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Negative Recruiting Your Own School: The aggy Screenshot Megathread
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Negative Recruiting Your Own School: The aggy Screenshot Megathread
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Negative Recruiting Your Own School: The aggy Screenshot Megathread
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Negative Recruiting Your Own School: The aggy Screenshot Megathread
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Negative Recruiting Your Own School: The aggy Screenshot Megathread
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Negative Recruiting Your Own School: The aggy Screenshot Megathread
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Texas A&M Recruiting 2026: The World's Drunkest Elk
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Liucci Segment 1 (00:00:00 - 10:30:12) Here is the thing about Marcel Reed. I thought he did a lot of things in the bowl game that I hadn't seen him do much of. The game-ending drive, the check-downs, being decisive with the ball, in rhythm and on time. He was really good in that game. We could pick apart a lot. I think when he hits that maturation point when he is a seasoned, veteran quarterback, his style of play will be one we can nitpick. As he gets better and better, he will take chances. In two of A&M's last three games, he led the Aggies downfield in the closing minutes of a football game. He put them in the end zone twice late against Auburn and USC. Reed was certainly one of the reasons A&M should have won both of those games. The drops impacted the game's results. I think he was a real strength in those games. Texas got after him. That is one of the couple best defenses in the country. That was not a good day for him or anyone in Maroon & White. Were you encouraged by Reed against Arkansas? That was a tougher game for him. I would say it was a positive. He led a game-winning drive in Jerry World in his second start. It was mostly Le'Veon Moss. Reed was scrambling. He didn’t play vs. Mississippi State or Missouri. LSU? That was obviously a positive. South Carolina, I would say a negative for him. Auburn? Positive. Texas? Negative. USC? Positive. I have two negatives as a freshman. Stephen McGee is like our coach in the studio. I love when he does that. You have Ryan Swope as the eyes of "I played with Johnny Manziel." Swope is just like, "Let's play ball and see what happens." McGee will gravitate toward Conner Weigmans of the world, and Swope will gravitate toward players like Reed. Segment 2 (10:30:13 - 28:12:19) Our fans and every fan will get mad if a player they want to stay or think should stay goes into the transfer portal. They will post a lot of things that will not help said player to come back. That happens everywhere. Texas A&M wants to keep Noah Thomas. If I was a betting man, I would bet that A&M doesn't keep him. If you made me bet, but I am not confident enough that I would make that bet. There's a chance he will come back. They are still in communication. Georgia, in particular, was a big part in convincing him to go into the portal. James Coley is over there. This is ironic because the first couple of rough years here for Thomas were with Coley on staff. Who is Georgia's quarterback next year? Probably Gunner Stockton. You know a lot more about Reed. Georgia does need receivers. I know Texas is sniffing around. I'm sure Ole Miss will sniff around. Tennessee is involved. Everyone will go after a guy who scored eight touchdowns this year. Thomas’ top-end highlights are up there with damn near anyone. With his top-10 catches at A&M, you are going, "Oh wow." When you enter the portal, you make a choice for one year. You have agents, and they convince you that it may be a better move to get eyes on you for the next level. That's what Mike Elko and Collin Klein are fighting against. Where does Thomas fit in the Texas receiving corps? How much could Georgia and Stockton get him the football? You know A&M's playbook and Reed. Kevin Concepcion had been beaten down with the "Marcel Reed can't throw" narrative. He came to practice and said, "Oh, yeah. I can come here and play with him." He actually watched and saw him. Do I think Thomas is going in to make more money? Nope. I genuinely do not believe that. Because of leverage and because he's a veteran, big, tall receiver, he will get taken care of. He has an agent and people in his ear saying, "Go get more balls." Again, that is not a sure thing. By the way, Georgia has issues outside of Stetson Bennett, Brock Bowers and Ladd McConkey. Outside of that window, they have had a lot of issues. You wonder how Thomas feels about three portal receivers. The logic sometimes goes out the window when you have every coach in the country, except your own, telling you one thing. You and I can sit here without having the emotion and decision that every college football player has. You can be as critical of Reed or praise him as much as you want. The