Elko positive after offseason exodus at TAMU

• Dave Wilson, ESPN Staff WriterJul 18, 2024, 03:50 PM ET

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  Dave Wilson is a college football press reporter. He formerly worked at The Dallas Morning News, San Diego Union-Tribune and Las Vegas Sun.DALLAS– After an

offseason at Texas A&M that saw an exodus of players following the firing of Jimbo Fisher, Aggies coach Mike Elko said Thursday that he mores than happy with the state of the program ahead of his first season at the helm.Texas A&M had 30 players leave, most significantly several members of

Fisher’s 2022 No. 1 national class, including No. 1 total recruit Walter Nolen, who went to Ole Miss. However Elko said in his very first appearance at SEC media days that there was no panic in re-recruiting his own roster.”The people who wished to stay remained,”Elko said in a session with ESPN.

“You just desire individuals who want to be with you. … Had you used NIL dollars, had you utilized other ways to try to keep people, then they’re not actually there due to the fact that they want to be. They’re there because of some extenuating factors. And then that’s when you get dispute, because they’re not there to really do the things the method your vision desires them to be done.”Editor’s Picks 2 Related Elko noted this is his seventh time as a first-year personnel at a brand-new

school, 5 as a planner and two as a head coach. He left a job as protective coordinator under Fisher at A&M before taking over at Duke prior to the 2022 season.Change is something he’s utilized to, and rebuilding a lineup on the fly is not foreign.”I’ve only been a head coach in the portal period.

Therefore, I don’t have any previous feelings of what culture-building looks like.

I just understand how to do it when you have this massive lineup turnover all the time.”The Aggies included 28 new players to fill those holes in Elko’s very first days in College Station.Taurean York, a freshman All-American linebacker for the Aggies

last season, stated it was chaotic amid the unpredictability of a training search, but he thinks the ended up item will be much improved over the teams that went a combined 12-13 over the past two seasons.After Fisher was fired with a$76 million buyout, sources informed ESPN that there was a” culture of individualism “in the program with players rarely held responsible.

“Accountability” was a keyword amongst the Aggies players, with offending lineman Trey Zuhn III saying discipline has actually been a focus. “We’ve had some problems in the past, however we’ve certainly got those squared away, “Zuhn said. “[ Elko] brought responsibility to the group, where individuals need to be where they’re needed to be on time, every day. … If you’re defending your entire team. It simply makes it that much easier. “Regardless of the recent wave of mediocrity, Elko stated he was drawn to Texas A&M since of the opportunity to break through. Texas A&M hasn’t won a championship game since

1939 or a conference title considering that 1998. Elko, who took over a 3-9 Duke team and was named the 2022 ACC Coach of the Year after going 9-4, thinks he’s up to the job.”There’s not a lot of programs where you say they

have the infrastructure to win at all, and they haven’t been able to do it yet, or they haven’t rather been able to get the dish right yet,”Elko said. “I believe as a rival, you constantly have the inner self-confidence that you’re the one that can figure it out. … You boil down here and you learn what this place is and what it’s everything about. And now the opportunity to come back and run the program, you think you can get it to where it should be.”