The Aggie Football Hour with Mike Elko

on the Texas A&M Sports network from learfield Welcome to the Aggie football hour brought to you by Capital Farm Credit a leader in agricultural financing also brought to you in part by Kors light choose chill and gig a maggies 2024 Kors Brewing Company Golden Colorado celebrate responsibly Rudy's Country Store in barbecue visit ry.com to find real Texas bar barue near you Twisted Tea hard iced tea for the 12th man please drink responsibly Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas through it all and by Capital Farm Credit together we're better now the aie football hour brought to you by Capital Farm Credit a leader in agricultural financing here's the voice of the yaggies Andrew Monaco howdy EGS and we welcome you back to Rudy's and the 2020 for football season it's the agie football hour with Mike Elco it's presented by Capital Farm Credit howdy head coach of the fight in Texas aies Mike ELO yeah I got to go howdy to the room I appreciate everybody coming out tonight this will be uh forever the first radio show I do as the Texas A&M head football coach and so I appreciate everybody coming out tonight everyone that's listening out there we just we just bring your closest friends and on Saturday they're going to have 100,000 more with them against Dame sure for sure yeah I think we're going 1071 eight this weekend so we're fired up and and you're not talking temperature no no it might be that too but no it's I think it was the second largest student poll ever and uh students are fired up we brought some pizza out to them the other night camping out there and got them excited and so uh yeah we're expecting an electric atmosphere Saturday night for sure it has to be so a combination of heartwarming coach and for players knowing who they're playing for when they get to go out the ticket poll and Sher I think Trev Alberts told us there was tacos and you guys did the pizza it was breakfast it was lunch all that time it has to be something and an impact on the players yeah for sure and I think one of the things we've really tried to be deliberate about in the last eight months is is integrating this team into the Texas A&M community and the university and I think that's something that we believe in wholeheartedly and and we understand the place football plays on this campus and obviously you know our kids are are a big part of that but they're also students and they're also part of the Texas A&M university community and you we want to embrace that we want to be part of that and whether it was big event in March or you even had that kind of community service during Camp didn't you yeah we did you know we were able to go out and do some things and get people around and uh I just think that stuff is critical and I think what it does is it keeps our kids grounded and I think the more they can understand what really is out there how blessed and fortunate they really are um we ask a lot of them for sure and being a college football player these days is not easy but in the grand scope of life it's not that hard either right and we want to make sure they keep that in perspective you mentioned 8 months ago here we are 8 months later and now you're a couple of days from kickoff it went quick but I imagine there was also you never knew if you were going to get there was so much for you to do and knock down and I thought you handled it beautifully Mike yeah there I I tell my wife this all the time you know there's days where by the way shout out to my wife and family out there watching I got to get that out of the way quickly uh I know they're all on Facebook live paying attention but um no you at times it feels like I got here like last week and and the time has flying by flown by but then there's also times where it feels like it's been forever and there has been so much that we had to do so much that we were able to get done uh I think you know we're really happy with the course that we've put this program on uh you know the guys are really excited to get out there and show that to the fans and kind of show what they've been up to the last eight months for sure I have always said that you hit the ground running I think you're still running right head coaches are always running when it comes to having a team your own isn't that yeah so I'm blessed because this is my seventh first year uh I think I have a record of that and so when we did this the first time I did this for the first time back at the University of Richmond uh in 2004 and and we kind of started talking about okay when you're in a first year with a new head coach it it probably takes you until about Signing Day the next year before you actually get any type of caught up you know and then you just become a crazy head coach right but until until until signing day comes in December you know you're running and racing to just play catchup to everything you're doing and so uh it's nice now that the focus is football the focus is to get uh you know this football part of this thing up and running but you know you can't lose sight of us still trying to build this program into you know what we want it to be and ultimately what the fans expected it to look like we've just gotten started in the Aggie football hour with Mike Elco presented by