one thing you have to understand is that the kid could have gone into the portal and commanded. Reed stayed. He made to decision to not go into those waters and get overwhelmed. I don't think Thomas went in just to test the open waters. I think there was a specific team or team that convinced that to happen behind the scenes. A&M, I promise you, has done that with guys. There were guys we thought would go in the portal that A&M would get. Why did we think that? I think it will take a lot to pull Thomas back. Here is the deal: If I were Thomas, I look at the roster and receivers and go, "I am the best one today. I was the best one this fall and the biggest threat." I loved Jabre Barber. Thomas was the best one this year. When you throw in Concepcion, Mario Craver and Micah Hudson... Look, you lost Moose Muhammad III, Jahdae Walker and Cyrus Allen. You need guys. If you are Thomas and whatever attention he got this year, in theory, at WR1, it should be gone. That is the point of bringing in the portal guys. If you look at Thomas’ freshman to sophomore to junior seasons, he has improved. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. People are preying on the emotion of "This is my audition before the NFL." I do think he has an NFL future in some capacity. People that don't think it's that big of a loss are wrong. People that think it's the end of the world are wrong. You can live in the middle. He could help A&M win a lot of games next year and start. If A&M is unable to get Thomas back, I don't know that you "replace." If he leaves, it creates more of a clear pathway for a guy like Hudson. I would expect them to try to get some with size out there, and I would like them to do that if he doesn't return. Again, they are trying to get him back. I don't think he walks around thinking he is an NFL first or second-round pick. He is not yet. Early on, he was playing hurt. He's been in three offenses in three years. He is finally getting a chance to be in the same offense. Sometimes, it's not enough to matter. Mississippi State is probably mad at A&M for Craver. Texas Tech, same thing. Every fanbase wonders why somebody why a guy leaves their school, and every fanbase celebrates a new guy coming. It goes both ways. Segment 3 (28:12:20 - 34:48:23) Last year, they signed Alex Howard but also got Scooby Williams and Solomon DeShields, who were clearly better. Howard lasted a spring. A couple of offensive linemen came here and quickly realized they were not playing and quickly left. They do not need to do that in year two under Elko. It's truly about, "Are we upgrading what is on the field everywhere but the defensive line?" On the defensive line, you need to build depth, too. If you see a linebacker that can improve the unit, I am going and getting him. Love Williams. Love Taurean York. I think Daymion Sanford will make another big jump. I am excited about his future. Everyone else is young and unproven. If one of your two top guys got banged up or got hurt... How do you feel? I wouldn't feel great about that position over the long haul. I would be looking for that. I think Noah Mikhail can make a big impact. I would look at safety. Nickel is on the table. Maybe one more corner with the ability to play nickel. You look at Christian Harrison. I think he will be a real target for the Aggies. I think he would be a take. You watch that game against USC, and I just saw too many bad angles. Dalton Brooks felt like the one guy who could consistently make plays on the ball. That is a position I would look to add in the secondary. On the offensive line, they will get the entire room back, or damn close to it. For Tyler Onyedim, I would look at it as a great opportunity to walk onto an SEC team and start day one. That's not guaranteed because of Albert Regis and DJ Hicks. Still, Elko rotates his players on the defensive line. There were rumors saying that Clemson guys were going in, and only one did. He was not one of the impact guys. Dabo Swinney did a good job of keeping a couple of those guys. I have heard Hugh Freeze is fighting dirty. It's a tired game, but it's not going anywhere. Segment 4 (34:48:24 - 48:08:25) The Peach Bowl was a lot of entertainment. First and foremost, for everyone in New Orleans, be safe. Everyone is hopeful everything is under control, which I believe it is. To me, it was obvious to move back a day, and I think it was necessary. I am excited about Georgia-Notre Dame. I would bet the under, and I don't even know what it is. I felt like Ohio State was a better football team the Oregon going in. What we saw against Ohio State against Tennessee was that playing at home and it all coming together, or was that Ohio State turning a corner and the Michigan game woke the sleeping beast? That's what it was. They look like the team everyone thought they would be. People were asking me which team was better equipped to beat Texas. Will Howard looks as good as any quarterback in college football. I kept saying it's Ohio State because they have the line of