Mike Elko has already passed Jimbo Fisher with key NFL Draft milestone
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Mike Elko isn’t ultimately judged as the head coach at Texas A&M by how many draft picks he turns out on an annual basis.
Ultimately, it’s about victories, SEC titles and maybe even national championships. But Elko is doing just fine so far in College Station in the wins department, going 19-7 through 2 seasons and following an 8-5 record in Year 1 with an 11-2 mark in 2025 that included a trip to the College Football Playoff.
Elko has it all going strong in Aggie land going into Year 3, but back to those draft picks, because it’s NFL Draft weekend and Mike Elko has just accomplished something significant, even if it’s just late April and not the fall. There were exactly 100 draft picks registered through the first 3 rounds of the 2026 draft in Pittsburgh, and through Day 2 Elko put himself in some elite company when it comes to recent Texas A&M head coaches.
After only 2 NFL Drafts, Elko already has more top-100 draft selections at Texas A&M than 3 of the 4 most recent head coaches in College Station. This means that Elko is making a quick impression on NFL franchises in being able to coach up top-end draft talent at Texas A&M. He’s already got 10 picks in the top 100 through 2 drafts while in charge of the Aggies, with the 2025 draft combining with this one for those 10 picks.
The only recent Aggies coach he trails is Kevin Sumlin, who had 13 top-100 picks. But Sumlin did his draft damage in 6 seasons at Texas A&M, so Elko is more than on pace to pass Sumlin in due time, like maybe at next year’s draft. Elko has already passed Dennis Franchione (2 top-100 picks), Mike Sherman (2) and now Jimbo Fisher, who had 9 top-100 picks during his time in College Station from 2019-24.
Elko clearly is good at turning out top-end draft picks, and this fall the head coach will try to get his Aggies back to the College Football Playoff. Here is what the Kalshi odds are currently saying about the top teams in the mix to be playing for everything in 2026:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
