Texas A&M's Offseason Mission: 'Get Good At Football'

© Jake Crandall/Montgomery Advertiser/USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Texas A&M Aggies made strides as a football program in many ways during the 2024-25 season.

They spent much of the year as the first-place team in the Southeastern Conference, fighting off road demons against Florida and Mississippi State during the early portions of conference play. Texas A&M also won eight games in a season for the first time since 2021. Unfortunately, the great start didn't last and the Aggies failed to reach the SEC Championship Game, leaving much to improve upon during the upcoming offseason.

"This is the reality of our situation," head coach Mike Elko told the media in a postgame press conference following the Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 28. "I think we learned how to become accountable. I think we learned how to care for each other. I think we learned how to practice hard. I think we learned what work ethic looks like. None of those things existed in this program when I got here. Not one of them."

The culture Elko has begun to establish could be a good sign of what's to come, but the season's end was a reminder of how much work remains to be done.

"... What we didn't do was get good enough at football, and that's ultimately my responsibility," he continued. "We are fundamentally not good enough. We are just not good enough right now."

Texas A&M Down the Stretch

The season ended with losses in four of the team's last five games, including a monumental collapse against USC in the Las Vegas Bowl. A&M held a 24-7 lead in the third quarter against the Trojans but allowed the passing attack to get USC back in the game, resulting in a 35-31 Aggie loss.

The passing defense was a paramount issue for Texas A&M all season. USC's 295 yards through the air was the third game in which Texas A&M gave up at least 290 passing yards to its opponent in the season. It also marked the eighth time that the Aggies allowed at least 240 passing yards in a game.

"I think the story of the game was the story of our season," Elko remarked after the loss in Las Vegas. "We can't cover the forward pass well enough to be a good football team."

Texas A&M's biggest issues in pass coverage may have been a result of the fit between Elko's desired scheme and the experience and abilities of the players on the roster along with various injury situations. Plus, safety BJ Mayes was forced to play out of position at cornerback due to personnel availability during the bowl game. Several starters along the defensive line opted out to focus on the NFL.

Linebacker Scooby Williams and cornerback Jayvon Thomas were among those missing the game due to injury.

"We can't play zone coverage," Elko emphasized. "Every time we play zone coverage, we give up big plays. We have no concept of space. We have no concept of zone coverage. We have no concept of what we're doing, so we have to play man-to-man all the time. We had some guys filling in some roles in there that got caught in some man-to-man situations, and that was hard for them."

Hitting the Reset Button

The 2025 season will bring a new slate for Elko and Co. where they can build on the experiences of his first season at the helm. While many critical contributors to the defense like defensive end Nic Scourton and defensive linemen Albert Regis, Shemar Stewart and Shemar Turner depart, several other starters will return to the Aggies. They will take on increased leadership roles as Elko and his staff continue to instill their vision on the program.

“I definitely trust in Elko’s plan and his vision and things of that nature,” edge rusher Cashius Howell told the media after the Las Vegas Bowl. “At this point, it’s kind of up to us as the players to rally together and get some type of leadership going. Now that we’ve lost a lot of old guys, we’ve got to get some leadership and just rally together, and hopefully, the outcome will be different next year.”

Howell will be one of the foundational pieces asked to take another leap in 2025 as the roster goes through some annual turnover due to graduations, NFL aspirations and the Transfer Portal, among other circumstances. It will be on him and the rest of the team to make sure they improve and push forward the mission and goals of the program to set it up for sustained success in the future.

Many of those returning players had significant roles in the secondary, so there is still room for them to grow and develop. It all starts with winter workouts and spring practices, and, of course, whatever transfers join the team during the offseason. Also, the work will be around how quickly they adapt to fit the culture and Texas A&M's schemes.

"The challenge is, when we get back here in January, that everything needs to get turned up," Elko claimed. "We are now where we need to be from a culture standpoint. Now, we have to become a good football program. That's the next step that we have to take."