COLLEGE STATION, Texas — We’re a month away from the stadium being packed out as college football makes its return to Aggieland. On Tuesday, players reported for camp, beginning the final countdown to the start of the season.
It’s here, finally,” Texas A&M head football coach Mike Elko said. “It feels like in some ways I got here like two days ago and in some ways I got here like five years ago, but, we’re here, I’m good to go.”
“I’m excited about camp,” quarterback Conner Weigman said. “Let’s get this thing started.”
As week one of camp gets underway, Elko wants to establish what they believe, winning football looks like. With the amount of time the team has spent together during summer workouts, they’re ready to hit the ground running for their first official practice.
“We have these internal formulas for what winning football looks like in practice,” Elko said. “I think we’re trying to hit those marks day in, day out consistently and I think that’s what you’re trying to build.”
One of the biggest changes for the program has been the addition of strength and conditioning coach, Tommy Moffitt, who’s changed the way the Aggies attack the weight room.
“I think from a cultural standpoint, the way we look at strength and conditioning is, is different,” Elko said. “We wanted to put on strength, we wanted to put on mass, we wanted to go in there and make that room, very challenging and very difficult, to create toughness, grit, to create an area where kids could really improve and we’ve embraced it.”
“His [Moffitt] attitude he brings to the weight room every single day, it’s contagious,” Weigman said. “It comes on to us and I mean, we’re fired up in the weight room every day. It doesn’t matter if it’s a 7 a.m. lift it or 1 PM out and 100 degree heat, we’re ready to go.”
“He [Moffitt] put us in position to get bigger, get stronger to last, to have the ability this season,” Texas A&M defensive back/safety Bryce Anderson said. “I feel like we’re coming in healthy.”
We’re a month away from A&M hosting Notre Dame and while they recognize the strength of their week one opponent, they’re focused on their own preparation.
“We for sure know,” Anderson said. “They have to come here, you know, they are a top ranked team, but we just coming in day in, day out, putting our head down and going to work. We know when that time get here, we want to be ready by then. We know we have to go through fall camp to get there, I feel like we’re going to be prepared.”
Follow Donna on social media!