Report day has arrived in College Station, and Texas A&M coach Mike Elko used Tuesday’s media availability to set the tone for fall camp and the 2026 season.
Elko opened by emphasizing the fresh start in front of his team after a summer of work. Texas A&M is coming off an 11-0 start last season, the first since 1992, and a College Football Playoff appearance that ended with a first-round loss to Miami at Kyle Field.
The Aggies also watched 10 players get selected in the 2026 NFL Draft, tying a program record and leaving clear openings to fill. Elko addressed that reality while talking about the next step for the program.
“We're finally here. Excited to get report day underway today and get through some of the organizational stuff today,” Elko said.
“Excited for this team and for the work they put in this summer. Now we have to figure out who we are.”
He also weighed in on the broader state of college sports, pointing to the shifting legal and roster landscape around the sport.
“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 we had to rechange them,” Elko said. “I thought it was tremendously indicitive of how this sport is being governed right now.”
On the health front, Elko said he does not expect any players to miss the first day of camp. He also gave an update on linebacker Daymion Sanford, saying, “There are some markers and steps he has to go through. He's on course to be (ready for the season opener).”
Competition is going to define camp, and Elko made that point plainly. He said he still believes younger players grow best when they have to earn everything.
“I'm still a firm believer that when you have 18-21 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,” Elko said. “You still want to create that competitive mindset in these young kids.”
That battle extends to the offensive line, where Texas A&M is bringing in a new group and leaning on the steady hand of Adam Cushing. Elko said keeping Cushing in the building mattered, especially with the line needing to come together quickly.
“I have so much confidence in Adam going into year five together. There's a comfort in his coaching demeanor, how he develops guys, what he instills in them, the mentality that our o-line plays with,” Elko said.
“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.”
At center, Mark Nabou Jr. remains a key piece. Elko called him “old, but he hasn't played a lot,” then pointed to the growth he showed after his first full season as a starter.
“Last year was the first year he went start to finish as a starter. He learned a lot about playing 12 SEC football games, what that means mentally, what that means physically and I think he's taken that natural development step that you would like to see a returning starter at center take. We've gottena really, really good version of Mark and having an established, experience center goes a long way when you're putting an offensive line together.”
The bigger roster picture still has plenty of open questions, and Elko said he likes that some starting jobs are unsettled heading into camp.
“We're excited about the fact that I don't know who some of the starters are going into fall camp,” Elko said. “There's a lot of competition across the board, and ultimately, that elevates everything in your program.”
One area where Elko feels especially good is the secondary. He described it as an SEC-caliber group and said the depth there should hold up over the course of the season.
“We're going into a season with an SEC-level secondary. There have been times in the past where that's not exactly where we were,” Elko said. “When you look at the pieces we have back there, you feel really good about rotating and feel really good about holding up through 12 games.”
Elko also framed the program’s bigger mission in simple terms.
“This program has had a really hard time doubling down on success. That's our challenge,” Elko said.
As for the summer work, he said the team’s development should be obvious once camp gets rolling.
“What you do in the summer is critical. We talk about the offseason being a four-quarter offseason… Fall camp is quarter four,” Elko said. “Tommy (Moffitt) does a phenomenal job of establishing culture… The strides and development, you will be impressed with what this team looks like.”
Special teams will feature a few familiar names as well. Elko said Mario Craver and Terry Bussey will be involved in punt returns, with Isaiah Horton also in the mix.
He finished by discussing Horton, the Alabama transfer wide receiver, and the details that matter at that stage of a receiver’s development.
“When you get to that stage of your career, it's the fine-tuned details and technical aspects of route-running that we're working on,” Elko said. “It's milliseconds on timing and being in the right window and being where the quarterback's eyes are.”
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