Statement…
"Thanks for coming out. Recapping the Florida game, starting with our players of the week. Scout team defensive player of the week was Tommy Culligan. Scout team offensive player of the week was offensive lineman Nelson McGuire. And really kind of a shout out to our entire offensive line scout group, those kids are doing a phenomenal job with our weekly practices. They've had a really, really strong three weeks. And then Aiden Herrera was our special teams player of the week.
"Linemen of the week…offensively, we gave it to the entire offensive line. And I thought that was probably the most complete offensive line performance that we've had since I've been here. So it was hard to single out one guy. We played penalty free. We played sack free. We played TFL free. We ran the ball for over 180 yards. And so we just kind of gave it to the whole group. Defensive lineman of the week and also the SEC co-defensive lineman of the week was Dayon Hayes. And then in terms of players of the week on offense, we went with Nate Boerkircher. Obviously had a couple big catches and those were key. But some of the things that he did late in the game, in the run game, in terms of setting edges and establishing some push at the line of scrimmage really helped salt that game away. Defensively we went with Albert Regis, who just continues to be an unheralded force in the middle. Extremely difficult to block in the run game. Got involved with a sack and a caused fumble as well. And then special teams player of the week was Tyler White. I thought he hit some critical punts, and I thought the one he hit at the end of the half when we were pinned back and they had a chance to get points on the board going into halftime--he had a 51-yarder that they had to fair catch--that was a really big moment in the game and a really big punt."
Recap of Florida…
"It's not a whole lot different than what we talked about after the game. I thought we played a complete balanced game. It was the first time where we went from good to bad to good, and those things are good signs. When things are good and you stay good, that obviously happens. But when you can have some adversity on defense and then straighten it out and finish the right way--when you can start well on offense, have some adversity, and then find a way to put the game away--I think those things are all good signs of growth and kind of where we're headed. And then just the thing that I'm probably most proud of, just that you put numbers on this, is the way we finished the game. We outscored them, 10-0 in the fourth quarter. I thought we were the stronger team down the stretch. They go for it on a 4th-and-6, we stop them, (then) we run 20 of the next 21 plays and eat up almost 11 minutes of clock and give them the ball back down 17 with less than 1:20 left in the game. If you can play football like that, you're going to win a lot of games."
on Arkansas…
"Now it's on to Arkansas, which will be a real tremendous challenge for us. Offensively they've been playing elite football. They're averaging over 500 yards a game. They're averaging just under 40 points a game. They have the second fewest punts in the conference. They score. They score a lot. Obviously, Coach Petrino has done a phenomenal job calling offenses for a really long time. Now, as the interim head coach, returning to Fayetteville, you can imagine probably the emotion that will be into that game for him and for that team. So we will get their best. Defensively they made a change in coordinator going into the game last week, really thought they tried to streamline what they were doing, put their kids in a position where they could be confident in what they were doing and play fast. I would anticipate that will continue to get better and better each week that they get more comfortable with what they're doing. And so we're going to have our hands full. Fayetteville is going to be a really challenging place to play. Anytime you go on the road in this conference it's a big challenge. This is going to be a huge challenge for our program to go on and get the next one. We'll look forward to a great week of prep and a great opportunity to go out next week and continue this thing moving in the right direction."
I know it was a big emphasis in the offseason to finish, and if you can elaborate a little bit more on the teams' ability to finish fourth quarters defensively and offensively, it seemed like you're at your best, controlling the tempo, controlling the game in the fourth?
"Obviously I think you've got to give a lot of credit to Tommy Moffitt and his staff. I think you've got a lot give a lot of credit to our kids in terms of how hard they worked in the offseason. And then some of it just becomes--and we talked about this--what comes from winning these games in the fourth quarter? What comes from finding a way to win the game against Notre Dame in the fourth quarter? I think you get a confidence about how you play. There's been times in the past where I've been here where, even last year quite a few times, where it felt real nervy in the fourth quarter. And kids weren't certain of what was going to happen. Right now that feel is not there, and we've got to work hard to make sure it stays that way. But when we get into the fourth quarter, there's a confidence. You can kind of see it on the sideline when we switch from the third to the fourth quarter. There's an energy about it, that our guys know that they're going to go into that quarter and be strong and play well. Those are all critical factors to being a winning program. Now again, we talk all the time about this…that's rented. And you've got to pay rent on it every week to give yourself a chance to go do it again. But certainly for the last few games that it showed itself to be really good."
When you saw the schedule layout initially with heavy home games the first half of the season, heavy road games the 2nd half. What was your takeaway? And do you have a preference on whether you like it that way or if you like it more staggered?
