TAMPA--That's a wrap on Texas A&M's appearance at the 2026 SEC Kickoff inside the JW Marriott Hotel.
Representing the Aggies along with Mike Elko were captains Marcel Reed, Marcus Ratcliffe and Daymion Sanford. Below you'll find videos, quotes, social posts and much more from Wednesday's event.
You can click through to each attendee below to see additional quotes, read full press conference transcripts and watch some of the interviews listed below.
"We live in a lot of worlds, so we're obviously happy with the things we accomplished (in 2025), happy with the direction of our program, but it's also not lost on us that we haven't won the hardware that we're searching for. That gets us into a mindset of growth and getting back to work to go finish this thing a little bit better than we did last year and put ourself in a better position maybe to compete for some trophies."
"I'm really excited to get the ball to my receivers again. We have some really good guys outside, returning guys Ashton Bethel-Roman, Mario Craver and Terry Bussey. And then Isaiah Horton coming in and being that big X receiver is a good pickup from the portal. I don't think there is a roadblock or speed bump, anything in our offense. O-line might be what people talk about, but we have our returning center who's been a center for us for five years now, and he understands the game. He's been in Coach Cushing's offense before, so he's able to help out the people around him. And then we also have some experienced SEC guys that came in throughout the portal. So I think we're going to be just fine. There's nothing that really concerns me going into the season. I'm just really excited to get to play."
"I ain't going to lie. I would say nothing compares to Kyle Field, just how loud it gets, 100,000 fans there. It just sounds like they're pumping crowd noise into the speakers. So I feel like really no stadium compares to Kyle Field...The 12th Man, they always show out for home games. I always look forward to playing in Kyle Field every Saturday."
"I do believe this is the best secondary I've been a part of. I believe so just because of all of our depth at safety. We have me, Dalton Brooks, Tawfiq Byard, a lot of players with a lot of experience. Corner-wise we have three dudes that can play. Nickel, we have dudes that can play. And just how competitive we are every day. We come into all practices, all workouts with the mindset of attacking things. And I think this is the most competitive group I've been on."
Check out any of the videos below which include full press conferences and one-on-one interviews from Wednesday's event.
One more question from the crowd please… ☝️@RatcliffeMarcus | @Marcel10Reed pic.twitter.com/wkfch9uTwN
— Texas A&M Football (@AggieFootball) July 22, 2026
Should expectations be high for Marcel Reed and Texas A&M? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/sD4FNOB9ss
— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) July 22, 2026
"I like Notre Dame and Miami..
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) July 22, 2026
I think Texas A&M could make a run with Marcel Reed this year" ~ @KirkHerbstreit #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/iaREizIxoW
✈️✈️✈️ pic.twitter.com/xQcCHuWT39
— Texas A&M Football (@AggieFootball) July 22, 2026