Texas A&M football just wrapped up its 11th fall camp practice, as the Aggies look to get all of their new pieces gelling before kickoff against Missouri State on Saturday, Sept. 5. Entering his third season as Texas A&M's head coach, Mike Elko had to replace much of the production from last year's squad, especially on the offensive line. The Aggies tied a program record with 10 players selected in the 2026 NFL Draft, four of which were starting offensive linemen. Center Mark Nabou Jr. is the only returning starter, but he will be joined by a plethora of talented newcomers, who all boast SEC experience. They will be tasked with protecting junior quarterback Marcel Reed, as he looks to take the next step as a signal-caller under a new offensive coordinator. Holmon Wiggins enters his first season as the offensive playcaller in College Station, after serving as the co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach the last two years. He has many electric weapons to work with in 2026, including wideouts Mario Craver, Alabama transfer Isaiah Horton, Ashton Bethel-Roman and Terry Bussey, who has garnered much attention for his spectacular performances during fall camp. Here is what Elko and Wiggins said during their press conferences in front of the media after Tuesday's practice, as the Aggies prepare for the upcoming campaign: Elko discusses whether he can see the OL starting to gel or if it will take a few games
"I think you can see a lot of things in practice. I think you can identify a lot of things just from years of experience doing it and knowing what it should look like. The biggest challenge you always have in fall camp is there's not a lot of relative comparison that you've played with on a field in SEC football," Elko said. "We've got two groups battling that are all relative unknowns. I think until you get to September 5 and start rolling it out there against competitive people, it'll be a little bit of a wait-and-see."
Elko provides his evaluation of Texas A&M's scrimmage over the weekend
"I thought operationally we did good. One of the things about the way we run camp is we start operationally from day one moving at a pace and a speed that is game-like. That hopefully means that there's not a big shock when we get in there for scrimmage one, and there wasn't," Elko said. "I thought both sides of the ball functioned operationally at a really, really good level. I thought there was inconsitency both sides of the ball. That's naturally what happens in a first scrimmage and now you've got a marker of where you are and now you've got two weeks to really grind through to get everything where you need it to be."
Elko talks about the progression of the front seven on defense
"I think it's good. We have a lot of bodies that are capable of going out there and helping us. I think the competition has been really, really intense. It's playing out like we hoped it would," Elko said. "It's been good. It's been really competitive. We're starting it to see it rise and the level rise to where we want it to be and it's got to keep going."
Elko discusses the place-kicking battle
"They've been more consistent. We got range and depth, which has been really good. Those guys are kicking at a really high level," Elko said.
Elko on how much putting on the pads helps raise the intensity and competition
"The hope for us is whether we're in helmets, whether we're in uppers, whether we're in full pads, that the pace and the tempo that we're going at never drops, never changes," Elko said. "We have a group that I think understands that. Certainly the guys that have been with us all the way through have a good feeling for what the expectation, what the standard is. The new guys having gone through spring and now into fall camp a little bit I think understand kind of what the pace and what the tempo is. We think that, for us, is an advantage for why we've been able to start well in seasons."
Elko explains how the offense will look in 2026, with Wiggins calling
"To the native eye it's going to look very, very similar. We've got a lot of weapons. We're trying to figure out, creatively, how to get the ball to the guys that we think can help impact the game. At those skill positions, you've got a lot of capable people fighting and scratching for touches. I think Holmon will do a really, really good job of finding creative ways to make sure we're getting the ball in the right people's hands," Elko said.
Elko on what he saw from quarterback Marcel Reed and his development during fall camp
"I think, first of all, he took care of the football better last year than anyone's giving him credit for. A lot of his picks last year that took that number to where it went were end of game, pressing games trying to catch up and there's times where in those situations you're going to put the ball at risk more naturally," Elko said. "He's taken the step we hoped he would take. He's much more comfortable, much more confident, knows the reads, knows what the progressions need to look like. His footwork looks cleaner (and) the ball delivery looks cleaner."
Wiggins on what he's seen from the WR room
"The one thing that I do like (is) we have a group that works their tail off," Wiggins said. "I think all of them have a ton of ability and the biggest thing we talk about recruiting, you're trying to make a basketball team what we call The Avengers. Everyone of them brings a different character, skillset, just as far as being able to attack the ball, play the ball, speed, drop their weight. I think as a collective, they all do some great things on the field that opens up kind of what we're trying to do offensively."
Wiggins discusses what the key will be for the offense to succeed in 2026
"We've got to be consistent. The biggest focus that we've had is turnovers, penalities and being able to run the ball consistently and we're still not where we need to be. The standard is excellence," Wiggins said. "We talk about having two mentalities; a mirror mentality or a window mentality. We want to look in the mirror and see here's where we're at and here's what we need to get better at."
Wiggins on Reed's development
"He's putting the time in, and that's with everything. The confidence and comfort for him comes with time on task, but also going in there, meeting with (quarterbacks) Coach (Joey) Lynch and actually seeing and knowing kind of what (he's) doing," Wiggins said. "When I get a chance to talk to him on the sideline, he knows why this broke down (or) why he didn't do something and that's probably wasn't the case a year ago. That's super exciting to see."
Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes and opinions. Follow Dylan on X: @dylanmflippo. This article originally appeared on Aggies Wire: 'We've got a lot of weapons': Texas A&M HC, OC discuss fall camp development