Texas A&M Coach Mike Elko Makes Extremely Bold Claim About Florida

In the SEC, every team is absolutely loaded with talent.

There are historical giants like LSU, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia that dominate the conference seemingly every season. There are also teams that are on the rise and could sneakily pull off a win any Saturday, like Vanderbilt and Mississippi State.

The Aggies play a blend of those teams each season, and see a plethora of talented teams in non-conference play, like current-No. 16 Notre Dame. Despite all of the talented teams on A&M’s schedule, Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko named a 2-3 team as the most talented team the Fightin’ Farmers will face this season.

Chomp, Chomp: Meet the Florida Gators

Florida Gators quarterback DJ Lagway (2) throws the ball from the end zone against the Texas Longhorns during the second half at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. | Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images

“Obviously, we have an enormous challenge this week with Florida coming in,” Elko said during his Monday press conference. ”I think Florida's by far and away the most talented team that we've played this year. They've got an excellent group of players. They've played a very competitive schedule. They've played in two top-10 road environments already, so they're going to be well-versed in what this is like and what it's going to be like coming into Kyle Field. Coming off of a huge top-10 win last weekend, so they'll be full of confidence and certainly very excited to come in here and give us their best shot. We're looking forward to the challenge and we'll be excited to get back under the lights in Kyle Field."

The Gators are led by DJ Lagway, a dynamic quarterback who can hurt the Aggies with both his arm and his legs, similarly to A&M’s Marcel Reed. In Florida’s 2-3 start, Lagway has faced a lot of media criticism that may have led teams to overlook him during preparation.

"DJ's obviously a kid that we've known,” Elko said. ”Tried very hard to get him here. An extremely talented quarterback. I think, again, media narratives to me are so funny. I think he's playing so much better. I think he's made a lot of growth and taken a lot of strides. You see him very, very comfortable back there. And so, yeah, I think he's playing at a really, really high level. He's a really talented kid."

Reed got his first career start against Florida and made a lasting impression in what was a sign of the future of Texas A&M football. He finished the game with 178 passing yards, two passing touchdowns and 83 rushing yards with a ground touchdown.

”For Marcel to go in there as a first-time starter, play the way he did, win the game the way we did, I think that brought a lot of confidence into him and then to into us as a team in terms of what we can do,” Elko said. ”Now, having said all of that, none of that helps us this year. If we don't focus and do the work and preparation we need to get ready to go this year, none of that will matter."

The Gators and Aggies are set for a night time 6 pm kick off from Kyle Field.