Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko talks to his staff during an injury time out against Samford in the fourth quarter of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, in College Station, Texas. (AP Photo/Sam Craft)
Sam Craft/AP
Mike Elko has big goals for Texas A&M after a strong second season with the Aggies that included a College Football Playoff appearance.
With spring ball wrapping up and the NFL draft around the corner, A&M’s head coach joined “The Hardline” on Sportsradio 96.7 FM/1310 The Ticket (KTCK-AM) and discussed the ins and outs of spring football, his former players who will hear their name called in the draft and more.
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Below are highlights from the conversation, edited lightly for clarity.
What’s your feel on the guys Texas A&M is sending to the NFL draft this year and the steps forward the program has taken?
Mike Elko: We’ve been not what we could have been in terms of developing NFL talent, if you really look at it, we haven’t really had double-digit draft picks in a long time, probably before I was born. And so we’re hopeful this year that we have an opportunity to get double-digit draft picks. That’ll be a really huge thing for our program. We had 13 guys at the NFL Combine, most in the country. That was obviously really big. And all indications point to us having three of the top 45 picks in the draft, and so I think those things are all indications of the direction of the program. And I think we talked the first time I came in studio about that was a huge emphasis for us, was generating, creating and playing with more NFL talent. And I think we’re starting to be able to do that.
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How big is spring ball for y’all? Describe it to the layman who’s not real sure what goes on during the spring and how important it is for you guys come fall.
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Elko: Yeah, for us, it’s critical. I think this is the most developmental time of year with the way the NCAA rules have shifted, we don’t get a ton of padded practices. We don’t get to scrimmage with other teams like the NFL does. We don’t get preseason games like the NFL does. And so really, we try to do a lot of our legwork in spring football because you’re far enough removed that all the bumps and bruises will heal up long before the season and you can kind of really do some of the core development within your program. And so for us, spring is critical. And then obviously, with the way college football is nowadays, you’re welcoming in a lot of new players, and so you’ve got to get a lot of new people up to speed with how we do things, offense, defense, system, all of that. And so yeah, it’s critical time for us, for sure.
At this point in your program, after you had a fantastic run into the playoff and you debrief after the season, when you get to spring are you just tinkering? Are you honing what you’ve been doing? Are there any major changes that you’re trying to implement?
Elko: Yeah, I think you’re always trying to figure out if there’s ways to become more efficient in everything, how you run the program, how you train, how you practice. I think we want to be a program that stays on the front edge of everything when it comes to being the premier program for our players to be part of. And so I don’t know that you’re doing wholesale changes, but you certainly want to be very aggressive at how you look at how you do things. And don’t ever want to be a program that, okay, we had a good season, so we’re fine, because I think that mentality will get you beat quick this day and age.
You mentioned some of your draft picks, would love to get 30 seconds on each of them from you. Start with Cashius Howell.
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Elko: Yeah, SEC Defensive Player of the Year, had 14.5 sacks, just an electric edge pressure guy. And obviously at the next level, where the need to pressure the quarterback is so critical, he brings tremendous pass rush ability. He’s got flexibility in what he can do as a cover player too, a little bit, not that you want to drop a guy that’s getting after the quarterback like that too much. But I do think he’s got some flexibility as an outside linebacker too. And so just a tremendous prospect in my eyes.
KC Concepcion, portaled in from NC State, you want to talk about electric, there it is.
Elko: In a lot of ways, became the game-changer we were looking for and we talked about needing to find elite offensive skill players, and that being something that really had been a hole at the wide receiver position here almost since Mike Evans had left and Christian Kirk and so it was great to get him in here, he’s dynamic. He can return punts, he can get open, he can separate better than anybody I’ve ever been around, and then makes a lot of tough contested catches. And so he’s going to be a great pro.
Then Chase Bisontis, I thought he was your best lineman against Miami. Just a nasty dude, loves to finish.
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Elko: Really, just a physical kid inside road grader, very powerful. Can move people, which I think is a critical skill for an interior offensive lineman. And then I think he’s got really good feet and athleticism to be able to pass pro against the elite 3-techniques. And so he’s a kid, I think whose stock has really risen as people have dove into the tape and really started to study who he is. He had a great Pro Day. Had a really, really good offensive line workout with some of the scouts and so, yeah, looking forward to seeing him get his name called.
Is that the biggest challenge for the ’26 team, replacing darn near the entire offensive line that was a strength for you guys last year?
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Elko: So as I was at the combine celebrating having seven linemen up there, four on offense, three on defense, there was also a piece of me in the back of my head that was wondering how the heck we were going to play next year. I do think if we want to become the program we want to be, this is a big year for us to prove that we can reload, and not a program that just every once in a while does something. We want to be a program that consistently is putting double-digit kids into the NFL, consistently representing this university the right way and winning games on the field. And this will be a big year for us to show we can do that.
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The back half of your schedule looks remarkably difficult with Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Texas. There’s five or six schools in the SEC each year that look like brutal matchups.
Elko: Yeah, I think adding the ninth game in the SEC obviously, I think created some gauntlets for everybody. I think when you look across the board, there’s just so many quality programs in this league that it’s impossible to get a good draw. And so I think if you look at everybody’s schedule, across our conference, and we certainly have talked about this as coaches, none of it looks fun, but that’s why you play in this league. That’s why you choose to play in this league. It’s why you choose to coach in this league, because there are a lot of elite programs, and you know you’re going to go against the best week in and week out, and certainly that’s the challenge we want to be part of.