'Value Across The Board': Texas A&M's Emphasis On Transfer Portal Changes Perception On National Signing Day

The Texas A&M Aggies might stand a chance in being a SEC darkhorse entering the 2024 season thanks the addition of 23 transfers.

Mike Elko remembers when the transfer portal was a theory and everyone agreed to one National Signing Day. 

Neither exists anymore in the world of college football. 

Elko, set to bring Texas A&M back to national relevancy, secured the commitment of three recruits Wednesday during the still-called NSD. This comes after the first-year Aggies coach was able to land 14 recruits during the Early Signing Period back in December, including three four-stars.

Attention, however, turns to the transfer portal for A&M as 23 veterans head to College Station for the impending year. Some are viewed as plug-and-play starters. Others will need to fight off the young guns in the class if they hope to see the field. 

That was the way Elko intended it to be. 

"We wanted to go out and find value across the board, and I think we did that," Elko said Wednesday. "We expect those guys to play a large role moving forward into the fall. (We are) Happy with what we've been able to do since the last time we got together in terms of building this roster as we look forward to the spring." 

It's not just quantity, but also quality, an emphasis Elko wanted to hone when hired to replace Jimbo Fisher after his firing in November. The former Duke coach wanted variety, but he also wasn't willing to settle for anyone. 

"We weren't looking to just bring in bodies," Elko said. "We identified guys that we thought could add a lot of value for us, and we were able to land a lot of that group from the transfers to Terry (Bussey)."

Bussey, one of the three who signed their letter of intent Wednesday, might offer the most value. While at Timpson High School, the 6-foot five-star played both receiver and cornerback while proving to be one the nation's top players regardless of position. 

That will be more of the same at Kyle Field.

“We’re going to call him an athlete,” said Elko when asked what position Bussey would play. “There’s not a whole lot (he) can’t do athletically.”

Elko's next plan of action is getting players comfortable. Some, like edge rusher Nick Scourton or cornerback Will Lee III might have time to get acclimated to the play-calling and concepts since they're on campus and will have at least two years to build on their production. 

Others, like defensive back DeRickey Wright, who won't join the program until May following his graduation from Vanderbilt, won't have an off-switch once on campus if he hopes to see the field against Notre Dame. 

"When you get here, you have to go a million miles an hour to have any shot at catching up," Elko said. "It's not an easy situation when you get dropped in at the end of a two-and-a-half year process, and you have two months to do what most people had two-and-a-half years."

The significant transfer portal class size won't be a common theme for Elko. He admitted back in December that he was looking for the quality of young talent rather than magnitude. 

With 23 transfers and 17 signees, A&M welcomes 40 new players to its roster. That puts the Aggies at 91 total, six over the 85 scholarship players teams are allotted.

Mike Elko Believes Texas A&M Is A Flagship Program

Elko expects that problem to be solved following spring practice. 

“It’s just such a fluid roster situation nowadays,” Elko said of the numbers. “Everyone anticipates somewhere between eight to 12 departures post-spring ball, that just seems to be the natural lay of the world right now. So in an attempt to try and be at 85 when you need to be at 85 is not the easiest thing in the world right now.

“We certainly don’t want to go into a situation where post-spring ball we’re having to fill an awful lot of spots, because I don’t know that there’s a lot of natural attrition that happens."