Mike Elko wants to bring Texas A&M's offense into the modern era

There was a time when Texas A&M football an offensive juggernaut and something to tune into every week.

That, of course, had a lot to do with Johnny Manziel, the man they called "Johnny Football," and that style of play led to a ton of big wins for the Aggies.

Now new head coach Mike Elko wants to bring that offensive-minded swagger back to College Station. The Aggies went 7-5 this season and fired Jimbo Fisher, who was underwhelming against big-time opponents despite his big-time paycheck. 

The key to sustained football success in 2023 and beyond is on the offensive side of the ball, though. That's certainly true in the NFL and it's a fact of life in the college game as well – even in the SEC.

That's what Elko said he wants to do in his introductory news conference at Texas A&M. It's time to get the Aggies playing big-time offensive football again.

“We’re going to find a way to play explosive offense,” Elko said (h/t On3). “We’re going to be part of the modern era. We’re going to be able to switch up tempos, we’re going to be able to utilize our personnel. I think in this day and age you’ve got to be able to be very multiple and very adaptable in what you do on offense.”

Elko's offensive coordinator for the last two seasons at Duke has been Kevin Johns. There's a chance he gets promoted to head coach with the Blue Devils, thus he likely won't be coming with Elko to Texas A&M. No matter the offensive coordinator and no matter the scheme, though, Elko wants to keep it simple for the Aggies.

“I think people get caught up in these words like they mean everything, like, oh, we got to be spread or we got to be pro-style. And at the end of the day, we’ve got to be a group that knows how to attack defenses, get the ball in our playmakers hands and allow them to be successful," Elko said.