COLLEGE STATION - Texas A&M head football coach Mike Elko met with the media on Monday to preview fall camp.
Below is a transcript from Elko's press conference at the Kyle Field Media Center:
Mike Elko, Texas A&M Head Football Coach
Opening Statement...
“I guess now we're getting closer to the start. I feel like I have had a lot of these press conferences saying, this is the last press conference that's about to be the start and I think we're finally here. Excited to get report day underway today and get through a lot of the organizational stuff that we got to get through today and finally get an opportunity to get back out on the grass tomorrow night and play some football. I’m excited for this team, excited for the work that they put in this summer, now we’ve got to go figure out who we are, what we're about, and what we're really going to go out and accomplish.”
On the news of the court injunctions and the possibility of adding anyone...
“I thought it was a tremendous symbolic nature of where we are as a sport right now, that as we were getting ready to report, we changed the roster construction rules, but we didn't really know that we changed them, so that we had to rechange them. Then we rechanged them again, all in a span of about 48 hours. I thought it was tremendously indicative of how this sport is being governed right now.”
On the health standpoint of the team...
“I don't think we'll have anybody miss. Nobody is going in with massive limitations, so we're healthy and ready to roll.”
On Daymion Sanford’s injury...
“There are natural football buildup limitations that happen to guys who are recovering from injuries. So he's not going to go out there and take 82 reps in practice, but no, there's no limit. There's nothing that needs to be written about.”
On Sanford’s readiness for the home opener...
“We'll see how camp goes. There are still probably some markers and some steps that he's got to go through. But we will see, he's on course today.”
On the importance of competition within the team...
“I think it's really important. You have so many conversations about what's the right way to do roster management because this is all new and there's not massive sample sizes to study of what is the right way to put these rosters together. I'm still a firm believer that when you have 18- to 21-year-olds, competition is better. The desire to have to get up every day and fight to earn things is what will ultimately create the development that you need. We don't have 32-year-old NFL veterans that you just want to hand jobs to. You still want to create that competitive mindset in these young kids. I think that's what we have strived for in roster creation, even to say, we're not bringing in the starting tackle. We're going to have a handful of guys that we think are really good that can compete to earn that spot. Because through that competition, everybody gets better. I think we're excited about the fact that I don't know who some of the starters are going into fall camp on the offensive line, defensive line, linebacker There's a corner competition and who's going to go out there at wide out because we've got a lot of depth there. I just think there's a lot of competition across the board and ultimately that elevates everything in your program. I think that's really important.”
On how Adam Cushing elevates the program...
“I have so much confidence in Adam. Now it's going into year five together. We had our football department meeting this morning and I said it's the fifth one that he's heard now. I just think there's a comfort in his coaching demeanor by how he develops guys, what he instills in them, the mentality that our O-line plays with. Then obviously him and I have a real good working understanding of what we want the offensive lineman to be about. I believe he's one of the best offensive line coaches in the country. We’re certainly glad he's on our side and he'll play a big role in getting the cohesiveness of that group where it needs to be by the time we kick off this year.”
On Mark Nabou Jr....
“I think he's old, but he hasn't played a lot and so there's a lot of room for growth still coming off last year. People don't recognize that last year was the first year he went start to finish as a starter. I think he learned a lot about playing 12 SEC football games, what that means mentally, what that means physically. I think he has taken that natural development step that you would like to see a returning starter at center take and understanding the offense, understanding defensive front structures, how to call things, being much more comfortable in our package and how we run it. I think we've gotten a really good version of Mark and having an established, experienced center goes a long way when you're putting an offensive line together.”
On the talent of the secondary...
“I think it's more just, feeling as though we're going into a season with an SEC level secondary. There’s been times in the past where maybe that wasn't exactly where we were. I measure it all by draft picks, right? And there's been years where we've played without any. I just think when you look at the pieces that we have back there, I just think you feel really good about rotating, you feel really good about holding up for 12 games, I think so much of what this year is going to be is it's going to be such a war of attrition with the five road SEC games, it's going to be and I'm not trying to complain about it. So you feel comfortable with depth and the amount of guys you have that you feel good about going out there playing.
On how the defense could improve this season...
“We looked at how we were teaching, how we were coaching everything, to try to put it in ways that our kids could play faster, freer, and more consistent. You do that every year, last year in particular, to the run game and making sure that we tighten some of that stuff up. We felt like it was really important. As we stand here today, I think we did it. I think we did it the right way. But until you get into the fire and the rigors of the season, you can't judge and evaluate that stuff now. You've got to let it play out over time.”
On the challenges of the upcoming season...
