Avoid grudges: Elko piecing together a highly-rated 2026 recruiting class
From Moses to the Mayo Clinic have come recommendations to avoid holding grudges.
On its official website, the Mayo Clinic advises letting go of grudges and bitterness. Grudges, we’re warned, can affect the immune system.
Also, Moses wrote in Leviticus 19:17: “Don’t hold grudges.”
Ah… but then he added: “On the other hand, it's wrong not to correct someone who needs correcting.”
Admittedly, there is a struggle here to avoid grudges. However, there’s no hesitation to offer corrections.
And there are a bunch of college football analysts who need to be corrected. There is no need to actually correct them from here.
Quite frankly, Texas A&M coach Mike Elko is doing the job. We’ll explain later.
Let’s rewind three years to 2022. A&M, then under former coach Jimbo Fisher, was constructing the No. 1-ranked recruiting class in the nation.
Cries of outrage echoed throughout the nation. A&M can’t have the No. 1 class. Something nefarious must be going on.
Legendary Alabama coach Nick Saban claimed as much.
“A&M bought every player on their team,” Saban said at an Alabama event where, ironically, he was asking boosters for money, presumably to buy players.
What followed was a feeding frenzy of college football analysts accusing A&M of breaking rules that did not exist.
They often suggested Saban, who later walked back his comments, must be correct. They asked how A&M could coax so many high-profile recruits to College Station, while ignoring the fact that about 70,000 students choose to study there.
A year later, FOX analyst Brady Quinn, apparently pretending to be a recruiting expert, said A&M’s slow start to recruiting proved Saban correct.
“It’s a direct correlation to the microscope has been put in (A&M),” Quinn said on an episode of the Outkick The Coverage podcast. “We can’t do what we did last year, and our recruits look a little different right now. I haven’t seen that dramatic of a swing in recruiting ever. When Nick Saban comes out and basically says, ‘Yeah, dude, you bought that class.’ This justifies it.”
Soon after Quinn’s comments, A&M went on a run of commitments that included four-star defensive back Dalton Brooks and four-star offensive lineman Chase Bisontis.
A&M’s 2023 recruiting class that year would eventually be ranked No. 10.
If Quinn — and so many other outraged college football analysts — paid attention, they’d realize that A&M has consistently been in the top 10 in recruiting.
Indeed, in six of the last seven years, A&M has ranked among the nation’s top 10. (A&M was fifth in ’19, sixth in ’20, ninth in ’21, first in ’22, 10th in ’23 and 10th in ’25).
The Aggies were 16th in 2024, but that was Elko’s first season. He had been on the job less than a month before signing day.
Elko has more than made up for lost time. His 2026 recruiting class is currently ranked No. 3 in the nation.
Last month, On3 and Rivals recruiting analyst Steve Wiltfong wrote that A&M is pushing for the No. 1 class.
If the Aggies hold on to their current commitments, add Baton Rouge (LA) University Lab defensive tackle Lamar Brown and Mobile (AL) St. Paul’s Episcopal edge rusher Tank Jones and flip Hattiesburg (MS) receiver Tristen Keys from LSU — all considered reasonable possibilities — A&M again could finish with the No. 1 class.
Inevitably, some again will say A&M is buying players, while conveniently ignoring that every program in America is now paying players. Hell, Texas Tech just promised $5 million to offensive tackle Felix Ojo.
The reality is that A&M and College Station have a lot to offer. The key is finding the right coach who can capitalize on the advantages at hand.
Elko is proving wrong the narrative that A&M cannot recruit at an elite level.
However, detractors say that A&M cannot win at an elite level. They point to the disappointing results of 2022’s top-ranked class as evidence.
True, a stellar class doesn’t guarantee stellar seasons. There is more confidence in Elko and his staff to develop the talent they bring in.
So, if/when Elko proves A&M can win big, there will be an opportunity for Aggies everywhere to gloat.
No grudges should be held against detractors, though. Moses told us not to.
But they sure as hell can be corrected.