scrimmage to line up with Texas. The Arizona State defensive front completely shut down the run game. What Ohio State has at the skill positions... It's a lot of high-round draft picks. They can match up well with the back seven for Texas. I think Jeremiah Smith is so much better than Marvin Harrison Jr. I think Oregon got royally screwed by the seeding method to open up the playoff with Ohio State. Texas vs. Arizona State. Let's start with the targeting. I will start with this because I don't want to be that guy... I actually do like being that guy. I am going to be fair here. The Arizona State kicker was not going to win the game. If Bert Auburn had gone down and kicked the field goal at the end of regulation, the non-targeting call lost that game for the Sun Devils because it gave Texas enough time. If they had called it and the Arizona State kicker missed, there would have been no time left, and they would have gone to OT. When it happened, you thought it would have cost them the game. You gave Texas a minute left with the ball, but Auburn is a mess at the worst time. That's kickers for you. Steve Sarkisian probably has no faith in Auburn, so you do something drastic... Like trying to hypnotize him. Then he missed it. The targeting no-call didn't necessarily lose the game. I think Arizona State would have had time to run the offense, and I think they would have won the game with a walk-off field goal if the refs called targeting. It doesn't guarantee it. As soon Arizona State lined up on fourth down... Don't make Quinn Ewers snap, catch and throw an accurate ball to an open receiver. He will do that all day. That was a disastrous call by Kenny Dillingham on a day where he flat-out outcoached Sarkisian. He dared a veteran quarterback with great receivers to beat them on fourth-and-13. Where does Ewers rank NFL-wise? Does Texas want him there next year? Can he get paid? We know the answer to that. I don't know if it's $6 million, but it probably is. I think the NFL ultimately wins out. Either NFL, go to a program for a kajillion dollars or ask Texas to match, and I don't know if they want to. That's fascinating. That was 1,000 percent targeting. Some Texas fans own it, but they have gotten every break this year on every level. If I am a Texas fan. I would not apologize for it. I would go into my weekend assuming that it would keep going and that it would be the year to win a national championship because they have been chosen by the football gods. They drew an easy schedule. They didn't get SMU and Boise State in the CFP. They got Cade Klubnik and Cam Skattebo, who, by the way, behind the freshman dynamo at Ohio State, is the best player in this playoff. Skattebo is incredible. He is a badass. That was legendary stuff. If I am Elko and A&M, I am watching the game and going... I might take that big defensive lineman for the fake punt purposes. What a call and what a catch by him. Segment 5 (48:08:26 - 1:02:24:14) Again, refer to what I said last night on the forums. When your defense or any side of the ball when A&M performs as it did down the stretch and then it's followed up by the comments Elko made after the game, there is a common sense element. Take the feeling out. If you hear the comments and combine them with the performance done by the stretch, you can assume where it's going. There would be odds that would favor you being right. What I will tell you today is what I said last night: That is not a sure thing. Mike Elko has a really tough decision to make on where he wants to go with the trajectory of his defense an what he wants to do to change it. When you are the defensive coach, know you will build it around a tough, hard-nosed, physical tackling, stingy defense when it comes to rushing yards and points. We did not see them play like that enough. Against Texas, they were stingy with points but not rushing yards. Auburn, they gave up yards and points. USC, you didn't have guys, but neither did USC. You also had a lot of guys playing the other night that will start next season. Giving up 44 to South Carolina, and it was the tackling or lack thereof. Go back to Notre Dame, where big gash running plays cost you. All in all, it was a disappointing year on defense, and Elko is not the type to sit back and sit pat. Do you want significant change? Do you get involved yourself? Then you go against what you thought you wanted to do as the head coach here. That is very much on the table for Elko to decide. Your other decision is if you say change is the path you go, who is the answer? That hire becomes incredibly important if you choose to go down that road. I saw the rumors. This agent driven stuff. Ninety percent of stuff from national media on teams they don't cover is agents yapping to manipulate this on social media. It works every single time. If I hear agent stuff, I try to cross-check it several ways. You read about Tyler Santucci, and it raised everyone’s eyebrows. Everyone assumes he would be here because it's Elko, and he has been at A&M. I really don't see