Aggies College Football's 'Most Likely' To Improve in 2024?
If you took a look at the Texas A&M Aggies two and a half months ago, it seemed like the sky was falling.
Stars were entering the NCAA Transfer Portal left and right, they were still searching for a new head coach after Jimbo Fisher's firing, and multiple key players elected to enter the NFL Draft.
Flash forward to the present day, and there is now plenty of optimism surrounding the program, with Mike Elko bringing in a new staff and a new culture, and hitting the transfer portal hard.
Elko has made such a difference via the portal in fact, that ESPN believes the Aggies could be one of the most improved teams in the country in 2024.
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"You might be surprised to see the Aggies here considering they lost more than 20 transfers in the wake of Jimbo Fisher's dismissal," ESPN wrote. "A lot of those players were backups, however, and the transfer train goes in both directions. New coach Mike Elko has absolutely loaded up on portal additions, bringing in enough known production -- especially in the receiving corps, on the offensive line and in the secondary -- to keep things afloat."
Strictly speaking from an overall talent perspective, we are fairly confident in saying that the Aggies will not be a better football team than they were in 2023.
The losses of Evan Stewart, Walter Nolen, Fadil Diggs, McKinnley Jackson, Edgerrin Cooper, Ainias Smith, LT Overton, and Jake Johnson are massive losses that cannot be replaced.
However, with the changes that Elko is putting in place, it very well could make up for that talent gap.
Transfers Nic Scourton, Dezz Ricks, Garrett Miller, Jaydon Hill, Scooby Williams, and Cyrus Allen should be big-time contributors. And the changes Elko is making within the program also seem to be making an impact.
We will get our first impressions of the new look roster in the Aggies spring game in April.
But until then, with a 46-player turnover in just the last two months, it will be hard to tell if it will be enough to make up for everything that was lost.
