ESPN's Marty Smith offers his thoughts on Elko's 'complete' Aggies

Key notes from Marty Smith interview

• A&M is really good. I feel like a broken record on your show because I’ve said it several times. They are so complete. There have been some discipline breakdowns, but they are correctable. Defensively, what Mike Elko and Jay Bateman are doing to confuse opposing offenses, the way that Daymion Sanford and Taurean York fly to the football, they are great players. I was watching tape on the Auburn game, and was like, “Who is #21?” York was everywhere. It was like he had their playbook. He was exactly where Jackson Arnold was all the time. It was brilliantly schedmatically.
   
• Then on the other side of the ball, KC Concepcion is fireworks. That wick is lit. It is just a matter of when it is going to pop off. That is on the perimeter and special teams. He is such a dynamic player. That crowd, I was watching on TV because I was at a different game, but that crowd lived up to their mantra. It seemed electric in there, man. To be undefeated at this point, beating quality SEC opponents, I don’t know how you could be happier.
   
• They are tackling the hell out of the football. Now, this is super nitpicky. On tape, I watched the Mississippi State game. There was still some tentativeness by Marcel Reed to trust what he sees and rip it. Then, you see Reed throw the pass to Concepcion, the 40-yard dart for a touchdown. You see the effort by Concepcion to get into the endzone. Everything you want to see is there. Reed is dynamic with the football in his hands. As the game progressed, his confidence went up and up and up. Even when he broke the pocket, he stepped up, ran out to his right and threw a sidearm dart. That is such a confident play in what you are seeing.
   
• He knows he can run it really well. He has a good arm. There is nothing but positive to look at when discussing his maturation on the field. Now, if he can get to that place, there is a very brief hitch. Jordan Rodgers was talking about it on the broadcast. This hitch can be the difference between an explosive play and not. How many starts does Reed have? 10-12. As he grows and becomes more comfortable with that, I mean, look out there, man. He’s a special one.
   
• Florida proved that when everyone is healthy... DJ Lagway hadn’t practiced. He got a week off in a bye week to heal up a bit and to see some live practice and full-speed bodies. The offensive line gets healed up. All of a sudden, they are moving the line of scrimmage, and Jadan Baugh is getting 6-7-8 yards a pop every time they hand it to him. Then complementary football happens. You have the front seven playing the RPO threat, and that opens up lanes for guys like Dallas Wilson, who most of the country had not heard of. He was the country’s Player of the Week, in my opinion. So explosive with the football. So dynamic off the line of scrimmage, creating space and a cushion for Lagway to throw it to him. Then he had all the yards after the catch, the touchdowns after contact. Then the Swamp is rocking. The defense was schematically very well devised.
   
• On the Texas side of things, everybody is asking me, even at the grocery store, saying Arch Manning is not as good as you said he was going to be. He will be fine. I am not worried about Manning. He definitely missed some throws. He was not seeing what was in front of him, as Steve Sarkisian hoped he would. I think he will develop into that. To me, in this one, the credit goes to Billy Napier and Florida. They played their asses off. Another thing about Napier... We were in Gainesville. I introduced that he was coming on the show, and all the people behind me were booing him. Just stop it. I think he is a great man and a fantastic football coach. That blew up Twitter as you would imagine. There are a lot of frustrated Gators, and winning is the job. He is 21-22. But one thing you can’t tell me, those young men are playing their butts off for him. It was a fantastic performance. I was surprised by how dominant they were running the football against a fantastic Texas defense. Florida had their way.
   
• Oklahoma’s defense is good enough to beat Texas without John Mateer. They fly to the football, and they have bad intentions when they get there. It is prototypical Brent Venables. He is the health and the dudes to implement what he wants to do. There are so many options for him. Simulated pressures, pressures, all-out blitzes, man or zone. The thing that impresses me the most... When the football is in someone’s hand, 11 hats are running to that damn thing. That is coaching. I love that. I had a coach when I was younger to fly to football. So, to see it is really fun to watch.
   
• I sort of see Auburn differently. There is frustration there on the Plains, but no one is more frustrated than Hugh Freeze. They have been in all of these games until the end. I think there is tremendous reason for optimism. They have one of the best players in the country in Cam Coleman. I think Arnold is starting to get into what Freeze wants him to do. But then, going back to A&M, York was in his jock the whole game. I don’t care who you are. When you have a guy that fast, that violent, athletic running after you, it is going to be hard to really keep your eyes down the field. Self-preservation comes in at that point.
   
• For Georgia, after losing to Alabama the way they did, they are hell bent, that is all Kirby Smart needs. He wants a reason to be pissed off, and now he has it. Without hesitation, now everyone thinks you guys suck.
   
• I think there are still so many questions in the SEC. Do we know who is great? I think Alabama is really, really good. Same with A&M. Oklahoma won some good games, but are they with Michael Hawkins Jr? I am impressed by Missouri and Beau Pribula, but who have they beaten? So we will learn about them on Saturday in Columbia. We will be there with SEC Nation this weekend.
   
• Miami has been impressive. Before last season, in Athens, Carson Beck was projected as the No. 1 guy in the NFL Draft. We spoke to him, then he had the season he had. Constant criticism, the injury in the championship game and Gunner Stockton come in. Then he goes to Miami, and he looks in command. I am happy for him.
   
• It is obvious how beat up Garrett Nussmeier is. He could not push the ball against Ole Miss. A fantastic win for Ole Miss. I spoke to Lane Kiffin, and asked him, “What was the value of that win?” He said, “Man, because nobody expected us to do it. We’ve beaten them before, but nobody expected us to win it. That is why I had the reaction that I had.”
   
• Trinidad Chambliss, I had not heard of him before the season. It has been a wild year, and it goes with the portal. The teams that have depth are the teams to look out for. Who would have said Austin Simmons goes out for three weeks and Ole Miss stays undefeated? I wouldn’t have.
   
• Nothing is impossible for Arkansas. Bobby Petrino is a fantastic mind. Tennessee is a buzzsaw. I don’t see a whole lot of difference this weekend. To win, they have to outscore people. They might be able to do that. Petrino was already the offensive coordinator, so what level of difference will we really see? He is going to be able to galvanize guys like Sam Pittman couldn’t? They could not stop a nosebleed before, so we will see with this new defensive staff.
   
• Tennessee has the second-most potent offense in the league right now, and Arkansas has the worst total defense numbers in the league. The game is in Neyland Stadium, which is not a good thing for Arkansas.