Texas A&M Aggies Top-10 Team in 2025? Expert Explains

The Mike Elko era started rather positively in College Station. In his first season, the Texas A&M Aggies finished with an overall 8-5 record and went 5-3 in SEC play. However, despite the final records, the Aggies showed many for optimism.

They fell just one game short of playing for an SEC Championship. Their 17-7 regular-season finale loss to Texas was a play-in game for the conference title game the following week. The midseason ascension of freshman quarterback Marcel Reed has given the Aggies a young signal-caller to build around.

And while they failed to finish ranked in the final Associated Press Top-25 rankings, one expert already has them as a top-10 team in 2025. Pro Football Focus's Max Chadwick has ranked the Aggies at No. 10 in his "way-too-early" top-25 rankings.

Texas A&M Aggies quarterback Marcel Reed (10) runs the ball as Auburn Tigers take on Texas A&M Aggies at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Ala., on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. Auburn Tigers lead Texas A&M Aggies 21-7 at halftime. | Jake Crandall / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

"What can take the Aggies from a good team to a great one will be Reed’s development as a passer," Chadwick writes. "The redshirt freshman’s 67.5% adjusted completion rate was the ninth-worst in the Power Four but he’ll have one of the best receiving corps in the country at his disposal thanks to incoming transfers Kevin Concepcion and Mario Craver in addition to electric rising sophomore Terry Bussey."

Elko and Co., wasted little time when the transfer portal opened in December. The Aggies identified the weakness on their roster, and receiver, and addressed it. Bringing in four transfer receivers, all in hopes of upgrading a passing game that lacked the necessary explosive playmakers on the outside.

As Chadwick writes, Reed's development as a passer will be essential to Texas A&M's hopes of going from unranked to being a team inside the top-10. The additions of Concepcion, Craver, Micah Hudson, and Jonah Wilson certainly help on paper. But there are still questions of whether they are enough.

While A&M did bring in new playmakers on the outside for Reed, they did lose their leading receiver from last season, Noah Thomas. The Pearland, Texas, native finished with 574 yards and eight touchdowns in a breakout season for the Aggies. Yet, despite looking set to be the team's top receiver in 2025, he entered the transfer portal and committed to Georgia.

The Aggies will look to improve upon the eight-win debut season for Elko, with a possible bid into the College Football Playoff in 2025.

MORE TEXAS A&M AGGIES NEWS:

MORE: Mock Draft: Texas A&M Aggies's Shemar Stewart 'Fits the Mold' for Green Bay Packers

MORE: 4-Star PF Sets First Official Visit With Texas A&M Aggies

MORE: Where Does Johnny Manziel's Heisman Season Rank Amongst The All-Time Greats?

MORE: Former Texas A&M Aggies CB Commits to Fourth Team in Four Years

MORE: Texas A&M Aggies Impress 5-Star OT on Visit