Aggies chase back-to-back double-digit seasons behind Reed
Texas A&M authored one of the most memorable stretches in program history in 2025, ripping off an 11-0 start and climbing to No. 3 in the national polls before the bottom fell out. The Aggies dropped their regular-season finale at Texas 27-17, then bowed out of the College Football Playoff with a 3-10 first-round loss to Miami, finishing 11-2 and sharing the SEC crown at 7-1. It was the program's first Playoff appearance, and the abrupt ending left a clear sense that a bigger prize slipped away.
Mike Elko enters year three at 19-7 in College Station and 35-16 for his career, and his offseason was defined by turnover: 14 starters gone, 10 of them drafted, patched over with 18 transfer additions and a top-10 recruiting class. Elko also reshuffled his staff, promoting Holmon Wiggins to offensive coordinator after Collin Klein left to run Kansas State, and installing former James Madison coordinator Lyle Hemphill on defense in place of Jay Bateman, who departed for Kentucky. The message from the head coach is that the leap from one-year peaks to sustained contention is the whole point of 2026.
Offense
Junior Marcel Reed is the engine, and much of the season rides on his development. He set career highs last fall with 3,169 passing yards, 25 touchdowns and a 62.1 completion percentage, and added 493 yards and six scores on the ground, numbers that pushed him into the Heisman conversation deep into November. The concerns are just as real: 12 interceptions, an ugly 0-4 touchdown-to-interception ledger over the final stretch, and disappearing acts in the season-closing losses to Texas and Miami. He is 15-6 as a starter and a team captain, and Wiggins and new quarterbacks coach Joey Lynch are charged with turning his big-play flashes into week-to-week consistency against the tougher half of the league.
This may be one of the deepest receiver rooms in the country. Mario Craver is the headliner, a shifty 5-9 slot who piled up 917 yards on 15.5 per catch and earned first-team All-SEC honors. He is a nightmare in space and doubles as the punt returner. Ashton Bethel-Roman emerged in the second half of last season and averaged a gaudy 21.0 yards on his 503 receiving yards, while Alabama transfer Isaiah Horton answers the need for a true outside threat. The 6-4 Horton caught 42 balls for 511 yards and eight touchdowns for the Crimson Tide and profiles as a red-zone and 50-50-ball weapon to complement the speed on the outside. Terry Bussey adds a return dimension, and Fresno State transfer Richie Anderson gives the tight end spot a proven pass catcher.
Rueben Owens II steps into the lead role vacated by Le'Veon Moss. A former blue-chip recruit whose career has been slowed by injuries, Owens ran for 639 yards at 5.4 a carry and gives the backfield a burst when healthy. Sophomore Jamarion Morrow (182 yards) and true freshman KJ Edwards, one of the prized pieces of the recruiting haul, round out a room that is talented if lightly proven.
The line is the biggest question and the biggest reason for caution. Center Mark Nabou Jr. is the lone returning starter after four linemen moved on, and A&M rebuilt around him entirely through the portal, landing four players with SEC starting experience. Tackles Wilkin Formby (Alabama) and Tyree Adams (LSU) headline the group at the edges, both 6-7 with real length. Coen Echols, a sophomore who came over from LSU with 13 games and eight starts to his name, competes at guard alongside veteran South Carolina transfer Trovon Baugh. The talent is there, but continuity has to be built from scratch, and a healthy, cohesive front is likely the difference between a good season and a great one.
Defense
A&M finished among the national leaders in sacks a year ago, but the pass rush lost its centerpiece in Cashius Howell, the SEC Defensive Player of the Year who logged 11.5 sacks before going in the second round. Replacing that production falls to a rebuilt edge group headlined by Anto Saka, a coveted portal pickup from Northwestern. The 6-4, 255-pound Saka is a high-motor, physically imposing rusher who racked up 12 sacks over three seasons and posted three sacks, four tackles for loss and 13 stops last fall; he could end up the team's best pass rusher. Florida transfer T.J. Searcy returns as a starter on the other side, with sophomore Marco Jones and SDSU transfer Ryan Henderson (nine-plus career sacks) adding juice. Inside, DJ Hicks anchors a deep rotation as the group's top pro prospect, joined by North Carolina transfer CJ Mims.
The second level is a strength. Ray Coney, a transfer from Tulsa, ranked among the nation's leading tacklers with 129 stops and 7.5 tackles for loss on his way to first-team all-conference honors, and he is exactly the kind of downhill presence A&M has needed to clean up the long runs that plagued the run defense. Returning starter Daymion Sanford (57 tackles, six tackles for loss) gives the unit an established running mate, with Noah Mikhail in reserve.
The secondary projects as the backbone of the defense. Cornerback Dezz Ricks is a proven cover man who broke up six passes last season, and he is paired with former Tennessee corner Rickey Gibson III to form a strong tandem on the perimeter. Safeties Marcus Ratcliffe (66 tackles) and Dalton Brooks (61 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss) are both experienced and reliable, and Colorado transfer Tawfiq Byard plus Washington transfer nickel Jordan Shaw deepen the rotation. A&M ranked third in the SEC against the pass, and the lone glaring flaw was ball production: just three interceptions all year, a total that has to climb.
The kicking game was a genuine liability, as the Aggies finished last in the SEC in field-goal percentage by connecting on just 12 of 19 attempts. Illinois transfer David Olano arrives to fix it, bringing an 86 percent career success rate and a 20-for-23 season. Punter Tyler White returns after averaging in the mid-40s, though coverage breakdowns dropped A&M near the bottom of the league in net punting. The return game remains a weapon, with Craver fielding punts and Bussey handling kickoffs for a program with a long history of explosive returners.
Overview and Prediction
The schedule tightens considerably. The SEC's move to a nine-game slate swaps out two teams that finished with losing records for Alabama, Oklahoma and Tennessee, all ranked in the preseason, and the road card includes trips to LSU, Alabama, Oklahoma, Missouri and South Carolina before the season closes at home against Texas. Five ranked opponents dot the docket, and there is little margin for the kind of slow starts that sink a Playoff bid.
We see A&M as a top-10 team and a legitimate Playoff contender, landing somewhere in the top four or five of the SEC when the dust settles. The pieces are in place: a dynamic if streaky quarterback, arguably the league's best receiver group, a stout secondary and a linebacker corps that upgraded overnight. The verdict hinges on two things the Aggies cannot yet guarantee, a more consistent Reed and a portal-built offensive line that gels quickly. Get those, and back-to-back double-digit seasons, something the program has not managed since the early 1990s, is well within reach. Fall short up front, and this becomes another talented team that peaks a year too early.