"At the end of the day, no matter how the schedule shapes out, it ultimately comes down to how you perform that's going to shape it, right? Had we not handled business on the road in these early games, then the schedule would look extremely daunting and there'd be a lot of question marks around where we are. Because we handled the schedule the right way early, there's uncertainty about how we're going to do on the road. You flip it, and who knows, it's probably the same conversation. At the end of the day, people talk a lot about schedules and schedule difficulty, and you really don't know. You just have to let it play out. And I've said this too…there's a lot of conversation about where certain teams in this conference are relative to each other. It's so early to have any idea on any of that. You've just got to let teams play. You've got to get a much bigger sample size. You've got to get many more data points to figure out where this whole thing is going to fill out. And so to me, you don't really think like that. You just think, okay, we've got this game and we've got to get ready for it. The one thing that they at least did was put the bye week in, so it's not three straight road games. That probably would have been a little bit on the challenging side or the distance of road games isn't quite as far as it could be. It's not like we're going out east twice in a row. To that point, I think they probably looked at some of the logistical parts of it and didn't feel like it was that bad."
And with Le'Veon Moss, when do you expect him to be back and any update on his status?
"Yeah, I'm sorry. I should have started with that. Lev's going to be out probably for a significant period of time. It's an unrelated injury to anything that he's been dealing with, has nothing to do with last year, has nothing to do with he'd been dealing with earlier this year. It's an isolated injury that happened on that tackle. It's an ankle, not a knee, which is a really positive sign. He's going to have to go get it looked at and we'll kind of figure out where it's at. It certainly will not end his season, but it's going to be a significant amount of time."
Can you talk about the importance of the depth in at the running back position, how at the end you're just wearing teams down, able to put a fresh back in there, and they're all producing?
"We have a lot of really talented players. It's why we talk a lot about just being ready. Our guys will tell you, I'm fairly blunt and honest when we have these conversations. Everybody wants the football, and so we go into last week with five tailbacks who all want the ball 25 times and all are probably capable of carrying it 25 times. But we can't do that, right? And so everybody just has to stay ready. All of a sudden Lev goes down and now Rueben's got to be the primary ball carrier. And then that opens up some carries for Amari (Daniels) and for Jamarion (Morrow) to get in there, and they give us some good runs. Amari converts a 3rd-and-short, Jamarion converts a 3rd-and-short, and then he gets into 4-minute offense at the end of the game. Now we're able to put in a fresh EJ Smith out there, we really trust his ball security, and he rips off some really good runs and he's fresh and ready to go and ready to do his job the way he needs to. I think it's a credit to what Trooper Taylor does with that group. And I think it's just a credit to those kids that they just work and they're ready to go when their numbers are called."
I know it's a small sample size, but how is this Arkansas program different with Bobby leading things, and what are the hallmarks of his offenses?
Oh, it's probably hard to say from a program standpoint. I think the hallmarks of his offenses are they're really good. I mean, you guys were here, you witnessed it firsthand. I think they do a really good job of stressing you. They identify weaknesses in your defense. I think they're very multiple in how they can attack you. They've got a talented quarterback who can run and throw the football. They present the challenges of a running quarterback and the challenges of a West Coast passing attack. And that's always difficult to go against. They're different. They use different personnel groups. They try to match up personnel to put themselves in advantageous positions. I think this will be the fifth time now that I've gone against him and he's certainly one of the best play callers in the country."
Is there a greater level of comfort knowing if Le'Veon is going be out that the offensive line did just come off what you said was maybe one of their better performances?
"No, I think, listen…and I said this after the game…I love Le'Veon. I wish LeVeon was healthy. We're going to miss him. He's been a warrior for this program. He given us everything he had to get ready for this season. I hope this goes as fast and as smooth as it can. But injuries are a part of SEC football. And if we're going to allow injuries to impact or derail things, we can't do that. It's just next man up mentality, and that's not to dismiss what it's going to mean to lose him because he's going to be a huge loss, but it has to be a next man up mentality in order for us to play in this conference. You can't do it any other way."
Talking about finishing, a few of your players have just mentioned how difficult practice has been throughout the whole year, and that that's really what prepares them to outlast other teams, especially late in the game. Have you seen an elevated level of energy and practice habits this year?
"Yeah, I think for sure. We're starting to learn what it means to put in the work on Tuesday and Wednesday to give yourself a chance to have success on Saturday. I'll share this with them too at times, but I don't know if that's as difficult as they make it out to be. You want it to be challenging. You want them to continue to stay fresh. We do good-on-good work Tuesday/Wednesday. We do situational work Tuesday/Wednesday. We talk about this all the time. It's one thing to know the game. It's another thing to play it. And so part of what you have to do during the weekly practice prep is learn how to take angles, learn how to press the football, learn how to throw with rhythm and timing on offense. It's not just learning what to do. It's trying to figure out how to execute that at a high level. And I think when your practice habits get better, that stuff shows to be better in the game. The kids are starting to see that. You show them what it looks like on a Tuesday practice. You show them then what it looks like in a game on Saturday and it kind of creates that effect that you're looking for of continuing to do it that way."
