SOTC Update: Texas A&M Aggies

This is the State of the Chart™ update for Mike Elko as he heads into his second 'off-season' in College Station for the Texas A&M Aggies.

Feb 12, 2025

State of the Chart™ Recap Edition

Live All-In Ranking: 19th
Offense: 29th
Defense: 24th
2024 Results: 8-5 (5-3 in SEC)

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|||||| STATE OF THE CHART™ SUMMARY

Mike Elko is given a year to get his program under his wing. Sure, many hoped for a ‘quick fix’ utilizing a decent amount of talent remaining on the A&M roster from a previous regime, that shall not be named. The eight-win season is a bit of a let down, considering some pretty high hopes coming in, however it is a reasonable expectation for “year zero.” The offense struggled to find an identity, but did seem to identify it’s next great starting quarterback, Marcell Reed. Offensive coordinator Collin Klein was certainly missing a go-to receiver to help take the pressure off. Reed used his legs quite often, and very effectively. However, for this to work fully, they need the threat of the pass and, in particular, a deep pass to remain in the back of opposing defenses minds at all times. The defense was strong up front and against the run. It struggled at times against the pass and it led to extended drives and explosive plays that the Aggies were not consistently able to punch back. As we move to 2025, the portal additions focused on playmakers in the passing game and replacements for a defensive line that is sending plenty of talent to the next level. The recruiting game remains strong and the talent level is right there. Now, it’s up to Elko to win the toss-ups, throw in a couple of surprises and get this program back to that 10+ win plateau.

|||||| HEAD COACH AND COACHING STAFF

The results for Mike Elko in year one were solid and expected. The Aggies got to eight wins, but suffered through a losing streak to end the season. There is a lot to like about the direction of the porgram with a top recruiting class coming in and plenty of returning talent. They believe they have their quarterback in Marcel Reed and now the expectation is to get to 10+ wins and stay there. He made a splash hire by getting offensive coordinator Collin Klein away from Kansas State last off-season and the offense struggled through some inconsistencies and was largely just ‘okay’.

Coaching Staff Notes/Changes:

The big news this off-season is the unification of former James Madison defensive coordinator, Lyle Hemphill, with Elko. Hemphill was the co-defensive coordinator with Elko at Duke and now joins the A&M staff as ‘associate head coach for defense’. While the head coach is still expected to ultimately call plays, he is surrounding himself with a brain trust that will have a positive impact on the unit. Jay Bateman remains with the ‘defensive coordinator’ title.
It appears Christian Ellsworth has been elevated from an analyst/recruiting role to full-time tight ends coach for the 2025 season.

Note: This is a “dynamic” article; meaning we will update any information that comes in this “off-season” and post a note when impactful moves are made or news breaks.

|||||| 2024 SCHEDULE / RESULTS ANALYSIS

This was certainly no cake walk of a schedule, but it was also not the toughest the SEC could drum up. Other than the opener against eventual National runner-up, Notre Dame, the non-conference opponents were pretty weak with FCS McNeese, Bowling Green and New Mexico State. That loss to the Irish at home in week one set a realization that this would not be a one-year turn around. They did rattle off seven straight wins to get to 7-1 and start some shifting of the converstation, but it was a 44-20 loss in Columbia, South Carolina, that brought everybody back to earth. They had some close calls in that winning streak, including a six-point escape against Bowling Green at home. It was never really in doubt, but certainly an eye-opener. Post-game win expectancy (PGWE) says that the Arkansas game was a toss-up that they ended up grabbing by four points. They impressed in a blowout of Mizzou and easy win over LSU in College Station as well. They finished up losing three of four, including a bowl loss to USC. Ultimately, the eight wins posted was right on what they deserved according to “deserved Wins” (dWIN) metric.