Capital Farm Credit a reminder of the 12th man foundation's the official fundraising organization and ticket provider for Texas A&M Athletics support a 75-year legacy and help shape the future of agie Athletics by donating today at 12thman foundation.com we'll take our first break and come on back to Rudy's 504 Harvey Road here in College Station for the Aggie football hour with Mike Elco presented by Capital Farm Credit this is Aggie football from [Music] learfield the aie football hour with Mike ELO is brought to you by Capital Farm Credit the largest agricultural lender in Texas Capital Farm Credit together we're better we' already started checking in Gilmer El Paso and Belton and Kimberly on Facebook says I'm so excited about the Elco era you got your own era that's nice yeah wait till you see my wife's sneakers by the way so this will be something to keep an eye on so she's got the new Adidas made Elco era shoes that she'll be debuting Saturday night so that's something to keep an eye on yeah they'll be impressive so we are behind the mic and we do that now we also have this in our booth so she may have to come in the booth and show them off yeah we can figure that out we'll figure out a way to get those or maybe I'll bring them to the radio show next week and we'll kind of show them to everybody that way oh I don't know we'll have to see that's a lot of responsibility we're going to have to ask Brandy to help out with that one okay we can do that we can definitely do that you go through Camp to practice and then a practice week it's kind of an evolution is it not Mike Camp is very different from practices and week to week isn't it yeah for sure and so I think we we kind of went all the way to Last Friday last Friday was when we really transitioned and I think when you're a new staff it's really important to kind of get that flow of practice before you get into game week and so Friday Saturday we went through what are our heavy days like a typical Tuesday Wednesday practice and just got the kids used to how we do it what it looks like what it feels like and so that got us two extra days and then um gave him Sunday off came back Monday to get into a normal game we Rhythm and routine and I think the biggest thing at this point that you're fighting is just you the kids so badly just want to get out and play right and and you know there's still a big piece of the preparation process that we have to stay focused on and stay true to as we're going through it and so uh it's just kind of every day constantly reminding them like I know you want it to be Saturday kickoff but you know today's Wednesday today we got to get the third down game plan down like there's things we got to do before we get there but kids have been great and and they've they've been working hard and so we're excited excited the one word that jumps out at me throughout camp and all this time and I think it's going to continue throughout each of the weeks compete there's nothing but competition out there is there no and that's what you want and and I think one of the things that got lost a little bit in what we did in the transfer portal was you know everybody just wants the stars or who are these big name Superstars but like to some degree a big part of what you have to build in your program is competition and so you know when you bring in five corners who have all played hundreds of snaps at the division one football level like they elevate right they elevate their game and it's the same thing across all the positions and so uh that's what you want that's you want guys out there you know healthy for sure but competing with each other to drive themselves to become the best they can be yeah that's uh you talk about those snaps and that becomes important I use the analogy from baseball when you see the shapes of pitches for three years I know the SEC is different from say the I League or maybe another league but to see all of that does that apply also for football to have all those snaps and all those reps at some level yeah for sure and I think if you look at the successful rosters there's balance right you need Elite Talent you need kids who are difference makers you need kids who are those extremely highlevel athletes but you also need some glue guys you need some veterans you need some guys uh who can do things the right way consistently all the time and and I I've made this analogy so many times in the off season to our baseball team last year when you looked at that lineup um you know you had you know three bigname Elite hitters and six kids that were just phenomenally experienced Texas A&M figh Aggie hitters right and and maybe not the prolific guys but each one of them played a huge role in our success and US winning football games and I think that's a little bit of the shift that has happened in this this new era of recruiting and how it all gets put together with the portal you mentioned something very early that the retention Everyone likes to focus on who's leaving a program right the retention rate was really high here at Texas A&M was it not yeah yeah and you know and this again we don't talk a ton about the past but you know when we got here there were a lot of kids that had kind of gotten in their mind after the last two years that this wasn't the