The Citadel Game Week: Press Conference

Texas A&M returns to Kyle Field to close out the non-conference slate this weekend when the Aggies host The Citadel on Saturday (12 p.m., SEC Network +).

You can watch Coach Elko's Monday press conference below.

(Ref: Final thoughts on the Missouri game)

“The thoughts on the game were summed up afterwards; I think the film reflected it. I thought, offensively, we just weren't really creating enough to create any kind of momentum, or any kind of flow in the game. I thought the failures were at every level.

I thought we struggled up front handling them. We couldn't get the run game established and we couldn't get anything going in the throw game. It's a go back to the drawing board moment and again, I know words are what they are, but we've got to find ways to get more creative and we've got to find ways to be able to move the ball efficiently. Defensively, I thought we held up for a large chunk of the game, playing at a level that could have won us the game. I think some breakdowns in the second half ultimately allowed the game to get out of hand and we are just not built to play from behind right now.”

 

(Ref: On turning the page and looking ahead)

“We've got to turn the page and we've got to move forward. I told the team this morning, we're in a situation where we have to improve and we have to get better. I think there's a tremendous amount of fight in our building, in our coaching staff and in our players to do that, but we've got to go do it and without doing it, words are just words. We've got to go to work. We've got to have a great week of preparation, and we've got to find a way to put a better product on the field on Saturday.”

 

(Ref: On addressing postgame comments from Missouri loss)

“I think in the heat of the moment, I think I answered a question in a way that I certainly regret. I think everybody knows I have a tremendous relationship with Billy. I appreciate Billy and I appreciate him being here today. There's nothing about Billy and I that have ever been off since 2018. I think everybody knows I appreciate our fan base and everything that they're about and everything that they mean to Texas A&M. Outside of that, I'll leave it alone. I regret the way it was taken, I regret the way it came out and I regret the way it ran. That certainly was never my intention, and throughout the course of that interview, at no point ever did I lend any blame to anything other than myself. I am the reason why this team is struggling. I have owned that since this has started. I continue to own that. It's my job to figure out how to get it better.”

 

(Ref: On when major changes need to be made offensively)

“I think everything has to be on the table for sure. I think we're at that point for sure.

It's hard to make revolutionary changes in our current situation because you have to allow the kids an opportunity to have success and massive shifts are going to create execution issues. We have to continue to explore every option, whether that's personnel, whether that's philosophy, whether that's tempo or whether that's pace. Everything has to be on the table and it has been. It's not new, but everything has to be on the table and we've got to just try to identify what we can do to be successful.”

 

(Ref: On what has improved defensively over the last few weeks and what still needs to be worked on)

“Coming out of the Kentucky game we made a concerted effort to try to streamline and allow our kids an opportunity to play fast. You don't know you have it wrong until you have it wrong, and that's coaching I think to some degree. I think our kids have bought into the ownership on that and now I think it's just that what I told them is its consistency. I think it's the ability to be repetitively good. There's times where we can call a defense against a play and it looks like it should and it's really good. There's just a handful of times still where that's not the case and those things are the things that cause problems. When you get into the SEC, Caden Lee is going to get open at some and they're going to deliver a good ball and that's going to result in an explosive play and that's how football works. We can't allow them to hand a ball off into a heavy box and not make the tackle or not have our eyes in the right place and not cover. Those are the things that when you give people that are on top of the plays that talented people make, that's probably where our shortcomings are right now on defense.”

 

(Ref: On giving up play calling to oversee the team as a whole)

“Lyle is calling the games. I think that was that was an important step just so that I could have the freedom to be involved in everything. I just think that was probably to the detriment of us for a couple weeks with LSU and Kentucky, trying to do too many things and probably not doing any of them well to be honest.”

(Ref: On if as a coach he is good at blocking out the outside noise)

“I think I'm very effective with it.”

 

(Ref: On the biggest challenge for him and the staff to reverse the course of the season)

“I think it's a touch physical but I think mental and emotional is playing a major role in it. What I see is kids trying and not getting results and there's a lot that goes into that, but that to me is always on some level, mental and psychological ability to perform under pressure and perform in the moment. What we're getting on Saturdays is not what we got in fall camp and it's not what we're getting through the week in practice. It's just not translating and that to me is a mental issue that we've got to try to get resolved.”

 

(Ref: On what needs to change offensively before Saturday)

“I think we've got issues at every level. We've got to go to the drawing board and try to figure out a way to stay ahead of the chains. That again is with who we are and where we are right now. We are not generating explosive plays and so we have to stay ahead of the chains. We weren't able to do that consistently enough and we haven't been able to do that consistently really in any game, but I think it showed up more so in the in the two road games.”

 

(Ref: On the issues specifically in the third quarter)

“Obviously, you need to explore and talk to the kids about it on defense today. There's been an energy drop coming out of halftime. I don't know if that's related to the game score. I don't know if that's related to belief or confidence. We've changed up our rhythm, we've come out earlier, we've come out to give them more time to get warmed up. We've done the preparational things that you can do to try to tweak some of that stuff. We settled a little bit more Saturday than we have in previous third quarters, but it's certainly been a bad quarter for us. It's not a fatigue thing because we've been really good in the fourth. We've struggled coming out of the locker room.”

 

(Ref: On what went into Brandon Davis Swain getting a start versus Missouri)

“I think he was really banged up and had an injury coming into camp, so it was really limited. We didn't know what we'd really be able to get from him. Fortunately, we were able to get him healthy, and I think as he's gotten healthy, he's just kind of become a player that we can lean on and count on. He played really well on Saturday, given the circumstances and I thought he was one of the positive highlights. He did a nice job anchoring in the middle and so that's what we got.”