that happening. I think Santucci would end up at Miami or stay at Georgia Tech. Never say never, but I do not see that one happening. Elko knows he has to get this right. If you are listening and think you know something, I know what's out there. You are jumping off the bandwagon and don't know shit, or you kind of do and hear a reiteration of what I hear. Of all the things you know about Elko, he has to stop short on paralysis by analysis. He will analyze every angle. Remember those choose-your-own-adventure books? You pick one way or the other. That is Elko's mind right now when he thinks about what his defense will look like in 2025. His comments postgame weren't to calm people down. That was his inner monologue being heard. Now, he has to figure out how he ensures he will never see that again. It's not as simple in his mind as it is to everyone on message boards. When he got here, Elko made a run at Adam Fuller at Florida State behind the scenes, but it was over before it started. Fuller got a massive raise coming off a great year. A year later, he was fired. Why? My point is there is no easy answer. Or A&M can find the next John Chavis, which could be a complete disaster or they could find the next Elko. If you look at the style of defense Elko likes, I think it's an NFL-style defense. I don't think that would be out of the question if he made a move. This is lower down on my list of things to happen, but you could find an up-and-coming guy, and then Elko gets involved. I don't know where it will go. My post last night had to do with the whole "Why aren't you addressing the rumors?" thing. I post when I get the full scope of information, and I am armed with actual facts. If something ends up happening in terms of movement at DC, things have to get approved, and wheels have to go in motion. Elko is still figuring out what he wants to with with his defense, and if anything real happens, we will report on it. -
Negative Recruiting Your Own School: The aggy Screenshot Megathread
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Negative Recruiting Your Own School: The aggy Screenshot Megathread
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Negative Recruiting Your Own School: The aggy Screenshot Megathread
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Negative Recruiting Your Own School: The aggy Screenshot Megathread
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Negative Recruiting Your Own School: The aggy Screenshot Megathread
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Negative Recruiting Your Own School: The aggy Screenshot Megathread
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Negative Recruiting Your Own School: The aggy Screenshot Megathread
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Texas A&M Recruiting 2025: The Land of Melk & No Money
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Liucci Segment 1 (00:00:00 - 09:20:19) I am not happy with the way things finished. No one should be. If the people in the building across the street weren't really disappointed by it, then it's the wrong coaches and players. I don't believe that is the case. They were working yesterday because they know it is not good enough. I don't expect anyone to be happy about it. Where I draw my personal line is if you are going to be an ass, then I will take you being an ass and raise you the biggest jerk you have ever seen. I treat people well, but I treat you how you treat me. People in real life are nice. People on a site, whether on TexAgs or any website, become an outlet for this inner jackass. I have no time for those people. It's a very small but very loud percentage. The normal sports fan is pissed about the way the season went. I am, too. It's different covering the team, but for all the people who flew out to South Carolina, Auburn or Vegas or paid top dollar to watch A&M-Texas, it's very disappointing. It's frustrating. If you want to get angry about it, I get it. A lot of people devote a lot of time, resources and energy towards helping the program win. I get all of that. Where I draw my line is when you don't have the right to expect people to not say, "I don't want to hear that." If you don't want to hear anything positive, don't listen to it. If it's not negative enough for you, I don't know what to tell you. The way to go here is to be calm, rational and honest, but see the big picture and be fair about it. For the people who get mad about someone not being angry enough, listen to the words and conversation. If that is not enough for you, then don't listen. We are being more than fair and plenty critical. There are things to be optimistic about. If you want to say you don't want to go there yet and be hopeful... Look, you got some nice wide receivers they are adding from the portal, and they are keeping key players with NIL. They are doing a great job with player retention. They signed a top-10 2025 class. They are doing nice things in the portal, and if they can finish off the defensive line, you feel really