right place for them anymore and um you know again for whatever that reason was and I think the amount of kids we were able to convince to stay to stay part of this stay true to what they initially thought they wanted Texas A&M football to look like to to finish kind of what they started you know whether that's Noah Thomas or Bryce Anderson or Connor wigman and I think conversations with those guys every single day about you know hey this is what it's going to look like you're going to be a big part of it you're going to be a big part of the foundation and um I think at the end of the day when you look at the plus minus ratio you know we did a really good job with the roster the other thing that jumped out and you said this during one of the coaches nights that during the summer during lifting not a single player missed a single lift that's impressive yeah I don't know if that's fear of Tommy Moffett or uh no I I I think yeah I think we we we do a really good job with the messaging of how important it is to invest in the program and I I think that's something that we use a lot the wording like in order to get the results that you want you have to put in the investment through the offseason through the winter through the summer um and a lot of times you know those are those are the things that nobody pays attention to right that those I tell our guys this all the time we're never going to put a Tuesday Morning workout in July on social media right you're not going to get any credit for this you're not going to get any Fame for this but if you want to have all that success that you want to have in the fall like this is the recipe I think our kids have really bought into that and Tommy obviously has helped and played a tremendous role in that as well I call it the work in the dark because it is nothing that anybody sees except that player but it's also a reason why a freshman blossoms as a sophomore a red shirt blossoms because he put in all that time that's really all the work that he has done he's getting rewarded for all of that we may not see it right we'll see it on the Saturdays though when he's a different player no for sure and I think you know again these kids are such highly talented athletes nowadays some people get lost on the fact that they are still 18 and 19 and and you know from 18 to 19 you grow and from 18 to 21 you should grow a lot and and the development within your program even for the best of the best it still has to be a piece of it you know and people always use this like weird word of like developmental program well Texas ANM well yeah we're not a developmental program we're bringing in kids with a really high or and a higher ceiling but we still need to develop them uh and maybe for some of them that's just getting them to be a first round draft pick right maybe that's their ceiling and making sure that they reach it but there still needs to be that Daily Progress of getting better every single time you go out there you reminded everyone that Tommy Moffett I the strength coach is around the players more and hear him more than the coaches so there has to be consistency of message yeah for sure and I think people I said this a couple times in the offseason but like people get lost when I get hired of like who's the offensive coordinator right and everybody wants to know who's going to call the plays like who's going to get out there and get to call the offensive plays cuz that's but like from my perspective as the head coach I'm trying to figure out who's going to establish the culture like who's the guy that's going to be running this thing most of the Year who's the guy that's going to deliver the messaging who's the guy that's going to keep kids accountable that's going to keep the discipline the right way and I understand how I understand how important offense is we're going to call really good plays so I get that but you know in order for those plays to work it's a lot of that other stuff that becomes critical in what you do eight months out of the year that allows The Saturdays to go well you when we rewind to eight months ago Mike you had to be ready for an opportunity possibly somewhere you don't know what's going to happen but then again bringing in coaches retaining players portal high school because of the early signing period and you also made it a point reaching out that Olive Branch and welcoming the Texas High School coaches association that was important to you wasn't it yeah I mean we're we're still you know as much as this roster stuff is EV you know changing it's still a high school basis right and and we're in the state of Texas which is the greatest high school state in the entire country and we play the best high school football and again I I've said this before like a part of it is recruiting but a part of it is just who we are and where our place is in this state you know we're Texas A&M football we're we're one of the flagship programs in this state and part of that is a responsibility to High School coaches to to be open to be a provider to be a group that they can come watch practice and we could support them and um I think that's just part of who we are right and and as much as we want that to ultimately help in recruiting for sure I'm not being naive there's Al just a piece of