With a season that included one tremendous highlight and four tremendous disappointments now concluded, the biggest news concerning Texas A&M involves defensive coordinator Mike Elko, who's leaving to fill the head coach position at Duke.
The fact that A&M's 8-4 season record looks similar to some of Kevin Sumlin's notwithstanding, the Aggies under Jimbo Fisher have accomplished something Sumlin's teams never could: They've shown steady improvement on defense from one season to the next. I'm reasonably sure that Mike Elko deserves a large share of the credit for that outcome. That makes his departure troubling. The defensive recognition that A&M earned under Elko's guidance (plus a substantial salary) may enable Jimbo to replace him with a new DC of equal ability. I hope that's true.
Update 4:15 PM Monday 13 December: More news from Texas A&M football program this afternoon. Zach Calzada had shoulder surgery after the LSU loss and wouldn't be playing in the bowl game against Wake Forest anyway. Now he's entered the transfer portal and probably won't even be on the team. Wake Forest was good enough this year to play in the ACC championship game, and Calzada's absence may make it more difficult for A&M to win the bowl game (and finish 9-4 instead of 8-5 , a record I'll always associate with Sumlin).
Zach can leave making a claim that nobody else will ever be able to make: He was the only quarterback to lead a team to a win against Alabama during the 2021 regular season (and maybe the whole season, depending on how Saban does in the CFP series).
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