good. I wonder if there is room for another linebacker or defensive back. I would find myself another Scooby Williams-type. At times, I saw enough from the offense where you go, "I need to see it to believe it, and I am not going to buy in." I get that. To look at it logically and not expect a noticeable improvement in year one to year two, I think you are letting your anger get in the way. The personnel and the quarterback are plugged into where we are now and what he should be next year. If that is not for you, that's fine, but don't crap on anybody that frankly is trying to look ahead and see where the team should be better. There are plenty of reasons to say this thing should certainly work, and it is fair to say. If you guys don't think I am frustrated, or Nuño isn’t, or people at A&M aren’t, everybody is. It is what it is. There are a lot of college programs sitting in this position right now. A&M is in a unique position in that a lot is poured into this. It's year one of a head coach. There were ups and downs, and the downs were at the end of the season. Segment 2 (09:20:20 - 16:29:10) Everybody wants to be right. People will magically forget when they are wrong and tell you when they are right. 2021 was the early time people were getting on Jimbo Fisher. A year after that was an 8-4 season with a win over Alabama with a backup QB. Who would have known you would continue to have backup QBs with a bad offensive line? You didn't know that after 2021. You guessed right if you were out on Fisher after 2021. You probably guessed a lot of things wrong, too. I am wrong, too. But I am right a lot, and angry fans will never point that out. All of this is fine if you are not a jackass. If you run a Twitter account and are A&M-related and want to take a shot at us, I will not engage with that. I am not giving you a platform. If you are a site I don't respect, and most of them I do, but there are a couple that like to take shots at us. The door is right there. We don't do that on social media. We can have a conversation. It’s a failed effort if you try and bait me. Segment 3 (16:29:11 - 31:03:27) In Dan Campbell's first year with the Lions, they were 3-13. It doesn't happen overnight for a lot of people. Both things can be true. In its totality in year one, for any first-year coach, you can go down the list of things they did accomplish. All of you know it, and you choose to acknowledge it, or you don't. There is a reality of how you finished, and it should be. It dulls the enthusiasm. I am not just a fan, but I am a fan. I am a fan of the Astros. Some of you would love a show where we went crazy. It would get tiresome. The fans that want to crap on everything forever, it gets tiresome. Fans that want to be pissed watching A&M lose its fourth Power 4 game in a row, I get it. Everybody is mad. I get the anger, frustration and disappointment. I am not going to tell anyone that they shouldn't feel that way. The overwhelming majority appreciates our words and the show. I don't care if you don't like it. 8-5 in year one is not bad. Not good, but not bad. Better than a lot of teams historically around this league. People don't want to hear that now, but you know it's true. You were 8-5, but two of the wins were against top-10 teams. "But it was Missouri and LSU." That's not how we do it. 8-5 with four wins over teams with winning records. In the last three years combined, A&M won four games against SEC teams with winning records. This year, A&M beat Missouri, LSU, Florida and Arkansas. This is not a parade thing. The point is that there was an improvement in this program. The problem is the end of the season didn't make it feel like it. The reality is they lost two games basically on a play. They should’ve beat USC. They should have beaten Auburn. You should have won them. A&M is not "a lot more talented" than South Carolina. It's probably even. They are not "a lot more talented" than Auburn. It's probably even. They are not "a lot more talented" than Florida. Florida couldn't get it figured out. They are getting pillaged in the portal. You look at A&M and see the defensive line talent then you look around and go, "Where are the NFL Draft picks?" They will be young guys. Guys like Chase Bisontis and Le'Veon Moss, but where were they outside of the defensive line and say, "That's a lay-down NFL guy”? You should have beat Auburn and USC. That's why you are frustrated. You know they should have been able to get a yard in three tries against Texas. You know that game should have been 17-14 with six or so minutes left. Then you put real pressure on that offense and Quinn Ewers. You get the 100,000 people that came to your stadium to root you on and be a real factor. You know those those things should have happened. That's why you are discouraged. It doesn't mean throwing the whole thing in the dumpster. It doesn't mean no one can have any optimism moving forward. Any player can go into the portal and make more money than they make on their current team. There will come a point where