The Jimbo Fisher era at Texas A&M football came with lofty expectations and ended in a whimper with a 2023 midseason firing. Now, coach Mike Elko has returned to College Station to lead the Aggies into a new age.
No. 20 Texas A&M’s season opener versus No. 7 Notre Dame at Kyle Field on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. is a trial by fire for the Aggies’ new regime.
Coming off a 7-6 season marred by injuries and dysfunction, the Maroon and White’s hopes of an improved 2024 campaign start with a competitive Fighting Irish team that went 10-3 a year ago. The matchup will mark the sixth-ever clash between the two college football giants, with Notre Dame leading the series, 3-2.
“Having Notre Dame, definitely a big name, really good team, has kept people sharp,” junior offensive tackle Trey Zuhn III said. “Knowing you have that great team that’s coming in here [for the] first game [has] that little extra boost.”
The spotlight will be on the quarterback matchup between two talented signal callers. A&M sophomore quarterback Conner Weigman showed the 12th Man glimpses of what made him a top recruit in an abbreviated 2023 season that saw him feature in only four games before a foot injury ended his year.
Elko’s first test as a defensive mind will be against his former quarterback at Duke, senior Riley Leonard. The dual-threat passer also finished the year injured, but has accounted for 43 total touchdowns in his career.
“So, obviously, [I’ve] got a tremendous amount of respect for who [Leonard] is, not just as a player, but as a young man and his family and all of that,” Elko said. “It’ll be three hours of competing against each other and the rest of the year rooting for him.”
Along with an overhaul of the coaching staff, A&M brought in a host of new players to be difference makers, headlined by junior defensive lineman Nic Scourton. The Bryan native led the Big Ten in sacks last year for Purdue with 10, before transferring to his hometown team. Scourton will add pass-rush juice to a front seven that already finished 13th in run defense in 2023.
Joining Weigman in the offensive huddle will be a cast of characters familiar to A&M fans. Senior wide receiver Jahdae Walker and junior WR Noah Thomas return to give the offense capable veterans in the receiver room, while junior running back Le’Veon Moss is likely to lead a rushing attack that gained 1,770 yards on the ground in 2023.
The defense also returns some key pieces from last season’s vaunted rushing defense. Sophomore linebacker Taurean York will anchor the heart of the Aggie’s defense, while the tandem of junior DL Shemar Stewart and senior DL Shemar Turner generates pressure up front on the quarterback.
“I know that [Leonard] knows coach Elko’s stuff, so we have to throw different looks at him, keep our shell how we want to keep it and continue to play defense how we want to play it,” York said.
Elko won’t be the only new face on the sidelines for A&M, with newly-hired offensive coordinator Collin Klein coming off a 37.1-points-per-game season as Kansas State’s play-caller. Defensive coordinator Jay Bateman also joined the staff aftera two-year stint as Florida’s inside linebackers coach.
The old cliche of the game being won and lost in the trenches holds true for this matchup. The Fighting Irish will roll out an offensive line with two new starting tackles after 2023 starters Joe Alt and Blake Fisher were drafted into the NFL. Notre Dame is expected to start three sophomores and two freshmen up front.
“We’ve got to be a team that establishes the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, and I think, in this one, certainly, that will play a huge role in dictating the outcome of the game,” Elko said.
The Aggies reinforced defensive line and a raucous Kyle Field crowd need to rattle Leonard and keep the QB in the pocket to make him uncomfortable. If Weigman and A&M’s offense avoid mistakes and play complementary football, the Aggies could eke out a win.
“I think it’s a tremendous excitement because we’re playing a national brand who’s ranked seventh in the country in our home opener with a lot of eyes on the game,” Elko said.
With ESPN’s College GameDay rolling into College Station for the first time since 2018, the Aggies have a chance to make a statement. As only three-point favorites, it won’t be easy, but taking down a top-ten ranked team in Elko’s first game at the helm would send a simple but effective message to the rest of the country: Football in Aggieland is turning around.