it which is just paying it forward a little bit right when we come back let's talk about your 12th man for this season that's when we return to the Aggie football hour with Mike Elco presented by Capital Farm Credit this is Aggie football from learfield how a look out for opportunities this season for your chance to win Texas andm prizes from the Texas Lottery the Texas Lottery proudly supports Texas Education and Veteran play the Texas Lottery today scratch them tickets and gig them it's the aie football hour with Mike Elco and it's presented by Capitol Farm Credit we are at Rudy's 504 Harvey Road here in College Station the agies Notre Dame Saturday 6:30 Kyle Field our St Joseph Health pregame show will come your way at 5:30 you had the honor and I truly believe it is an honor when a head coach gets to be part of the 12th man and yet you made this a team thing in N Bui U wears the 12 and Mike I got a chance to see him wear that Jersey that 12 coming out to practice and it warmed my heart to see the reaction of his teammates to that Nana is someone's special yeah for sure and it was really it was one of those things when I got here I put a lot of time thinking about it and um you the reality is it's a lot of pressure on me to pick one right and so um that number so special who wears that number means so much I didn't feel like that should all fall on my lap and so uh knowing what how important it is knowing what that number means to Aggies and Aggie fans all out there we kind of came up with a group that we felt like would represent it and we got it down to four guys and Nana was obviously one of them and then we just kind of put that up to the team and just said hey you know you guys know these guys you know what they're doing when no one's watching you know their core character what it's really all about you guys go ahead and and vote and and he certainly received an overwhelming amount of the vote and when we announced that to him the crowd the team went nuts that was awesome to see but then like you know when you realize what that actually means to our players and and the smile on his face that night at practice and like he he just couldn't stop smiling like he literally didn't matter what we did we could have done Oklahoma drills all night and I think he just would have been smiling through them all um which you know it just was amazing to see I really loved when he met with the media there were so many people that he had to thank but first and foremost he said without Terry Price I'm not here and anytime you can invoke the me and I hate saying the memory of Terry Price you know what I mean but anytime we can talk about TP and the impact that he has had but 12 feels the impact of Terry Price no for sure a lot of our kids do and it hasn't been that long and we certainly miss him and his legacy is is so powerful around here and um certainly in that room you know the defensive ends and and I got to spend four years with him and his wife and um his two boys and so yeah I mean Terry's a guy that that we love and will'll always love and we'll always be part of the family no no is uh that family is you forget the impact of yes we're all the the the 107 108,000 are going to see the 12 but I think it impacts most his mother and father because the story is absolutely something no for sure and that's what that's what this is right like that's that's what Texas A&M is and and you know it's why we fought so hard for this walk-on thing to keep part of that as part of our program because it's such a huge part of who we are and um yeah when you see what this means to to him to his family uh to his mom crying on the phone when he tells her and um yeah it's we tell the stories about all this nil stuff right and and all all these kids have changed and they're all chasing the money and and the reality of it is is no and that's maybe 10% of them but kids are still kids and it's still special to be a Texas A&M fighting aie and it's still really special to wear that jersey number 12 also special when the Sam Matthews and the Gillies and the Braden whites and the Connor Cho they love that Nana is wearing 12 yeah for sure and I was actually you know I I was here with Sam you know we dug Sam out of the the walk-on tryy out when I was here as a defensive coordinator and Sam's a great story you know Sam never played Safety in his life until he came onto the team and we kind of just measured him we were like hey you run like a safety what do you think and um you know and he he grew into a great player and Gilly obviously was huge we had him out of practice during Camp it was great to see him I had seen him since I left and so um yeah it's it's a family in its own Brotherhood inside of our program for sure not only that Mike but your former players when you were hired it was I mean eye opening and they were all thrilled for you to be back here at Texas A&M there were a number on both sides of the ball that had to be gratifying to you yeah I think that's what you want as a coach you know you want to impact people's lives and you want to feel like you're you're making an influence on them and an impact on them and you as a defensive coordinator sometime that's like a really loud in your face obnoxious type influence and you hope that they see that the