Texas, in the playoff run, will have conversations about whether they should keep a player because he is asking for "this." If the answer is "no," if they leave, they will probably get paid more than they would've gotten to stay at Texas. These guys that are staying, it’s not because of money. They could get paid anywhere. They are staying because they have optimism about where it’s heading. The recruits and portal commits have optimism. It's not a guarantee that this passing game will explode. Marcel Reed has to continue to develop, which, by the way, I thought he played a lot better. He has a ways to go. He was a freshman. These receivers have a lot of confidence in this passing game and quarterback moving forward. It's not unacceptable to talk about the future. You can do both and say, that sucked. But you can say the year was not a disaster, and it was a solid first season. Year two, to me, is the hardest one because the expectation is to make a jump. This team needs to figure out a way to win nine games. Go win a bowl game and be 10-3 next year. You look at the schedule, and it will be hard to do. NIL, you are up there. The expectation is to make a significant jump in year two with what I think is a harder schedule and three defensive linemen that went to the NFL -
Negative Recruiting Your Own School: The aggy Screenshot Megathread
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Texas A&M Recruiting 2025: The Land of Melk & No Money
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Liucci 12/29/24 Okay if this wasn't the travel day from hell. As if USC's last second, come-from-way-behind win wasn't enough, how about two hours on the runway in Vegas plus another hour waiting for a gate at IAH followed by a 45-minute wait at baggage claim then a nice drive to College Station in the fog. On second thought, maybe that fog was just me dealing with the lingering effects of the game. Either way, had some time to answer questions and will hit a lot more tomorrow in addition to some kind of video content. Enjoy. And forgive me for any typos, as this was written on the plane and with a faulty 'r' button on my keyboard! Just wanted to post it tonight as a normal thread rather than wait until the content crew could get it up tomorrow. Do you expect any changes to the coaching staff? Two things at work here. First one is that head coaches typically shy away from making changes following year one. That's especially true when the assistants essentially inherit their room. Times and circumstances are different now, however. We're in the portal era and the Aggies just dropped their last four games against Power 5 opposition and, for different reasons, each loss revealed real issues. Elko is not the type (at all) to sit back and accept what we saw down the stretch this fall so he's not likely to be bound by the "well this was year one and we're a new staff looking to turn things over" mantra others I've covered have been. Haven't heard of any specifics but I have been doing this a long time. I'd expect at least a slight degree of attrition whether it would a change from within or someone finding an opportunity elsewhere thus freeing up a spot. We'll know soon enough but I'm confident Elko will take a very honest look at how his staff performed in 2024 and have an uncomfortable conversation if he has to. And that's true for at any point during his tenure here. What are your general thoughts and feelings right now both short and long term? Long term I believe the guy coaching at Texas A&M is going to figure it out. I actually would like to sit down with him at TA more often this off-season so folks could learn a little more about the way he's running and building the program, day to day and big picture. It's part of why I'm confident he's the dude to get this thing going how it needs (and deserves) to be. But he has to get there, and doing so requires winning in the short-term. The Ags were doing that at a very impressive clip following Notre Dame but fell hard in November. So we're all adults here and understand that a lot of potential 'in the moment' momentum was lost by not winning a game or two more (winnable ones, at that) and shocking the country by appearing in Atlanta. I even think last night was a chance to score tangible momentum entering the off-season and the Ags didn't do that (in pretty embarrassing and discouraging fashion, no less). My short-term concern is this coming season because time waits for no coach or program in the SEC and the Ags are in need of a strong close to the portal season because there are real holes to fill (beyond just one more playmaking receiver and shoring up the d-line in a big way) and the schedule is much more unforgiving in 2025. Elko and Co. need to attack this second half of the early portal window in a big way. Coaching changes? Thanks I'll hang up and listen. See above. Feel like I'll be saying that a lot here. What are the odds Bateman gets fired? No idea on odds of such things but the head coach and DC clearly have a lot to