SEC Media Days: Texas A&M HC Mike Elko Talks 'Recruiting Wars' with Oklahoma, Texas

With the Sooners and Longhorns now in the SEC, Texas A&M must fight two conference opponents for the top players in the Lone Star State.

Texas A&M coach Mike Elko / John E. Hoover / Sooners on SI

DALLAS — On the final day of SEC Media Days, Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko took the podium.

Expectations have been heightened for the Aggies after a recent stretch of success on the recruiting trail. In 2022, Texas A&M signed one of the top classes in history, adding eight 5-star and 20 4-star prospects.

Former head coach Jimbo Fisher and the Aggies never had much success on the field to reflect their efforts on the recruiting trail, resulting in Fisher being fired during the 2023 season. Of the eight 5-stars who signed with Texas A&M in 2022, only Conner Weigman, Gabriel Brownlow-Dindy and Shemar Stewart are still on the team's roster.

With two of the Aggies biggest competitors on the recruiting trail, Oklahoma and Texas, now in the SEC, Elko and company will have to constantly battle for the top high school prospects in the region with two other programs who share the SEC shield.

"Obviously there have been recruiting wars in (Texas) between those three schools that have probably started before I was born," Elko said. "It certainly continued in my time here as the defensive coordinator and I'm sure it will continue into the foreseeable future. Those three brands hold a lot of weight in this state, there's no doubt about it. I think, obviously, that's the group that you're consistently recruiting against and the people that win those battles, most recently, (are) going to be the teams that have the most success."

While the Sooners won't line up against Texas A&M on the field this season, Brent Venables and Elko will compete as recruiters throughout the coming years, with both schools hoping to land many of the same elite prospects.

Oklahoma, Texas and Texas A&M all recruit heavily in the Lone Star State, meaning that Venables, Elko and Steve Sarkisian already visit many of the same high schools. OU has 29 players on its 2024 roster who played high school football in Texas, including high-profile starters like Jackson Arnold, Nic Anderson and Billy Bowman.

Texas A&M's proximity to Houston has helped the Aggies land a handful of prospects from East Texas while the Sooners and Longhorns' history in Dallas has helped the two programs recruit in North Texas.

Thursday marked Elko's first appearance at the event after returning to College Station this offseason following a successful stint at Duke. In two seasons with the Blue Devils, Elko led Duke to a 16-9 record, highlighted by a second place finish in the ACC Coastal Division and a Military Bowl victory over UCF in 2022.

Prior to his time in Durham, NC, the South Brunswick, NJ, product served as the Aggies defensive coordinator from 2018-2021. In college, Elko played defensive back at the University of Pennsylvania, helping lead the Quakers to an Ivy League title in 1998.

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