right way and and they do and and you know we had plenty of good memories and good moments and um I think a bunch of them are going to be back Saturday and some of our NFL guys are coming back and so that'll be great and it'll be great to see a lot of those guys in person great atmosphere we'll have some questions we'll preview Notre Dame when we come back to the agie football hour with Mike Elco it's presented by Capital Farm Credit before we step aside come visit Costa vaita in South College Station for Baja style Mexican made from scratch daily serving breakfast tacos launch and dinner agie owned and operated that's our friend Holly and a proud partner of Texas A&M Athletics more of the Aggie football hour with Mike Elco presented by Capital Farm Credit this is Aggie football from [Music] learfield when you need a new roof or just have a pesky leak you want to call on the winning team at shy roofing Home of a bulletproof roof guarantee get the best visit shy roofing.com it's the agie football hour with Mike Elco and it's presented by Capitol farm credits yaggies Fighting Irish Saturday 6:30 at Kyle Field question portion of our show and the first two questions come from philli as well as Paul Lee they are here Chef Tay is here Phillip when he asks a question that means he got his homework done but Phillip is also playing football wide receiver and safety oo I like it I like it so he's hitting you right out I'm just you up cuz here you go how will you manage Ruben Owens injury yeah I and listen it hurts me for Ruben you know he had such an offseason he such a great off season I think he was primed to have a great year for us um but it's a part of the game right and so you know it pains me that he's not going to be able to go out and do what he needs to do um but from a team standpoint you know levian Moss has had a great offseason we anticipated him being a huge piece of what we were doing if not the lead back anyway and um you know and then you got Amari Daniels and EJ Smith that are ready to step in and and provide us the depth that we need and so you know we feel good with where we are and I'm really excited for Levan to see what he can do I saw Ami the other day I said you have this ability to get stronger but not lose any of your speed and he said I can't wait to show it off against people he's ready for this season no for sure I think I think all three of those guys are and I think people forget too you know Amari Daniels led us in rushing and EJ Smith LED Stanford in rushing you know and so um I'm not trying to diminish Ruben's loss cuz it is a big loss and we're going to miss him but you know do have some some very capable backs in the back field it seems Mike that each position is deeper than it has been in the past a combination of what you've done acquiring talent and I hate using the pro words like that but it it kind of is what filtered in but also that competition but you also kept them healthy throughout Camp which is big is it not yeah and I think that's part of you know we put a huge investment into sports science in our program and I think one of the first things we did when we got here was put a lot lot of money into our weight room um not the actual weight room but some of the science in it and and some of the different Force plates and Nord board some of the things that kind of test power output um and so we are constantly on top of where our guys are from a health standpoint and you know we try to do it both ways I think some people that get into the Sports Science World go the other way and it just becomes this full pullback stay healthy at all cost and I don't think that gets you the product you need or gets you prepared for the season the way you need to we kind of equated to an engine you know we want to run it right up to the red and and sometimes in the red but just make sure that we're not running the red the whole way through Camp cuz if you do that eventually the engine's going to blow out and they won't be ready to go but there are moments when you're driving you need that burst right same thing in a game yeah for sure for sure and I think part of it is is you know you you see us you know we're out there at practice kind of yelling out speed efforts and and we're trying to get our kids to understand what it feels like to run 95% 100% and make sure that we're hitting those you know three four five times a week in practice so that that it's not just happening in the game and I think you're building muscle stamina that way and the way we practice the tempo and Pace at which we practice I think builds muscle stamina and um yeah I'm really excited to go out and kind of put this product out there I like what you said on Monday what as you almost challenge the players what are you going to do what's going to be that detail that you're going to master today that will be the difference on Saturday when you make it a bite-sized nugget like that it makes it easier than oh we have to do all of this to beat Notre Dame on Saturday what is that one extra thing that you can do right then the message gets received a little easier doesn't it yeah for sure and I think when you play a game like this and you know there's obviously huge magnitude around this and and you can't hide from that like you can't hide from