COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Spring football rolls on in College Station. Wednesday afternoon we caught up with Texas A&M head football coach Mike Elko for some updates on the Aggies through their first few spring practices.
“Obviously 3 practices in, [I’m] not going to get up here and make any big grand statements about where we're at,” Elko said. “Attitude's been great. Really happy with kind of the way they're going out and going about their business, but certainly a long way to go to become the team that we want to be this year.”
The big question mark for A&M going into last season was the offensive line, and after a strong showing in 2024, the Aggies not only returned their front seven, but have added depth between redshirts and newcomers who are all here for workouts this spring.
“I'm glad all them guys came back,” running back Rueben Owens said. “I feel like with them, blocking for me and for all of us we go it's going to be very good.”
Having that continuity on the O-Line has allowed the Aggies to more quickly work towards where they want to be this fall.
“The pace of practice is probably a little bit better the way we're able to transition around, you know, knowing what it's all about,” Elko said. “There's a little bit less learning we're kind of getting into the, the 300 level, 400 level a little bit quicker, which is good and I just think it's an overall understanding of how important it is that we do the things on a day to day basis we need to do to be successful.”
Owens was sidelined last season after suffering a foot injury in preseason camp, and after a long road to recovery, he's happy to be back.
“I'm excited to be out there,” Owens said. “It's been a while since I've been able to actually go, you know. Going to the bowl game I was registered to only do like a few plays and stuff so me being able to be full go and getting the feel back of football, it feels good.”
“We talked to him [Owens] about this, and this is why I think it was so important for him to play in the bowl game and then these practices,” Elko said. “He still needs to get his timing back, you know, when you disappear for that long from the game of football like he did and now you got to battle back you got to learn your running mechanics again like there's a lot that goes into coming back and so I do think it's a really important spring for him to be able to go out and do the things that he needs to do to get himself playing the way he wanted to and certainly the way he was prior to the injury.”
Spring practices will continue for the next few weeks leading up to the Maroon & White Spring game at Kyle Field on Saturday, April 19th. Kickoff is set for 2pm.
