Press Conference: Mike Elko discusses 2024 class on Signing Day

The early signing period is officially open, and as of 5 p.m. CT, Texas A&M has welcomed 10 signatures with a few more on the way. Mike Elko spoke to the media on Wednesday afternoon about the current group of signees.

The following are live, paraphrased notes from Mike Elko’s Wednesday afternoon media availability:

• I have never been so glued to an Instagram livestream. Today is an exciting day. You see a lot of kids fulfilling lifelong dreams. Today is a celebration. Today is the end of a cycle that started 2.5 years ago. Having the next generation of Aggies is really special. 
   
• I am extremely appreciative of all the hard work of everybody. Thanks to the staff for being professional. This is a hard time for everyone. The old and new staff came together to keep this class together.
   
• When you get hired 18 days before Early Signing Day, I can't explain how hard it is. Relationships are a huge part of recruit. We had to hustle. We have done everything we possibly could. The group we put together is about quality and not quantity. When you are a coach, you have to make hard decisions. You could go chase things, but those things do not have long-term value. 
   
• We added 11 quality individuals. We added position diversity. We had geographic diversity. On offense, Miles O'Neill‍. I grew up 10 minutes from Hun School. He is a big-arm kid. We added three OLs. We got everything we looked for. Isendre Ahfua‍ is our inside guy. Ashton Funk‍ is your prototypical tackle. Blake Ivy‍ is a phenomenal athlete. Eric Karner‍ is a dual-threat TE. At WR, Ernest Campbell‍ is a slot receiver with elite track speed. About 10 minutes ago, we added Izaiah Williams‍. That was a big one to get. We can be a day-one impact guy.
   
• On defense, excited to add Kendall Jackson‍. Excited to add Jordan Lockhart‍. We added two safeties in Myles Davis‍ and Jordan Pride‍. Pride is a two-way player. He is very rangy and athletic. 
   
• You can probably see on my face I have not slept. The term for taking a new job used to be drinking out of a fire hose. You are dealing with basically free agency. It's a challenge to say the least, but a challenge we faced.
   
• Texas A&M has been here for a long time. From a coaching perspective, we will run an elite football program. This is going to be the best football program in the county. This staff will bring potential to reality. 
   
• I want change, but I don't know how. There is an academic calendar that overrules all of this. At some point, you have to come up with some type of governance. It is what it is right now. Bowl games still have to be played. 
   
• Everything attracted me to Tommy Moffitt. He is a true legend in the strength industry. He has an unbelievable energy and hunger to do it again. He is new-age in his thinking. He sounds like a 25-year-old trying to get his first job. 
   
• When you are trying to flip someone, you are pouring information into them. You have a short period of time to make them understand why this is the better place for their future. 
   
• You are trying to evaluate short and long-term all at the same time. You are trying to make sure you do not add too many back-end guys, but you don't want to add too many young guys. You are weighing through instant and long term impact.
   
• Recruiting has to start inside out. There are more NFL players drafted and more Division I players from Texas every year. You have to start with your home base.
   
• As we move forward to 2025 and beyond, this is a short number class. We did not want to add guys just to add guys. We will be more portal-heavy than we will be in the future. 
   
• Recruiting coaches is sometimes harder than recruiting kids. That is a lot farther along than what the public eye knows. We have guys with other commitments and bowl games.
   
• This week, we have been getting out to practice as much as we can. We will do that in the next few days. We will let the team travel on their own. We will be their support. We will let that be the final chapter of this season.
   
• It will be a Mike Elko defense. Trying to find a linebackers coach has been the bigger struggle. I think that will come to light in the last 24-48 hours.
   
• NIL does not impact recruiting as much as people think it does. 
   
• You get more complete players if they play two ways. The multiple sports or positions they play create diversity in their game. 
   
• We have got to add value and depth at every position across the roster. There are areas across the board that we can add guys. 
   
• Collin Klein was the priority hire. I locked myself in my office and went through names. You dive into what those offenses look like. That is a process to me you don’t play around with it. I don’t trust anyone with that. I look at it myself. Collin is extremely bright. I like how he mixes up tempos and personnel. He is a great person. We have added great people to the Texas A&M community.