||||||| POSITION GROUP CHECK-INS

OFFENSE: Collin Klein’s first season took some getting used to the new personnel. Their quarterback, Conner Weigman was injured early and we got a good look at the future, which certainly appears to be Marcel Reed. The offensive line paved the way for a successful ground game, be it designed run plays or improvisations from the quarterback position. They finished at 195+ yards per game on the ground (ranked 26th in FBS). This allowed the Aggies offense to maintain some sort of balance, but the passing game never really delivered the crushing blows they needed. With Reed now entrenched as the starter, he’ll need to improve the passing-end of his dual-threat profile. They certainly brought in some weapons to help with that (see wide receiver position group below). With a year under his belt and some new toys to work with, Klein should really be able to show what he can do leading this offense in 2025.

||| QB

Conner Weigman’s injury ended his run as the starter here and it was true freshman Marcel Reed who showed why many inside the organization believe he is the future. His dual-threat nature makes him a handful for any defense. Weigman will head to Houston for his final season and they bring in veteran Jacob Zeno from UAB as an experienced backup in case anything happens to Reed. They add two in from the 2025 class, led by 4-star Brady Hart, who they beat out Michigan for the Cocoa, Florida native.

||| RB

Le’Veon Moss’ season was shortened a bit by injuries but when healthy he developed a fine 1/2 combo with Amari Daniels. Both were Juniors and will return to likely split carries in 2025. EJ Smith chipped in nicely as a third option and is now graduating. Reuben Owens, a five-star in the class of ‘23 has yet to really get going but should step into a bigger role and spell the two starters before (hopefully) taking over in a lead capacity in 2026 and beyond. They add in two 4-star recruits to mix as well.

||| WR

Normally, when you lose your top four receivers, you are very worried. Not in this case. The focus on the portal has three dynamic receivers coming in, including KC Concepcion (NC State), Micah Hudson (Texas Tech) and Mario Craver (Miss State) to join up with 5-star talent Terry Bussey and others. The even better news is that they all have multiple years of eligibility remaining. They’ll need to develop a quick rapport with Marcel Reed, but this room may end up improved come season’s end.

||| TE

Similar to the wide receiver situation here, they are losing their top two contributors in Tre Watson and Shane Calhoun to graduation. They also lose their backups, Donovan Green and Jaden Platt, who will transfer within the conference. They address it directly through the portal, getting Nebraska’s Nate Boerkircher and Texas’ Amari Niblack to replace the top two. Like nothing happened.

||| OL

Sure, the playmakers at wide receiver are exiting additions, but it may just be this offensive line - and the amount of returning talent - that may just take the offense to a new level. Four of five starters are expected to return, including one of the best players in the trenches as RG Ar'maj Reed-Adams is set to shun the NFL for another year in College Station. The one loss appears to be starting LT Trey Zuhn III, who has declared for the draft a year early. Ashton Funk is an internal candidate to replace him and if they go that route, there may be some growing pains at a very important position.

DEFENSE: This unit, still led by the head coach as the primary play caller, had some big names and did a lot of things really well, including stiffening in the red zone to keep the touchdown rate suppressed and finished up at 22.2 points allowed per game (34th in FBS). While their sack numbers don’t necessarily jump off the page (25; ranked t-69th), they did do some damage in the backfield with just over seven tackles for loss per game. They had a young secondary that was exploited too often and were hit with 49 explosive plays (30+ yards) in the passing game alone. That is an area that will need to be shored up heading into 2025.

||| DL

Big losses on the defensive front with the “top three” here heading to the NFL. We use quotes because there is some data-driven evidence that Cashius Howell and Albert Regis may be just as good as those leaving the program. That sets this group up for a transition that won’t be so painful. They also hit the portal to add four more that will certainly contribute. There will be talk about the losses; but it appears there won’t be much of a drop off (if at all) from this defensive line group.

||| LB

Taurean York became the leader of this group and did just about everything well. He was all over the field, including chipping in on the pass rush, while displaying great tackling abilities. He was just a sophomore and returns for 2025. As does Scooby Williams and Daymion Sanford. They will lose a little depth but this unit remains in tact and should contribute at an even higher clip with more experience under their belts.

||| DB

Will Lee III led this group in playing time and was pretty good as a cover corner. True freshman Dezz Ricks was forced into playing right away and has a lot of growing up to do. They will lose a little depth here, but they also get CB Tyreek Chappell back after suffering a season-ending injury just two games into 2024. He receives a medical redshirt and will return for a final season. As an additional layer, they are adding two impact players from the portal, Julian Humphrey (Georgia) and Jordan Shaw (Washington/Indiana). This group should improve as they become more experienced.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Randy Bond was really good as a place kicker. We show him as holding one more year of eligibility despite already having played a season as a graduate. True freshman punter Tyler White had a good first campaign and will be returning as well. The primary returner was true freshman Terry Bussey and there doesn’t appear to be any reason why that would change. A solid unit assuming Bond returns for another season.

