August is here, and with Texas A&M’s preseason set to begin on August 5, the speculation machine is already rolling. Third-year coach Mike Elko is scheduled to address the media on Tuesday afternoon, right before the Aggies take the field for their first practice the following Wednesday.
One of the latest predictions comes from On3 analyst J.D. PicKell, who has been among Texas A&M’s more bullish national voices in the past, including being one of the few to forecast the Aggies as a College Football Playoff team. This time, though, he’s not projecting another 11-2 type of season for Elko’s 2026 squad.
The biggest reason is the schedule. Texas A&M’s road slate includes trips to LSU, Missouri, Alabama, South Carolina and Oklahoma, and PicKell thinks that kind of lineup makes matching last season’s record a tough ask.
He does see the Aggies opening the year 3-0, with home wins over Missouri State, Arizona State and Kentucky. But he’s also siding with the home team in the LSU game, believing the matchup in Baton Rouge will be much tighter than Texas A&M’s 49-25 rout last season under new head coach Lane Kiffin.
From there, PicKell has Texas A&M bouncing back with wins over Arkansas and Missouri before pulling off a road victory at Alabama in Tuscaloosa. That would put the Aggies at 6-1 heading into a crucial trip to South Carolina.
Chris Marler, an SEC analyst and host of Locked on Gamecocks, already picked South Carolina to potentially "blow out" Texas A&M in Williams-Brice Stadium. PicKell doesn’t go that far, but he does believe the Aggies will get revenge after South Carolina’s embarrassing loss in Kyle Field last season, when the Gamecocks led 30-3 at halftime.
At 6-2, PicKell has Texas A&M beating Citadel and Tennessee at home before dropping a late-season game at Oklahoma in Norman. Even so, he still has the Aggies finishing with a win over Texas at home for the first time since the Longhorns joined the SEC, leaving Texas A&M at 9-3 and, in his view, likely outside the CFP picture. For a roster he believes has talent and depth everywhere, that would still feel like a missed opportunity.
In Other News...
Texas A&M Has Three Fall Camp Names Fans Need To Watch
Fall camp is about to give Texas A&M a much clearer picture of where it stands heading into the new season, and there are a few names worth tracking as the Aggies sort through the roster. Anto Saka arrives as a transfer edge rusher from Northwestern, bringing added pressure up front, while wide receiver TK Norman has a chance to work his way into a bigger role as the depth chart starts to take shape.
There is also a quieter but important storyline in the kicking game, where David Olano, another Illinois transfer, enters as part of the competition to steady a spot that can swing close games. For a team looking to move forward after last season, these are the kinds of players who can change the tone of camp before the first snap of fall even arrives. [Read more 🡒]
Texas A&M May Have Found The Help Marcel Reed Needed Most
Marcel Reeds first full season as Texas A&Ms starter gave the Aggies plenty to build on, but it also exposed where the passing game still needs help. He threw for 3,169 yards with 25 touchdowns and 12 interceptions, yet the offense had a harder time holding up against top-35 defenses, which made receiver play a clear offseason priority. Texas A&M went looking for more size and reliability on the outside, and it found a notable addition in Isaiah Horton, a transfer from Alabama.
Horton arrives as the kind of target the Aggies have been missing, one Mike Elko specifically pointed to at SEC Media Days as a potential boost for both the passing game and the red zone. For Reed, the fit matters because the next step is less about proving he can manage the job and more about giving him the kind of downfield and near-the-goal-line help that can change what this offense looks like against the leagues better defenses. [Read more 🡒]
Zyron Forstall Looks Like A Perfect Fit For Mike Elkos Defense
Zyron Forstall has already started to look like the kind of recruit Texas A&M can build a defense around, even if his arrival is still well down the road. The five-star edge rusher in the Aggies 2027 class brings the kind of speed and quickness that have evaluators thinking beyond one role, and his junior season at IMG Academy gave Reel Analytics plenty to point to when showing how he can get after the quarterback.
For Texas A&M, the appeal goes beyond raw talent. Mike Elko and defensive line coaches Elijah Robinson and Tony Jerod-Eddie are expected to shape Forstall into a versatile piece who can move around the front and contribute in a rotational role by 2027, which is exactly the sort of fit that can make a defense more difficult to plan for. The question now is how much of that promise the Aggies can unlock once he gets into their system. [Read more 🡒]