 

(Ref: On moving Jamarion Morrow back to kick returner)

“I've never been that ravaged at kick returner in such a short span of time. It was Terry, Ashton and Jamarian were the three guys that we kind of came into the year with at kick returner and in a span of about three quarters, all three of them were done for a while. Rueben was a guy that we felt comfortable catching the ball back there and is a good returner, but we didn't want to risk him in that role. He was kind of back there catching for a little while and now that we have Ashton back and Jamarion back, those two guys have kind of gotten more involved in the return game. Jamarion is a kid who we have a lot of confidence in. He got that kind of electric ability and obviously had the big one to try to create some momentum for us. We gotta continue to do that.”

 

(Ref: On balancing playing veterans while also seeing what the young players have in store for upcoming seasons)

“I don't think it's ever fair to your program to think like that. I think you have to do what you think is right to win on Saturday. I think in some instances that has been young guys getting more opportunities because we think that's the right thing to give us the best chance on Saturday. Whether that's KJ or whether that's Aaron Gregory and you saw Bryce Perry Wright a little bit more on Saturday and you saw Tamarion Watkins and Chance Collins. There are some young freshmen that are earning their opportunities to play. You're seeing that Jayden Warren had a catch but I don't think you're ever saying, I think this older kid gives us the best chance to win Saturday, but I'm not going to do that because that's not the best thing for the future. That's not a mindset that I think is the right mindset for your program.”

 

(Ref: On balancing the motivation)

Yeah, our focus right now is just getting better. Our kids want to put a better product on the field, our fans deserve a better product on the field. The only thing we can focus on right now is getting better. None of those big picture conversations can be a part of our equation> Its all about daily improvement and trying to get a product on the field that is more representative of what we think Texas A&M Football should look like.

 

(Ref: On if there is another coach you talk with or lean on in tough times)

“Yeah, I have a group of people that I think are there to support me> I’ve had a lot of people reach out to me over the last couple of weeks. At the end of the day, and I’ve said this to a lot of people, the weight I carry is for these kids and these coaches to have the success they deserve for the amount of time and energy they’re putting into this thing. SO I told the team after the game, when it doesn’t go the way you hope or want or expect it to go, it was no different than when we were winning, the emotions were more joy for the players, so is the pain more painful for the players because you know what they experienced you know what they put into this, you know the work that they’re giving you and to not be able to find a way to creatively create success for them, that’s what eats at you as a coach. But, no, I have a group of people that I rely on and reach out to, and certainly they’re there to support, and help and guide me through things.”

 

(Ref: On the receiver corp)

“Yeah, I think by and large our ineffectiveness in the pass game has probably been the biggest surprise of this season. And that’s probably an understatement, a huge understatement. It gets fixed with work. It gets fixed with practice. It gets fixed with detailing in our route running. Putting pace and tempo into our route running. It gets fixed with delivering the ball accurately and on time where it’s supposed to go. It gets fixed with cleaning up the pockets in ways that allow all of that timing to work the right way, and so what you see on the practice field is not what you’re seeing in the game, and that’s the biggest dilemma that we’re fighting and dealing with right now.”

 

(Ref: On the team’s confidence)

“I think the biggest confidence I take, and again, I’ve been part of bad seasons where things splinter and fracture and the locker room gest divided and the offense and the defense are fighting or the wide receivers and the quarterback are fighting, or the staff is pulling apart from each other, or people are working less hard as the season goes on. What gives me confidence is that none of that is happening. What gives me confidence is that for the most part our kids are showing up in the right frame of mind end in the right mindset to go to work. Are there some exceptions? Of course. Are there some kids that need to be prodded more? Yeah, of course. But by and large the group is clinging together though challenging times the way you would hope to give you the opportunity to come out of it, and again the biggest thing I keep drawing back to with them is that the only way out is through. The only way you get through is to get through and the only way you get through is together in situations like this”

 

(Ref: On giving up play calling)

“Yeah, I think probably a lot of strategic changes have been made to the way we try to attack offense. Again, the result is the same and so you don’t see the changes, but we are not just doing the same thing over and over again. The results are the same and so sometimes when the results re the same if appears as though the effort and the opportunity and what you’re trying to do is the same. It’s not. And so, again well continue to go back to the drawing board and figure out what the right formula is to get success.”

 

(Ref: On getting behind the chains early)

“We physically lost more than we should> I don’t think we performed physically as well as we are capable of. There were some targeting issues that we had that we’ve got to get cleaned up in terms of points and where we were going in some of our targeting. There were too many penalties. There were three penalties on run plays, and that doesn’t seem like a big deal on a 3-yard play, but it’s a huge difference when you have 2^nd and 7 and 1^st and 20. And that happened on three separate occasions in the first half. So, when you’re trying to find rhythm and when you’re trying to overcome struggles, those are the things that make it almost overwhelming at times because we have to start having success, we have to create confidence and we have to be able to do that by continuing to push things forward and those setbacks are causing massive problems.”

 

(Ref: On the importance of the offense to convert when starting in good field position)

It’s really important. It’s part of the formula, right? And if you look at the game, we did a really poor job on third down conversions. We did a really poor job converting touchdowns in the endzone and those two factors are why the offense looks the way it looks. I thought we had an opportunity to seize momentum twice. I thought we had a chance after the turnover. I thought we had a chance at a three and out on defense. They had a bad punt, and we started in plus field position on offense and weren’t able to capitalize on that one either, and so I thought there were a couple opportunities early in the game to create momentum and we just weren’t able to do it.