By: Colin Lacy

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

There has been so much excitement in College Station the past few years, only to see it get squashed at the end of the season for the Texas A&M Aggies.

At the end of the 2025 season, despite being the #7 seed in the College Football Playoff, the Aggies were one game away from playing in the SEC Championship game and likely a top 4 seed in the College Football Playoff with a bye that coincides.

Mike Elko enters his third season as head coach in the lone star state and continues to elevate the Texas A&M program each year.

Marcel Reed returns for another year leading the Aggies at quarterback and has been one of the most dynamic quarterbacks in the SEC at times. Reed opens 2026 as one of eight returning FBS QBs nationally to amass 5,000+ career passing yards and 1,000+ rushing yards.

The Nashville native saw action in 3 games in 2023 before taking over in 2024 as the starting quarterback. Injuries sidelined Reed for a few games but came back strong in 2025.

The additional benefit that Texas A&M sees is so many familiar faces, especially in the skill position rooms. Receivers, particularly with All-SEC wide-out Mario Craver along with Terry Bussey, Ashton Bethel-Roman all return to be impactful pieces of the Aggie Offense.

The lone transfer into the receivers is Isaiah Horton who comes to the 12^th Man from Miami making 11 starts for the Hurricanes last season.

While the skill positions are locked in with a similar cast, the trenches have been re-done. The offensive line is expected to have at least three transfers on the front.

Trovon Baugh sits at 6-4, 335 and is expected to start at right guard after spending the last 3 years at South Carolina.

The two ends of the line are high impact transfers, both standing at 6-7. Wilkin Formby transfers in from Alabama after 14 starts for the Tide last season at right tackle, and on the left side is expected to be Tyree Adams, the LSU transfer at 6-7, 310 pounds.

The biggest emphasis this offseason for TAMU has been toughness. Mike Elko has ramped up the camps to bring an added intensity to the lead-up to the season because that has been the achilles heel of the Aggies in the past few years at times.

The defense is the main side that has been tasked with cranking up the intensity. Second year Defensive Coordinator Lyle Hemphill brings in a couple of key transfers that are expected to have an immediate impact of bringing the defense to the level that is expected under Mike Elko.

Up front, CJ Mimms comes in after stops at East Carolina and North Carolina with over 30 starts between the two under his belt.

In the secondary, Rickey Gibson stays in the SEC coming over from Tennessee and linebacker Ray Coney steps up after being a first team all AAC selection last year at Tulsa.

Between the emphasis on intensity coupled with the scheming of the defensive mind of Mike Elko, it could be a match made in heaven for the 12^th man this year.

Elko is someone that just fits the culture (a very unique culture at that) of College Station. He’s embraced it, he’s lived it as a defensive coordinator before going to Duke as a head coach, and now enters year 3 of his head coaching tenure at Texas A&M.

They have taken leaps every year in the past and this is a team from the SEC that I think gets over the hump and into the national spotlight deep into the College Football Playoffs.