Mike Elko Slams Coaches Canceling Spring Football Games: 'Not Buying That Stuff'

Texas A&M Aggies football is gearing up for spring practice at the start of Year 2 under Mike Elko.

The Aggies will enter the spring with largely a new look as well, with a good deal of turnover on both sides of the ball, as they attempt to deal with the challenges from all of the change the program has experience since the end of last season.

However, one thing that will not change for Texas A&M is their spring plans, with the Aggies revealing their intentions to hold a traditional spring game after a slew of programs across the country, including Texas, Nebraska, and USC, elected to go away from that format this off-season.

And Elko was not shy about his stance regarding the reasoning behind those teams moving away from spring games, particularly in regard to the idea of tampering from coaches like Nebraska's Matt Rhule.

Nebraska Cornhuskers head coach Matt Rhule high-fives quarterback Heinrich Haarberg | Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images

“This thought of people recruiting off your roster or some of those things, I’m not buying some of that stuff,” Elko said. “So we’ll continue to have a spring game until we make it to the semifinals and then we’ll rediscover kind of what our offseason looks like.”

Of course, there are many different sides to this debate as well, including that of the Aggies' arch-rival Texas Longhorns, who canceled their spring game and changed the format of their camp largely due to their extended season and playoff slate.

And by the sound of things, Elko is firmly in favor of things changing in order to minimize the wear and tear on a team as a result of those late-season runs, as opposed to the other, less realistic explanations.

“I think that I would always challenge people to read into what people are saying and try to figure out whether it actually makes sense," Elko said. "There are two different elements of this. There are some teams who play really long seasons, and I think there’s a reality to having to redefine what your next offseason is like with the extended playoff and how many games some teams are playing. That’s real.”

The Aggies will officially begin spring camp on Thursday, with the Spring Game schedule for April 19 at Kyle Field.

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