The wait is just about over.

Texas A&M coach Mike Elko held his first press conference of the 2026 season Monday, discussing where his team stands as well as the Aggies’ opening night opponent, Missouri State (6 p.m. central time, Saturday, Sept. 5, ESPN). Here’s some of what he had to say:

Opening statement: it’s finally game week. You know, finally we get to stop talking. Finally we get to stop talking about what things can be, what things can be about, and we get to run out of the tunnel and go play somebody else. And it’s beyond past the time to go do that. Our kids are really excited and fired up for it. Opportunity to take on a Missouri State team who recently made the jump to Conference USA and really is one of the hotter athletic departments in the country. When you look at some of the things they accomplished last year, football being a bowl team in their first year in Division One, the women’s basketball team making and advancing in the NCAA tournament, the baseball team qualifying for the NCAA tournament as an at-large-I just think this is a program that’s really, really on the rise. And they went out this off season and hired a new head coach, Casey Woods, who was the offensive coordinator at SMU. A guy who is really well renowned as an offensive strategist, a young guy who has been really, really hot in the OC market in the last few years. And so, it’s an exciting program. It’s an exciting team to get a chance to go out and compete against, and we’re really looking forward to it.

I think when you talk about personnel, we’ve talked a lot about how openers sometimes are very challenging. I think when you’re playing a new staff, it makes it even more challenging. I think the amount of film that we’re watching, in terms of teams, you know, you’re watching UTEP, SMU, TCU, Tulane, Auburn, you know, to try to get schematics, and then that’s to say nothing about all of the players that you’re having to watch and the different places that they come from, and so trying to do the best job we can of piecing it all together and trying to figure it all out.

On the ongoing offensive line competition: I think we’re getting closer to knowing what it’ll look like. I think it’s been a very very competitive battle, which has been really really good for us. It’s been really good to see some of the young guys. We’ve talked about this a lot, but some of the young guys in our program really elevate, and then see some of the new guys who have come into the program and really being forced to elevate in order to win jobs. And you know, I still believe it’s played out like we hoped it would. You have a really, really strong competition where, in the end of the day, whoever runs out there for the first snap, there’s going to be a lot of guys that get an opportunity to go out there and play both inside a guard and center, and then outside a tackle as well. And so, I think we’re getting a little bit closer to who the group will be that starts. But the reality is, is we’re still searching to figure out who the best five is and what that will look like because you don’t really know until you get into those live game settings what it’s going to look like together.

On rotating linemen like the team did in 2025: I just think that’s who we’ve been. You know, last year when we had a lot of returning starters and nobody was unsure about who the starters were, we still went into this opening segment knowing we were going to rotate guys in, and I just think that’s really really important. I think the more guys that you have involved, the more guys that you believe can help you win, the better that is for everything. It’s better for morale. It’s better for lasting 12 games. It’s better for development. It’s just literally better in every way, shape, or form when you have enough guys that can go out there and rotate and help. Now the challenge is making sure that you have enough guys that the level doesn’t drop, and they’re capable of playing to the standard they need to play at, and I think that’s what the competition has shown. And now we’ve got to go out in a game setting and show that we can play at that level.

On the status of linebacker Daymion Sanford: Probably still a little bit of a game time decision. But if if you were to ask me right now, yes, I anticipate him being out there.

On why he thinks this team can make another step and contend for a championship: That’s a hard question to answer until you get out there and play. I don’t know that you see things until you go out and you got to play for real. We’ve elevated ourselves to be a team that has made the playoff, has competed to go to the SEC championship, has finished in the top 10. You know, I think whether this team can do that, I don’t know. We’ll find out when we start playing people for real.

Why they went with veteran kicker David Olano over true freshman Asher Murray: (Olano)’s a really good kicker. As I think you know, he was hurt in the spring and so he didn’t really get to kick much. And so Asher got his opportunity and really did a nice job. And then that created a competition. You know, not because David didn’t do anything, but just because you had this other guy really step up all spring, and and so then they went back and forth, and you know was very very close and very very tight and tight because both guys were phenomenal, and so I think we have a really really strong kicking situation, and we just decided to go with the guy who maybe has done it a little bit more at the college level at this point, but both of them were really, really good this fall.