the fact that game day is coming and this is ABC national prime time like you can't hide from that and so I think what you're trying to do is prepare the kids and I think you know we talk about it it kind of joke with him in the team meeting that day you know you can spend all your time this week thinking about your touchdown celebration and your touchdown dance or you can spend all this week thinking about the details that are going to help you get the touchdown right and if you do that you're going to do better on Saturday if if all of the week is just focused on God it's going to be so cool and I'm going to do this and if I do this I'm going to do this and then you're not really focused on the things you need to do to be successful and so I think that's just probably trying to put it into a really small window for these guys it's all the little moments that make for the big moment it's the third down reception that keeps the drive going that leads to the touchdown celebration it's all of it right and it's reading the coverage and it's knowing the leverage and it's knowing the route depth and it's running it at the right pace and and there's just so many intricacies that go into this game um you know that we're just really trying to enhance within our program and within our players okay Paul asked the question what do you eat before a game ooh that's a good question so so we'll kind of break that down into the day so we're going to play a 6:30 game so I'm not a big breakfast guy so the morning will be kind of be like a plate of fruit and a little bit of breakfast potatoes um then then lunch will kind of be nothing I'm not really a big lunch guy at all then we'll do the pregame meal pregame meal will be like some grilled chicken some mashed potatoes that'll kind of be like the big meal um and then and then that'll be it until basically after the game and then some at some point about like 1: in the morning it's going to hit me like wow I'm pretty hungry cuz I haven't eaten since about 2 o today but um that's usually about how game day goes it doesn't look like it but that's usually how game day goes it's it's do you do it in part of preparation on on a on a game day like is is that eating as you're preparing leading up to and I you know what I mean when I say 6:30 cuz there's other times that go in there is that all part of it because you're so focused on on Saturday evening yeah it's not me but but like I I we we spend a lot of time with our players obviously on on having a nutrition plan right and and every game time has to have a nutrition plan and our kids got to know themselves and so you know are are you a kid who gets really nervous and you're not going to be able to eat the pregame meal where you better have one heck of a breakfast if you're not going to be able to eat the pregame meal you better make sure that dinner the night before that you're really fueling up on carbs and um or you're a kid who really you know wants to eat a good pregame meal well then let's not do too much at breakfast so that you have room and and I think you're constantly conversing with that then all of a sudden you flip it around and and next weekend we're next weekend we're playing at 11:30 in the morning and that's a completely different deal right and so now you only get one meal on Saturday and it's breakfast only and how that all comes together and so yeah I think that's a big part from our nutrition team and educating them on kind of just having a plan as you go into the weekend we'll dive a little deeper on the agie opponent on Saturday that's the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and we continue it's the Aggie football hour with Mike Elco it's presented by Capital Farm Credit this is agie football from learfield [Music] Texas Farm beer Insurance wants to provide a trip for 12 to the South Carolina game on November 2nd to register for the 12 fan trip visit 12thman.com 12an Texas Farm beer insurance is a proud corporate partner of Texas A&M athletics they're checking in from Austin and Katie and Mount Pleasant and forny they're checking in from Lyon California North Carolina Anchorage Alaska and Ronnie as always from Tokyo oh on Facebook yep that's that's where we are and you have a couple of questions here Allan wants to know the progress of the Aggie offensive line Allan Allan and everybody on the planet wants to know that question um no I listen I think that group um has come a long way I think they obviously have heard a lot of and are aware of a lot of the criticism um and I think they're very prideful kids and I think they've put a lot of work in this summer and this offseason um to try to go out there and and show that they can be a much better unit and I think you know what we've seen in practice is that for sure I think they're playing well together I think they're playing More Physical uh a lot of them have gotten stronger uh through the program through the the program with coach mfet and so um yeah I know they're excited to get out there and kind of put that question in the bed finally almost all of your positions you could say this about but especially line you like versatility on that offensive line don't you yeah and I think this is one people always ask me this question about like cohesion and cohesion