“So easier has not been the word that has defined this season at all this offseason. I think one of the biggest challenges that this program will have is what we're about to embark on and that's what I said to our staff, and that's what I'm going to say to our team tonight. This program has had a really hard time doubling down on success. That's our challenge and that is a challenge and a puzzle that has not been cracked here before. There's not one piece of me that thinks anything is going to be easier. I think this is going to be the most challenging season that we've had. We've got to replace a lot of talented players, we've got to go to some really challenging places, and we've got to have the same levels of success that we're expecting as a program or that we've established as the standard for this program. So to me, all of that creates what looks to me like the most challenging season that we've had in the three. To your point, yes, it's obviously better to go into that challenge with a third year program when you look at where we are from an accountability standpoint, from a strength and explosiveness standpoint, we are in a much better place than we've ever been as a program. That all matters and that will all help, but as I stand here on the beginning of fall camp, the words like easy aren't coming into my mind right now. I think this is really a big challenging season for us. I think everybody's ready for that challenge and we're just excited to get out there and get going.”
On his emotions heading into the season...
“It's like the start of what you're what you're most looking forward to every year. Knowing that you're trying to formulate the strategy, the plan, the vision for this version of Texas A&M football and the 2026 team to go out and have the most success that they can have. But you also know how much that's going to change over the next four months, right? And it's impossible to predict how this journey's going to go. I think there's obviously a level of excitement. There always has to be, and there should be, that consistency year in and year out. I think, as we've started to build and establish this thing, there's an optimism and excitement about what we're capable of. I think those things all are important, but also we're about to start this long journey through a college football season and so you're just kind of mentally getting prepared and ready for it.”
On the kicking game going into fall camp...
“Again, we feel like we've addressed it. These questions are hard because I think you guys know me. I'm not going to sit up here and tell you what I know because I don't, we haven't played yet. We think we've addressed it, we're real excited with where we're at. David and Asher have had really good summers. Asher had a really good spring. And both of those guys appear ready to go into this year and give us really strong kicking. We're happy with what Shea has been able to do at long snapper. We feel like he's going to be able to go in there and replace Jacob, and don't forget Jacob was a three-year starter. It gave us a lot of stability at the long snapper position and then just really happy with Tyler White's development. And so, we feel good, now we got to go do it.”
On Tommy Moffit and if his team is physically ready to go into the season...
“I think what you do in the summer is critical and we talk about the offseason kind of being a four-quarter offseason, right? Starting back in the winter was quarter one and then spring ball being quarter two, summer training is quarter three and then fall camp is quarter four. Half of that is all Tommy, right? And his staff and the guys being with him. Again, it goes back to why, to me, the strength coach is as critical a position as what you have and not just the singular strength coach, but the entire team in that weight room around them because for the last 9 weeks those guys were in a lot of ways responsible for the development of this team in this program. Tommy does a phenomenal job of establishing culture in there. Obviously, he's well-renowned in what he does and how he does it. I think the strides and the development; I think you guys will be impressed with what this team looks like when you come out and watch them in practice. That's a huge piece of college football is what those guys do in the weight room, especially in the summer. We're just glad that we got Tommy on our side leading that charge for us.”
On the backup quarterback and punt returner positions...
“Backup quarterback, Brady [Hart] will go into camp as the number two. Obviously, Helaman [Casuga] and Eli Morcos are going to try to uproot him. We'll kind of see how that plays itself out. Punt returner there’s probably a little bit more still to go in terms of making that final decision. Mario's [Craver] going to be involved in that, Terry's [Bussey] going to be involved in that, and I would think Isaiah Horton will have some context in that conversation as well.”
On the progression of new coordinators and their responsibilities...
“The challenge of being a really good offensive coordinator or defensive coordinator, being an elite one, is what you do in the moment on Saturday. Between being a good one and a bad one, that's the other 353 days of the year. I certainly knew we hired good ones. I knew we hired the right people; I knew that they were going to be able to organize the staff, I knew they were going to be able to get the kids behind them, develop the culture, do all those things. It's going exactly how you would expect it to go with people that you've known for a really long time, who you know are elite coaches. We've got to get into the fall and call plays, that's going to be ultimately what this question really boils down to. I have all the confidence in the world that Holmon [Wiggins] is going to have a phenomenal year doing it. I have all the confidence in the world in Lyle [Hemphill] and what he's able to do and capable of. Everything is going exactly how I expected it to go. I expect that they're going to go out and call great plays this fall, but we've got to get there and get through it.”
On the wide receiver room...
“Just continuing to grow. I think we have more depth and talent at that position than at any point, certainly in my time here. There were probably some really talented groups a couple years before I got here, but certainly in my time here, it's one of the most talented groups we've seen. I think getting comfortable with the timing, the rhythm, the passing game, what we want that to look like. I think there's a lot of a lot of room for growth. Just being talented doesn't mean you're playing at an elite level. There's a lot of work still to be done in fall camp to get it where it needs to be.”
On Isaiah Horton’s growth throughout camp...
“I think when you get to that stage of your career, it's the fine-tuned details, it's the technical aspects of route running that we're working with him on, it’s getting comfortable with Marcel and the rhythm of our passing game. So much of the passing game is hard for the observers to see because it's milliseconds and timing and being in the right window, being where the quarterback's eyes are at the right moment. I think it's all those little details that Isaiah is really homed in on this summer because that's ultimately going to be what he needs to get him where he wants to be this fall.”