3 things Texas A&M needs to go right to return to national prominence in 2025
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Since joining the SEC in 2012, the Texas A&M Aggies have been mostly irrelevant on the national stage except for their magical inaugural SEC season in 2012. It’s well documented 2012 is when Johnny Manziel took the nation by storm and won the Heisman Trophy while leading the Aggies to an 11-2 record and a historic upset win over future national champion Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
Since Johnny Football and future NFL Hall of Famer Mike Evans left College Station, Texas A&M has not won 10+ games in a single season and has only won 9 games 3 times while producing a winning record in SEC conference play only 3 times as well.
(It should be noted that the Aggies went 9-1 during the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign.)
How can the Aggies get back into the spotlight nationally?
Here’s a list of 3 things that must happen if the Aggies are going to return to national prominence.
1. Mike Elko must prove he’s the right fit
After starting off last season 6-1, Mike Elko and company faded down the stretch, losing 4 of their final 5 games by an average of 10 points per game. In those losses, A&M, who didn’t give up more than 23 points in any of their first 7 games, gave up 35 or more points in 3 of their 4 losses.
For Elko to prove he’s the right fit for A&M, the formula is simple. The Aggies must take care of business at Kyle Field and find a way to get a signature win or 2 on the road against an SEC opponent. The Aggies haven’t defeated a ranked SEC team on the road since October 4, 2014, when they beat No. 21 Ole Miss 35-31.
A signature win or 2 in Baton Rouge, Austin, or even in South Bend this season will definitely put A&M in the thick of the Playoff race, get it over the proverbial hump and produce some receipts for Elko to show he is the right fit Aggie fans have been desperate for over the last decade.
2. Marcel Reed and A&M offensive unit must be consistent and better
Since taking over the starting quarterback job midway through the 2024 season when former starter Conner Weigman was injured, sophomore QB Marcel Reed is the unquestioned QB1 for A&M’s offense. With A&M returning a talented offensive line — ranked third in the nation by Pro Football Focus due to all 5 starters coming back led by captain Trey Zuhn III — it will be imperative that the Aggies’ offense is consistent and better than it was last year.
After failing to complete 70% of his passes in any game he threw 10 or more passes last season, Reed’s passing accuracy must improve this fall. The talented Reed must consistently complete timely passes while staying ahead of the chains if A&M plans on returning to the national stage.
Consistently missing big plays despite having time in the pocket, as was his tendency during his freshman campaign, simply can’t happen in 2025.
A&M will also need leading rusher Le’Veon Moss, who led the team with 765 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns before having his season cut short due to injury last season, to fit into offensive coordinator Collin Klein’s zone-heavy scheme. Moss leads a very talented running back room featuring Rueben Owens, Amari Daniels and E.J. Smith, which will need to produce consistently on the ground to take the pressure off Reed. The more consistent A&M produces in the running game the more problematic they become for opponents in big games.
3. Texas A&M must find a way to win on the road
Since joining the SEC in 2012, A&M has only won 6 or more games in conference play twice, with no SEC title game appearances. This must improve if they want any chance of returning to national prominence this fall.
How do they get there? By winning on the road. The Aggies showed some promise early last year, going 2-2 in true road games and winning at Florida and at Mississippi State. But since the aforementioned strong 2020 season, the Aggies are a dismal 4-12 in true road games. That has to change this year.
Winning road games will play a big role in getting to 6+ conference victories.
With an SEC slate featuring visits by Florida and South Carolina and trips to Arkansas, LSU and Texas, the Aggies must find a way to go at least 4-1 in these tough conference games to have a realistic chance of grabbing a Playoff berth. That’s going to require multiple conference road victories.
At the end of the day, Elko and his team must do what hasn’t been done at A&M in over a decade — win big games in the SEC consistently and win in tough environments on the road.
Kendrick E. Johnson writes for various national outlets such as High School on SI, Yardbarker, ESPN Andscape and MMA Weekly. He is an independent print journalist, sports television reporter and multimedia journalist who has covered the NBA Finals, NFL, NCAA football, MLB, NHL, WWE and over 75 world championship boxing and UFC Fights nationally. Johnson has also covered every prep sport possible in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and all across the great state of Texas. He’s done numerous 1-on-1 interviews with some of the biggest names and personalities in sports from Kobe Bryant, Stephen Curry and Shaq on the basketball side to Jon Jones, Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford on the combat sports side and John Cena, Jey and Jimmy Uso and Charlotte Flair in WWE.