matters for sure but um it's a long season and the SEC is an extremely physical league and so when you go through Spring ball and you go through fall Camp uh for us it's way more about building versatility so that you can survive a 12 game season that it is locking five kids into their position and that's all they can do and then you know and we talk about this all the time this is you know the one I don't I don't play a tremendous role in in our offensive line you know coach Cushing handles the majority of it but the one thing that that he knows I'm going to come to him with is is who's our best five and our best five better be able to play together and so we're never going to have a situation where someone's going to go down and then whoever our best five is can't go out there and play and so um I think that's a big part of it and so we just kind of I think look at it a little bit differently uh in terms of what we're trying to build and how we're trying to build it and then you get into game week and then I think you start talking about cohesion and sliding guys into the spots they're going to be in Saturday night your best five on that offensive line has to go up up against a very very talented defensive line every single day at practice don't they they do they do and and they talk about iron sharpens iron right that's the old cliche but you certainly get that in practice and um yeah I think that's that's always what openers are about you know you get to really figure out okay how do we measure up against somebody else you know is is it you know the defensive line is is really really good and that's a that's a battle every day in our practices and and what does it look like now when we get out in the real world against some other people Lisa has a question do you think there's a surprise standout for this season um yeah I do okay I do I'm not going to say okay but but I do it it wouldn't be a surprise if I were to give it away before this but uh no I think there's there's a couple kids that that that jump out to me there's there's one at wide receiver there's one in the secondary um that I think are poised to have really big years that I don't think are getting talked about maybe at the level I think they should be going into this season you talk about the secondary Bryce Anderson Moving to safety is going to be a big move isn't it yeah I think so and and for us I think just maybe structurally we play a little bit of a different system and not better not worse but when we recruited Bryce you know we had this vision of how he would fit this defense at safety and then obviously you know I had gone to Duke before he got here and you know coach Durkin runs a little bit of a different system and so you know they kind of played him more of that nickel spot cuz that's how he fit into that scheme and that system but but um I think we're excited and I think Bryce is excited to kind of get back to okay this is how we envisioned you impacting the game and US utilizing you and um it's been a really really good time for him to get back there and kind of re re-educate himself on playing that position I think he's going to be a big difference maker and you got yourself Tori and York you missed out on him at Duke you got him now so so it's funny I joke with both of them so so torian for sure that's well documented but Damen Sanford committed to us a Duke too and then he bailed on us also and so you know at one point at one point I had torian New York and Damen Sanford leaving leaving Texas and coming to Duke and uh Damian long before Signing Day uh he got into like spring workouts going into his senior year and he just exploded and everybody saw what we saw and um you know and then Tori and obviously the similar kind of deal and so um yeah I joke with both of them like I had to come all the way to Texas to get a chance to coach you guys and um I told him I'm going to sit them both on the bench just as retribution one day but uh I'm kidding of course I would never do that maybe maybe maybe I would never do that we'll see we'll come back we have one final segment of the agie football hour with Mike Elco it's presented by Capitol Farm Credit come on back with us where at rud East 504 Harvey Road here in College Station this is Aggie football from [Music] learfield time to jam things in this last segment one more question Dan wants to know what's your philosophy on tackling we see Mo so many M tackles where the hit seems to be more important than the tackle how do you coach tackling get them on the ground now um I think to his there's something to be said about that no I think to his question I I I think it's something obviously being a safeties coach that that's probably a a science of mind and and I think there's a we talk a lot about hitting on the rise wrapping up through the hips wrapping up through the legs with the safeties because I think one of the things that gets lost maybe for the fans is is uh the backs in the SEC are not small and so sometimes when you got these 195 200 lb safeties trying to tackle these 225b Behemoth running backs um you can go low but there's a science to how you go low and I think how you are still able to hit on the rides accelerate your feet through contact and wrap I think is really important Saturday Notre