‘We’re one of the flagship programs in this state’, Mike Elko dishes on the Aggies’ recruiting haul

“It’s interesting how much college has changed. This used to be the huge mega day, and now it’s just the end of the cycle.”

“Ashton Bethel-Roman is a receiver we added… We got involved with him in December, tried to get him over the line with us and couldn’t.” “We got back involved with him. We’re really excited about him… I think he’s going to add something to our receiver room that we’re excited about.”

“We’re very familiar with him. He committed to Coach Cushing and I back at Duke.”

“He projects to be a really good offensive tackle for us.”

“Terry Bussey, we’re going to call him an athlete.”

“When you look at him on tape, he’s an elite athlete… There’s not a whole lot this kid can’t do.”

“For us, he’s going to come in at corner, but he’ll certainly have a role with the ball in his hand in the return game and as a specialist in some situations.”

“He has been with us, working out and training.”

“We wanted to go out and find value across the board, and I think we did that.”

“We expect those guys to play a large role moving forward into the fall.”

“Him and his team in the scouting department have done a great job of identifying guys.”

“You have no time to waste in the transfer portal and in high school recruiting.”

“He’s critical. That role is really important. You’re recruiting a portal with like 2,000 or 3,000 kids. You’re trying to sort through all of that and find what creates value for you and fits you.” “He does a phenomenal job. He and his team are phenomenal evaluators. What they bring to us is high quality.”

“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.”

“Both ways all of the time is hard, but when you have a kid that’s as dynamic as he is, you have to find ways for him to impact the football game… Some of that will be in the return game, in spot ways on offense, and we anticipate a lot that being on defense.”

“Jay (Bateman) and I have known each other for about 20 years. I’m really excited about getting him on board.”

“It has been fun collaborating and building what this defensive package is going to look like moving forward.”

“It’s always great when the most qualified person for the position is also an Aggie.”

Mike Elko on the work it took to get Bussey signed: “A lot. When you’re talking about a kid that’s coveted by the entire country that I didn’t meet until I got here… Committed or not committed, it takes a lot.” “(Many different people) Understood the priority he was and how important it was to get him signed as part of this class.”

“When you get here, you have to go a million miles an hour to have any shot at catching up.”

“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.”

Relationships matter. Connections matter. There is a piece of this thing where they know what college football is about now. Tell me how you’re going to make me a better football player.”

“We got in after the bowl game, and we started in the office as a staff on Dec. 30. On Jan. 2, we looked at a depth chart magnet board, and we had a lot of work to do to get where we wanted to go before spring ball.” “We’ve been able to fill the roster, and we’ve been able to make up for what is a smaller recruiting class. We added a lot of value across the board… When you look at the roster today, we think we have a team that can go to work with a chance of becoming what we think we can become.”

“You sign what you can without extending on guys that don’t make a ton of sense for you in the long term. In turn, that leaves you short if you do it right, but then you have to go and fill that. You have to go larger in the transfer portal than you want to. I hope we never have a situation again where, on Jan. 2, we’re looking at that kind of depleted roster.”

“We’re one of the flagship programs in this state. If you’re one of those programs, there is a certain relationship that you need to have with the high schools in this state. Part of that is being the resources to the high school coaches.” “That’s part of being one of the premier programs in your own state. To me, that’s what you have to do. … This is what we believe Texas A&M football should be about moving forward.”

“It’s such a fluid roster situation nowadays. If you look, everyone anticipates anywhere between 8-12 departures after spring ball.”

“In an attempt to be at 85 when you need to be at 85, it’s not the easiest thing in the world.”