Expectations for the opener and what he wants to see: I feel like sometimes in openers, everyone’s trying to identify is like, is this team going to be good enough? Like, I know we’re good enough to compete. I know we’re good enough to compete. I know we have enough talent to be in this thing. I know we’re going to have an opportunity. What we have to do is be a team that that focuses on what is important to play winning football, and then that grows week to week. And so, for me, it’s, I want to go out there. I want to play somebody. I want to see where we’re at, and then from there, it’s going to be really important wherever that is that we grow coming out of it, and that to me is what makes really really good football teams over the course of a season. But I’m not, I’m not sitting here on this podium like, oh my gosh, I need to see this or we’re in trouble. Like I just-that’s not really how how we work as coaches.

On Missouri State: You know they’ve got a really talented quarterback that came over from UTEP (Skyler Locklear) that started seven games, who’s got the ability to hurt you with his arms and with his legs, and came with the offensive coordinator, and so he’s going to be familiar with you know the offensive style and what they’re trying to do. They’ve got a slot receiver (Jmariyae Robinson) who is their leading receiver from last year, who’s really really talented. They got a big, tall, athletic tight end (Dillon Hipp). From there, it’s it’s a lot of transfers and trying to piece the there what they’re going to look like in the new system in a new program.

The importance of offensive line cohesion: I think you guys have have talked about that more than I have (Note: you’re welcome.) I think we moved guys around a lot positionally, and everybody wanted to know when we were going to slot guys into their right spot. Like, at the end of the day, there’s a comfort level for sure when you’ve played with a guy next to you for a long time. But college football has so much turnover and always has that I don’t know that that’s our world. I think that’s the NFL world where like the right guard and the right tackle have played together for eight years and they’ve grown together and they know each other. And our world, you never get more than two max of the same guys playing next to each other anyway. And so I think we’ve had to learn how to adapt to putting together old lines that can play cohesively together without all of that knowledge and experience, and so yeah, you experience helps for sure, you know. And so you’d rather do it with older guys than younger guys, but you also have some younger guys that are really, really talented, and so they’re going to have to be able to get out there and be able to do it as cohesively as the older guys, and so I think for us it’s just more about operation and functionality than it is the cohesive part of it.

Why Julio Humphrey is starting week 1: I think a tremendous work ethic. He’s been really, really consistent all through spring, all through summer, all through fall camp. I think he’s gotten really confident playing the ball, or more confident playing the ball. I think one of the things he struggled with at times last year was, you know, that final decision on the ball. He got a little bit. We usually the word antsy, but like we get antsy, and then that gets grabby, and you start grabbing receivers and doing things that you don’t need to do to be effective, and I think he’s just gotten a lot more comfortable and confident with with what we’re asking of him, and I think that’s shown through. And you know, he’s been a warrior; he hasn’t missed a single practice since last season ended. And I think he’s really, really grown and developed. And so we’re excited to get him out there.

The rapid improvement of the linebacker corps: I just think they made a really really big jump, and and I think you know some of that was was naturally expected because you know you had some some younger new guys, you know Ray Coney, Tamarion Watkins taking a lot of reps in the spring in a new system and and all of that. But I just think the overall growth and development of the group really sticks out. I think Ray has had a really really strong summer. I think he had a really really strong fall camp. I think Noah Mikhail has taken a really really big jump forward. We’re really happy with what Jordan Lockhart has done and how he has played. You know, and then Tamarion Watkins has has really evolved since the time he got here to where he is now. And so I just think there’s been a lot of growth in that room, and it’s been really, really cool to see.

How good can the defense be? We’ll see. That’ll be the words I’ll use for everything. You know, we’ll see. I think we have a chance to be really good if we have the ability to go out and focus and play with the level of urgency that we need to. You know, I think they have they have a very very high ceiling, but they’ve got to go out and they’ve got to go out and do it.