Dame Mike they're number seven for a reason aren't they yeah I think so no they're uh listen they're they're really talented football team obviously and and you know the quarterback who who I have a tra out cut you off before you have to ask me about RI um you have obviously got a lot of familiarity on him and he's a talented player and a dual threat kid and uh I think they're loaded on both sides of the ball and it'll be a huge challenge but one that we're certainly ready for you said something Monday that I don't think people put in perspective the thought being oh coach Elco knows Riley Leonard Advantage Mike you said Advantage Riley he's gone up against the or he seen and the looks that he may see on Saturday it really goes both ways yeah and I think you know this is how I look at as a coach you know I can do film study and learn about every quarterback that I play not every quarterback can take two years worth of reps against our defense right and so when you just talk about the advantage um I don't know that I've ever got into a game blind on what the other team's quarterback was capable of but I've also not g into many games where the other quarterback knew the ins and outs of how our system worked how our defense worked where the you know and so I think you know that's a piece of it is just he knows what we do he knows how we do it and we just got to be careful with the looks that we present to him and and try to give him some things that he hasn't seen before similar to some other SEC quarterbacks I say a Jackson Dart or a Bo Nicks you've got to contain him right if you overp pursue Riley Leonard can hurt you can he yeah for sure and I think bone knck is probably the the comparison cuz cuz there when we used to talk about B Knicks we used to always talk about like we're playing a running back like you better understand like what you're going to tackle um so as you get to him it's not you know we're going to lay out the quarterback like you better get ready to get your hips under control cuz you're tackling a running back that's how elusive thick he was and I think Riley's got some of that he's a much bigger kid than I think a lot of people give him credit for and I think when he gets off and running um you know he's a he's a mid four five at worst kid running the football and so um yeah that's as much of a challenge as anything is just getting your kids to understand it's not a quarterback that you're tackling on their defense Mike and again again top 10 seems every single year but whether it's Cross or Obin who you know very well Benjamin Morrison you brought up Xavier Watts has been really good for them this could be old school it could be RC slokum Lou Holtz on the sidelines you know old the old defense type thing points could be at a premium but both these defenses really are going to have to bring it aren't they yeah for sure and I think you know the challenge will always be the best defense on the field will usually win these types of games and I think that's a challenge our kids have to accept and rise up to but but I also know how this goes and there's a huge psychology to these 18 21 year olds and how this goes and our offense is probably a little tired of hearing about how good the defense is and how low-scoring the game is going to be and I'm sure theirs is too and kids hear that stuff and generally speaking because of all of that these games never go quite the way you think they're going to and so um yeah we got to be ready for everything we be ready to adjust and adapt on the Fly maybe my favorite statement of coach's night was in San Antonio when you said Connor wigman is healthy he Connor wigman is healthy I think that was uh I think everybody wanted to know that all offseason and and I I was trying to get everyone to understand coming out of the spring that like where you are in March isn't necessarily where you are in in September and here we are about to get ready for the opener and he's had a great summer he's in a really strong fall Camp uh he's really really confident comfortable in what coach Klein's asking him to do and um I think he's poised to have the Year everybody anticipates him having beat the hell out of Notre Dame on Saturday we certainly going to try thank you appreciate you you bet thank you everybody for coming out have a great night thanks and gig the head coach Mike Elco the Aggie football hour with Mike Elco presented by Capitol Farm Credit on Saturday it's the agies and the Notre Dame fight fting Irish 5:30 with our pregame presented by St Joseph Health 6:30 will be the kick Dave Elmendorf will Johnson and I Kevin menow will be there he's our engineer every Wednesday he's our engineer every Saturday Tony O'Neal who produces Aggie football will be with us as well we will hear from Nana boed Wu the 12th man during that pregame show will Johnson goes one-on-one with Nick scorton Dave will have his keys and we'll talk with head coach Mike Elco just before the game again that is Saturday 5:30 our pregame show presented by St Joseph H as I mentioned Kevin menow is our engineer janette's here as well Tony O'Neal is our producer I'm Andrew Monaco we thank you so much for joining us the yaggie football hour with Mike Elco presented by Capital Farm Credit this is eggy football from learfield