I'm curious what you thought maybe the biggest lessons y'all learned from the Notre Dame experience and coming out on top that can maybe help in this road trip, or even drawing back at times from last year and some of those games?
"Yeah, it's going to be really hard. I think that was my takeaway from all of it. Anytime you go on the road in this conference you've got challenges. That's the nature of being on the road. There's no easy environments. There's no easy teams. There's no good opportunities. And so anytime you have to go play games on the road, you're going to be dealt with a lot of challenges and a lot of adversity and you better be ready to overcome them."
What can you say about this program's ability to take in players and develop them into game winning players?
"That so far we've done a pretty good job. I said this and it's always funny how this plays out--and this is no slight at Carter's operation over there—but we have our own internal grading scale and grading system. We get very excited with some of the players that we add, regardless of what popular opinion may be…We spend a lot of time evaluating, and we're not perfect. Like anybody, we're not perfect. The NFL's not perfect. But we feel like we have a really strong internal system of how we go about it. Over the course of time, there have been guys that we've been really excited when we've added them that maybe, for whatever reason, the perception wasn't as high. I think that's proven to be accurate. Tyler Onyedim was an enormous get for us. Cashius Howell we felt like was a really big get for us. When we added Jamarion Morrow late in the recruiting cycle, we felt like that was a really big get for us. Those things maybe are some prime examples."
Last year was the last year that the A&M Arkansas game was played at AT&T Stadium. What do you think is, from a coach's perspective, the difference between playing in a neutral site like that and the game being moved back to the campuses, especially in the SEC?
"Well this year I wish it was at AT&T Stadium. Next year, I'd probably be glad it's in Kyle Field…I'm not even sure if it's on the schedule next year. I haven't looked at it. No, obviously, every other year, it's good and bad. It's good for the campuses. It's good to have this game here at Kyle Field when it happens. I sure it's great for them to have the game in Fayetteville when it happens. The thing from a coaching perspective is when you have to go on the road, you'd way rather go play at a neutral site. When you have an opportunity to play at home, you'd rather play at home. It just kind of is what it is and you've just got to deal with it."
Le'Veon Moss being injured is something you guys dealt with last year. The difference is now you have a healthy Rueben Owens. What does Rueben Owens bring to this group, specifically his running style, and how does it differ from Moss and his style?
"I don't know if it's a ton different. Rueben's a lot bigger than people give him credit for. He's a lot thicker than people give him credit for. Rueben's starting to hit his stride which has been really good. It took him a while to get back from his injury. He hasn't had a ton of reps in this offense because of the injury. He really didn't get healthy-healthy until the middle of fall camp where he was really starting to run and cut the way he wanted to. So yeah, I think it's good for him that now he's kind of hitting his groove and it's going to be really big for him to go out there and shoulder the load."
Nearly every press conference you've spoken about the humility that the Aggies have developed over the recent years. Every time we see your players talk, they're not boastful or proud. They are just happy to be and proud of the team that they're on right now. Was there a point in your coaching career where you realize that this mentality works? This mentality wins games, builds championship teams?
"(laughing) I've got a couple stories on that one. I'm chuckling internally a little bit. I tell this one in recruiting a lot. Probably the first time humility hit me is my first year at Stony Brook, when I had a desk next to the bathroom in a trailer. And I spent the whole day listening to it flush. And so that was a good starting point for my humility in my coaching career. But no, I think--and I've said this a lot--there's humility and there's confidence. And those are two things that can coexist. We are extremely confident in the program we're building. We're extremely confident in the team that we are. We're extremely confident in how we coach, how we recruit, how we develop. We believe we do it as well as anybody in the country. But I don't think that's necessary to go out and pound your chest about. We want to be the group that just kind of goes to work, does our thing, produces. That, I think, is always something that pays dividends. I don't know that it's necessarily anything more than maybe just a reflection of leadership and kind of how we go about our day-to-day conversations in our day-to-day process. But yeah, we'll be very humble and very confident. That the program we would like to be."
Your depth at running back is well documented, but it would seem like your depth overall this year is much better than was last year. Is this about where you want the program to be yearly, where your depth is right now?
