A&M football team making solid progress, but much remains to be decided (2025)

The Texas A&M football team has had five solid practices, but head coach Mike Elko didn’t pass out depth charts at Tuesday’s press conference.

“We were able to get into shoulder pads the last three days [and] start to get a little bit more physical, but certainly [it’s] still way early in this thing and way early in camp,” Elko said. “So before we get into asking all the questions about these final resolutions that everybody’s looking for, we’re not quite there yet.”

The Aggies, who have been injury-free, will practice four more times this week capped by a scrimmage Saturday at Kyle Field.

“From a benchmark standpoint, we don’t look at the scrimmage to be much different than practice,” Elko said. “I think one of the things we truly try to instill is, we want to practice at a game tempo at all times. And everybody says that, but we truly grade it that way. We have a winning formula for each side of the ball. We have an offensive formula, we have a defensive formula, we have a special teams formula, and that’s kind of what we focus on when we grade practice.”

What’s different about the scrimmage will be playing on Kyle Field vs. the Coolidge Practice Fields.

“Now can we do it in that type of setting the same way?” said Elko, adding that they keep coaches off the field at practice during plays to mirror game action.

What will be distinctive about Saturday’s scrimmage will be many of the 21 transfers and freshmen will be playing on Kyle Field for the first time.

“We hope there’s not this massive transition in the scrimmage of this being a whole new operation, but I think it is different the first time you get into Kyle Field, and now all of a sudden, you still got to perform in that environment,” Elko said.

A&M will open the season against Notre Dame on Aug. 31. The Irish lost offensive lineman Charles Jagusah to a season-ending torn right pectoralis muscle this week. The 6-foot-7, 330-pound redshirt freshman was expected to start at left tackle.

Some programs are charging admission for practices. Elko was the last hire at A&M by former athletic director Ross Bjork who left for Ohio State, which has one of the nation’s most tradition-rich football programs. Bjork and the Buckeyes are banking on the passion of their fans to help raise money for their name, image and likeness (NIL) collective.

Fans could attend Ohio State’s first four practices last weekend for $50. Fans also received a pair of commemorative 2024 Ohio State training camp sunglasses and access to a FanFest. Attendance was capped at 750 per practice. Charging to attend practice was in place before Bjork arrived. Ohio State sold out two open practices last year when tickets were $30 and attendance was capped at 500.

Nebraska and Alabama are also using practices to raise money.

Nebraska charged $25 per fan of any age to last Saturday night’s practice. Head coach Matt Rhule said approximately 3,500 fans attended. The school’s annual Fan Day will remain free.

Crimson Tide fans can watch Saturday’s Fan Day for free, but they must be a member of the Yea Alabama collective to go through the autograph line. Memberships for the Yea Alabama collective start at $18 per month.

Northing like that is in the works for A&M. Elko doesn’t want to turn a practice into an NIL session.

“I think in terms of open practices, we’re trying to provide the access that we think fits being a first-year program,” Elko said. “And as we start to kind of bring our stuff together and do our stuff. We’re trying to give as much access as we can without crossing some lines that we think could potentially put us at a competitive disadvantage.”

We meet again. Former A&M Consolidated wide receiver Wesley Watson, who was on scholarship as a freshman at Kansas State last season, opted to return home and play for the Aggies this year as a preferred walk-on. He’s reunited with offensive coordinator Collin Klein, who was on the KSU staff since 2014, the last two seasons at offensive coordinator.

“I think he’s definitely competing in the room right now,” Klein said. “[He] had a little bit of a familiarity, with being in the system before.”

It also helps that Watson is fully recovered from an undisclosed spring injury.

“[I’m] proud of how he works every day and his mentality in the room, for sure,” Klein said.

Wide receiver is a position where unknowns need to step up. Seniors Moose Muhammad III and Jahdae Walker along with Noah Thomas are veterans, but they’ve combined for 28 career starts at A&M, but no other wide receiver on the roster has made a start for the Aggies. Junior Cyrus Allen, a transfer from Louisiana, has looked good “and really flashed creating some big plays,” Klein said. And Ashton Bethel-Roman and Isaiah Williams are freshmen who have stood out.

“We just gotta keep building that group collectively,” Klein said.

Quality candidates. Sophomore defensive lineman Nana Boadi-Owusu was named the 12th Man for the 2024 season by Elko before Monday’s practice.

Boadi-Owusu was voted the 12th Man by his teammates, who were given three other options – senior place-kicker Randy Bond, junior running back Anthony DiNota and graduate long-snapper Jacob Graham.

“Each one of those three would also have been extremely deserving recipients of it,” Elko said.

All four came to A&M as walk-ons. Bond, who made 39 of 52 field goals in the last two seasons, was put on scholarship by former coach Jimbo Fisher.

Boadi-Owusu becomes the sixth to hold 12th Man honors for the whole season. Prior to the 2013 season, a 12th Man was picked before each game.

“I’ll tell you what, it’s such a cool deal,” said Klein, the former Kansas State quarterback who played against Aggies. “Knowing it from afar, and obviously seeing from a distance and understanding that tradition, but actually getting to see it and feel it yourself in the gravity of that moment for the team yesterday was truly off the chart, and I couldn’t be more proud of him and it [was] just so cool and honored to be a part of it and see it firsthand for sure.”

Klein in his last game against the Aggies as a player led KSU to a 53-50 four-overtime victory in 2011 in Manhattan, Kansas.

A&M’s 12th Man for the game was C.J. Jones, who was the 12th Man for the last 12 games that season. Jones made two tackles in the KSU game. He tackled Tramaine Thompson at the KSU 9 after a 3-yard kickoff return in the first half. That led to a three-and-out after Klein was sacked by Damontre Moore. Jones’ second tackle came after a 40-yard return by Thompson in the second half, but the Wildcats had another three-and-out as Moore came up with another sack.

Klein was sacked four times, but he threw for 281 yards with a touchdown and rushed for 103 and five more scores.