figure out when you look at how the Ags played on that side of the ball for halves and/or full games all too often this season. And, injuries aside, the head-scratcher for me is the fact that Elko openly stated this off-season on more than one occasion how excited he was about this year's defense even compared to past A&M units he's coached. Definitely something the head man has to be very disappointed in when he looks back on this past season. Outlook for next season? See above. Concerned but also far from deflated or panicking. There really should be a noticeable year one to year two jump for a program under a new regime and also for a ton of individuals who will play key roles next fall. However, help also needs to arrive and if I'm Elko right now, I'm taking a hard look at every position. I know the Ags were without a lot of key figures on defense last night (three starting DL, two corners including your best and your best linebacker) but you also had guys you're planning to depend on next year on both sides playing who struggled mightily to make winning plays. Why do you think the team collapsed after the LSU win? Tough one to answer. I think first and foremost, they took a couple of big hits at South Carolina, not the least of which was their confidence and I believe they weren't the same team physically after that night. Losing Le'Veon Moss proved to a real killer and the Ags had also lost Bisontis a week prior. The interior ground game took such a big hit there and that was so important in terms of sustaining drives and even down near the goal line but also helping Marcel Reed along in his development as a passer. I'm just talking about keeping him out of bad situations. Scooby Williams missing time and being hut was also a big deal because he's the most active dude in that font seven and was beginning to look like a difference-maker. However, I also think it's fair to say that the book was out on the Ags by the time November rolled around. Make Reed and the A&M passing game beat you down the field, sit on early-down runs and run right at the Aggie defense. South Carolina, Auburn and Texas did so with alarming degrees of success. The fact that Elko volunteered last night what was pretty obvious down the stretch was telling, as well. The inability to have the confidence to run very much zone is tough to overcome when playing against offenses with pass-catchers like the Ags saw versus Auburn and Texas in particular. Who is on the next HC short list? Look, I'm as disappointed as all of you are about the way things went after the LSU win but let's be productive with the conversations and stop acting like kids or like this is social media. I don't have the time or patience for it today and I'd also like to see less of this type of **** around here, not more. Can Bateman be gone? I guess this will be the last Bateman one I'll respond to. See above and unless the future ones include something other than "is he or will he be fired" I'll move on to some of the other stuff. Realistically: How many staff changes (specifically) defense are we talking? It's too early to tell. Like I said, I expect Elko to take a brutally honest look at how the season wrapped up. I'm not expecting some sort of overhaul on that side if that's what you're asking. Did the offensive performance tonight help or hurt potential portal additions jumping in the boat going forward? It probably didn't move the needle much either way. The Ags did move the ball and put up points (not enough) but I thought Reed showed nice progress in the passing game and the reality is A&M was a completely unnecessary INT and a short FG miss from putting up 41 points. Missed opportunities in the first half and a dry spell (a couple of ill-timed three and outs) in the second half definitely played a huge role in A&M not winning last night but the offense did produce. It was more like the Auburn game to me, where there was plenty to dissect and second-guess but the end result should have been more than enough points to win. regardless, the Ags need more firepower at the skill spots and need to continue to address that via the portal. Thank you for all y'all do as staff. Appreciate that. The goons like the ones who were run off last night will never win. After the last 4 meaningful games, do you really see much of a culture change? Still had same sloppy penalties/missed tackles/drops etc and seemed to regress as the season went, especially on defense. I did see penalties and missed tackles as ongoing issues but that's more playing clean football than it is culture. I really haven't seen anything at all to make me question the culture Elko has quickly instilled into his program. In a perfect world, with that hurdle cleared this season, the next step is playing cleaner, better football in all phases of the game. It's not guaranteed but we've learned this program isn't getting there without guys doing it the right way in terms of not cheating the work and not buying in. Losing close games doesn't tell you where the culture