Mike Elko Has One Major Goal for Texas A&M's 2026 Season

The Texas A&M Aggies are fresh off a successful second season under head coach Mike Elko, as the Aggies accumulated an 11-2 record and made an appearance in the College Football Playoff for the first time in program history.

The Aggies now turn their attention to the upcoming 2026 season, looking to build on the sturdy foundation that they've laid in the first two years under Elko. And Texas A&M did just that, attacking the transfer portal to fill in some holes with impact players.

The biggest goal for the Aggies is obviously once again getting back to the College Football Playoff and replicating their success from the 2025 season. And that goal is crystal clear in the mind of the Aggies head coach.

Mike Elko Wants His Program to Take Another Step Forward

Texas A&M Aggies head coach Mike Elko on the sideline during the second quarter against the South Carolina Gamecocks. | Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

In a recent appearance on the Always College Football Podcast hosted by ESPN's Greg McElroy, Elko talked about the expectations he has for his third season in College Station and the expectations he faces after a successful season in 2025.

"Our challenge is, can we stack years," Elko said. "Hopefully, we're going to get multiple cracks to do it, but this is a year where we have the ability to say we're a program that is going to consistently be in this conversation. We want to consistently be competing for playoffs, well, that means we've got to go do it again this year."

And the goal that Elko sets comes after the Aggies lost 13 starters from their College Football Playoff roster from a season ago. However, Texas A&M has plenty of returning talent to once again be in the conversation.

The Aggies return the leader of the offense in quarterback Marcel Reed as he looks to take another step in his development, surrounded by plenty of weapons. Texas A&M's offense is littered with talent from wide receivers Isaiah Horton and Mario Craver to running back Ruben Owens II, among others.

And while the Texas A&M defense has plenty of new faces, the unit will still be led and called by Elko, as he's put together tough defenses to play against in his first two seasons with the Aggies.

Elko added to his goal for the Aggies 2026 season, wanting it to be the year that the narrative around the Texas A&M program shifts and is viewed as one of the top teams in the country.

"That's been our offseason conversation, for us to be the program that everyone thinks we can be...we've got to stack this," Elko said. "It can't just be, hey, they did it last year...It can't be how Texas A&M football goes anymore. It's a big challenge to prove that we have shifted this thing and are moving in a direction that is going to allow us to compete with the best programs in the country."

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