"I think from a depth standpoint…yeah. I think you want to have quality players at every position. I think that the more we recruit will create some balance on the roster too. And what I mean by that is, it's always nice to have talented freshmen as the fill-in pieces. When we got here, it was well documented that the roster was very much in flux with the coaching change and what happens through coaching changes and just kind of where some of the roster inefficiencies were. As you start to situate it and you start to stack recruiting classes, and that becomes a piece of it, then you're adding portal pieces…you can kind of complete the roster a little bit better. Defensive tackle is a perfect example, right? I don't know that we have the proper number of upperclassmen that you would like, but it's hard to convince kids--when you have Al, and you have DJ Hicks, and you land Tyler Onyedim--it's hard to convince the next SEC-capable defensive lineman to come join that group. And so when you could supplement that with two classes of freshmen, three classes, and that development, that's where you can get it where you want to be. And so Dealyn Evans' role becomes critical. DJ Sanders and Landon Rink, their roles become critical. The more it's able to go like that, the more the depth will probably be right and we're probably a year away from getting it exactly how we would like it to be in that regard."
Daymion Sanford, I wanted to ask you about him. Is he playing his way to potentially taking that job and running with it? And how do you balance him and another guy that's done pretty well here in Scooby Williams?
"Yeah, it's a good problem to have. You would way rather have two kids playing at a really high level and try to figure out how to manage it than be trying to figure out who can play at a really high level. It's such a testament or a credit to Daymion in how he has handled these last three and a half weeks. Because he went out again and made a bunch of impact football plays. He has earned the right to stay on the field. Scooby Williams has earned the right to play, given his track record here and the things that he's done. So it becomes our job to try to figure out creative ways to make that happen. I think you even saw a handful of snaps on Saturday where all three of them were on the field together, and that's the flexibility that we as coaches have to create to make sure that we're able to get enough snaps for the players who weren't getting on the field. And you can't always get it right. Scheme, offensive scheme, that all plays a role in it. But it just creates flexible pieces for you as a defensive coach to kind of get guys out there in places where they can be successful."
What does a stout run defense do for a team with championship aspirations and is it possible to compete for titles without being strong in that area?
"I'm sure if we weren't strong in that area we would have to find a way to compete because that's what we're here for. I think what it does is it puts people in off-yardage situations. I think if you look at the 3rd-and-off-yardage situations that we've been able to put people in, a lot of that is a testament to the run defense and the ability to just keep people off schedule. If people can run the ball for five, six yards and stay in that 3rd-and-3, 3rd-and-4 world, I'm sure we're not talking about the success that we're having on third-down defense. A large part of the success is the distance. The distance plays a huge role. And I think a large part of that is tied into your run defense."
Since one of the last times we talked, the one-time transfer window has passed. I believe you said you're in favor of that. How have y'all started to maybe adjust to that or just your general thoughts on since it's passed?
"I don't know that there's an adjustment to it because there was always going to be that window and we were always going have to get ready for that window. So preparations for that window have been long underway. I think the benefit of it and why I'm so in favor of it is we know when that window's over, our roster's going be set, and there's not another window coming. In this world of revenue share, which is really--it's code word for salary cap--there's a salary cap now. It would be extremely difficult to manage a salary cap through two free agency windows. To try to predict how that would all go out and how to manage money through two windows I think would be extremely difficult, if not impossible. That is the benefit of it. And for that reason, just knowing that the roster is going to be set when it's set, I think is why I'm in favor of it."
What was the feeling to be able to get Bryce Anderson back on the field and how do you manage his continued scaling up to that?
"Given where he was three weeks ago laying on that field at Notre Dame, given the relationship that I've had with him all the way back to recruiting, his family all the way back to recruiting…it just was great to see him back healthy, injury-free. That was a really scary moment. And to see him back playing the game that he loves, it's just a really cool thing."
How about (Arkansas QB) Taylen Green, how has his game improved since last year?
"I think he's one of the best quarterbacks in the country. He's got the ability to hurt you so many different ways. He's got a big arm. We saw that last year. He can make a lot of throws. He's got unbelievable escapeability. He's hard to pressure because he can get out of pressure and really hurt you. And then he's got the ability to be a running quarterback. They use him enough as a running quarterback to create problems and stress and dilemmas. I think he's a big piece of the reason why they're as successful as they are. He certainly playing as well as anybody in the country right now."
How do you prepare your team mentally to go on the road to face a struggling program, knowing the target is on your back?
"I think long before we even talk about anything that you just said, I just turn the film on and show them that they're averaging 40 points a game and 500 yards a game. And they shouldn't listen to any of the standard narratives that get created around records because if you do that you'll wind up in a really bad spot."
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/ FootballArkansas Game Week Press Conference: Mike Elko
Monday, October 13
Florida Postgame: Taurean York
Saturday, October 11
Florida Postgame: Marcel Reed
Saturday, October 11
Florida Postgame: Albert Regis
Saturday, October 11