is, it's more about a team learning what it takes to win by playing winning football with the game on the line. It's part of it for sure, but I think this group and program have a lot further to go in the learning to win department than culture. Serious look at the coaching staff: Which coordinators or other staff do you keep or kick to the curb. They're paid millions of dollars to coach a team to win. Grace period is over. Agree on the paid handsomely and paid to win part of it. I also don't really think they had a grace period with Coach Elko. I don't speculate on who or how many but I do see a lot Klein-related stuff here and on social media and think he did a better job (better, not saying it was elite) than most give him credit for. He has to take the next step next year and will have to bring his talented but still-learning QB with him but the offense has a real chance to make a sizeable jump. Any chance Elko spends some time with Dan Campbell this offseason? His first season in Detroit was obviously much rougher but did have a few similarities as far as not being able to get over the hump… I think you're probably referencing Dan's second year in Detroit. Interestingly enough, I've floated the idea to both coaches and would love to facilitate the two sitting down during the off-season. Any idea why we continue to run into a loaded box? Or for a broader question, what's with the offensive play calling running so hot/cold it seemed. That's a question I really can't answer. Not sure how much of that is straight play-calling or the reason why behind it or how much is freedom given to Reed and the Aggie QBs at the LOS. It's definitely a question worth asking in an honest off-season conversation. Will we ever become a top notch program? Doesn't feel like it at the moment It's felt like it only two or three times since R.C. left, right? And yes, I do think it gets there. Support is at an all-time high in terms of resources and the NIL climate still favors A&M a great deal. And no one wants to hear it but it's year one. Rough ending and some real questions that need to be answered after the way the team finished but that was a solid first season and not only that folks should walk away feeling hopeless after watching. Are you surprised by the end of season collapse and struggling defense? On some levels, no. I was pretty nervous about the road matchups with South Carolina and Auburn because you knew the Ags still weren't operating with much of a margin for error. Obviously Texas was a monster coming into Kyle Field. But, yes, I was surprised by how the defense played during the thee-game SEC skid. I hated seeing that unit flounder last night after giving up seven fist half points but the reality is that was a unit consisting of half of your 2s. It's the other three that surprised me. Was Elko talking directly to Bateman with his post-game comments? I don't think that's his style really. He and Jay have a good relationship and he doesn't have to air him out in the media to get a point across. I think that was a frustrated head coach who hasn't liked what he's seen from the Aggie pass defense most of this season and I'm sure it's parts his assistant coaches, parts his players and also frustration in that he was unable to fix it. USC offense all in the portal. Defense can't come through. Send Bateman packing? Look, that A&M defense was depleted missing three NFL-bound defensive linemen, the most disruptive linebacker in Scooby Williams and then two corners including the team's best cover man (Will Lee). So I went into the game expecting to see the Aggies give ups some plays and, quite possibly north of 30 points. The issue last night wasn't the point total, it was how USC got there. Seven points at the half before we saw a completely inexperienced quarterback who was NOT playing good football and an offense hit very hard by attrition suddenly cut through the Ags like a hot knife through butter. To the tune of 28 second half points and 21 in the fourth quarter, including moving straight down the field with alarming ease for the game-winning score. It wasn't that I expected a lot out of a pretty depleted defense, it's the fact that the Ags were so bad when it mattered most with some important 2025 pieces and several starters out there letting it happen. Somehow, someway, the players needed to step up and get those second-half and certainly the final-drive stop and it's also up to the coaches to figure out how to make that happen. And I know no one wants to hear it but the NFL opt outs and injuries were a big reason for last night's struggles. The problem as I see it is that the Ags struggled mightily in one way or another in each of their last four games down the stretch. South Carolina put up 44 because the Ags couldn't tackle, Auburn's offense produced a season-high in regulation points and marched the field to force OT and Texas ran wild at Kyle Field and controlled the action via the ground and pound.- 2532 replies
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