Reader feedback is requested and encouraged! Who knows these teams better than their passionate fan bases? We don’t pretend to know it all and would love your feedback. We will update/edit based (and credit) for anything that is brought to our attention. Let’s do this together…

|||||| TRANSFER PORTAL TRACKER

As is the case with most of the biggest programs, the talent ‘churn’ may end up showing a red arrow for losses, that is usually driven by volume with a lot to talented backups looking for new opportunities. That still could impact depth, but a program like A&M will just re-load in the recruiting class and it’s all a wash. Sure, you never want to lose a quality pass catcher like Noah Thomas to SEC rivals (Georgia) and it’s never fun to see three quality defensive linemen (Malick Sylla, Josh Celiscar and Samu Taumanupepe) taking off to other programs. They did a fine job replacing all of the losses and the most impactful additions are at the wide receiver position, with NC State’s Kevin (KC) Concepcion, former Texas Tech top recruit Micah Hudson and Mississippi State uber-athlete Mario Craver, the weapons for Marcel Reed are coming in droves. Offensive coordinator Collin Klein will have the horses to run what he wants and that is exciting. On defense, we mentioned the loss of three top defensive lineman, four if you include Gabriel Brownlow-Dindy. They addressed this on the other side as well with Dayon Hayes (Colorado) and T.J. Searcy (Florida) coming in to help with the losses.

Below is a screen shot of the full, live Transfer Portal Tracker over at CFBDepth.com. Click the image or the button below to view it in its entirety…

Live, Texas A&M Portal Tracker >

|||||| 2025 RECRUITING CLASS

This is still very much a priority for the Aggies as it should be. They are a national brand and can roll out of bed and find plenty of interest to turn into commitments. They are doing a fine job, coming in at sixth (as it stands) in the class rankings. They have a particular focus on the offensive line and defensive backs in this particular class. Though, the one getting the most attention may be five-star wide receiver Jerome Myles out of Utah. If he can shake off the injury concerns, the sky is believed to be the limit for Myles. He suffered knee and ankle injuries, which cut short his last two high school seasons. The other five-star is offensive lineman Lamont Rogers, coming in from Mesquite, Texas. He projects as a starting offensive tackle early in his career and could become a mainstay on one of the bookends of this offensive line. They will continue to pump in the talent from the high school ranks and supplement from the portal to improve this roster.

Here is a snapshot of the 2025 Recruiting Class+ with a link to the live page with updates throughout the cycle:

2025 Texas A&M Recruiting Class+ >

|||||| 2025 SCHEDULE LOOK AHEAD

It’s a similar set-up to a year ago with just a few new faces and a flip of home/road for the SEC opponents. The opener(s) against UTSA and Utah State will provide the defense with a decent challenge as they use those two games prep for the big week three showdown in South Bend against Notre Dame. If Elko and company want to get this thing moved to the next level, that is just the game to propel them to that early in the season. All is not lost if it doesn’t go their way. They get a bye to lick their wounds and then have a five game stretch of winnable SEC games before the second bye. The goal is to get to that week 14 showdown in Austin (Texas) with just 1-2 losses to have a shot to be included in the CFP. With trips to South Bend, Death Valley (LSU) and Austin, they will have no room for error and must win all of their home games.

There is a lot of movement and decisions to be made throughout the off-season, including more portal moves, winter workouts and spring ball. Get all caught up with the full-on State of the Chart Magazine coming in July. If you missed the ad before, get more information and give us your e-mail to stay in the loop on everything SOTC!

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