Aight, Aggies fans, let’s set the scene. You’re rolling into 2025, still licking your wounds from a season that started with hope but ended in a tailspin. Eight wins, five losses, a 1-4 collapse to close out the year, and — oh yeah — no playoff ticket. Just vibes and disappointment. Mike Elko was supposed to be the Day 1 impact, the guy who would take Texas A&M from the land of broken promises to the promised land. But now? The smoke is getting thick, and CBS Sports analyst just turned up the heat on Elko’s hot seat. And? The Aggies just caught a nasty recruiting L this week. Yeah, it’s one of those weeks in College Station.

Boom. Just like that, the Aggies’ highly touted 2026 class — one that was shaping up to be something special — just took a hit. Texas A&M was sitting pretty at No. 4 in the cycle, flexing with 7 four-star commits and ten total pledges. But Tuesday night brought bad news. Ryan Gilbert, a 3-star cornerback from Mesquite, TX, decided he’s seen enough. With a post on X (formerly Twitter), the Texas native de-committed and reopened his recruitment.

And just like that, A&M lost its 2nd recruit of the day. “Firstly, before I get into what I have to say, I want to say thank you to God for giving me the talent and opportunities that I present on and off the field,” Gilbert wrote and put up a thank you note to Elko, Coach Jay Bateman, and the staff before dipping. Nebraska, Arkansas, and Oklahoma are already circling. And the CBS spotlight just made things even spicier for Elko.

Enter Smoke Dixon, the CBS analyst who didn’t waste a second calling out the Aggies’ head coach on national television. When asked about which coach needed the biggest leap in 2025, Dixon didn’t stutter: “Well, Coach Elko, the pressure is on you, smoke presses on your back,” he said. “I think that you have the perfect opportunity to make this job. Looking at your 2025 schedule, you have an opportunity to go into that Texas game at the end of the season. Ten and one. You have a top-ten recruiting class coming out of high school, top ten in the transfer portal. Marcel Reed has pieces around him to explode in the passing game and put up a lot of points. You’re a defensive guy. Let’s go to work, represent the SEC, and get to the college football playoffs.”

That’s some real talk, because make no mistake, this ain’t just another season for A&M. The biggest win of Elko’s debut campaign was a 38-23 flex on LSU. It proved they could hang, but can they do it consistently? Marcel Reed, the redshirt freshman QB, showed flashes of brilliance in 2024 — throwing for 1,864 yards, 15 touchdowns, and adding 543 rushing yards with seven scores. The pieces are there. Now, it’s about putting it together and making sure de-commitments don’t become a trend. Can Mike Elk0 and his boys make it through the valley of death (SEC) in the 2025 season?

The transfer portal, recruiting, and the schedule for Elko’s big wild 2025

Mike Elko is working with some solid reinforcements, no doubt. The 2025 recruiting class is ranked 9th nationally and 6th in the SEC. The Aggies landed 5-star OT Lamont Rogers and five-star WR Jerome Myles, both major flips from Missouri and USC, respectively. Look, the transfer portal has been generous, too, with key pickups like T.J. Searcy (Florida), Samuel M’Pemba (Georgia), and crazy route runner KC Concepcion from NC State joining the squad. Talent ain’t the issue — it’s execution and keeping guys committed to the vision. The second Elko starts low-key dropping games, these high-profile recruits might literally start getting second thoughts. And in this new era of NIL and portal hopping? That’s a disaster waiting to happen.

And let’s talk schedule. The football gods gave Texas A&M an early gift with warm-up games against UTSA and Utah State before the first real test—Marcus Freeman’s Notre Dame. Mid-season SEC home games against Auburn, Mississippi State, and Florida provide chances to pad the record, but LSU, Florida, and Auburn aren’t exactly layups. Then comes the ultimate proving ground: a season finale in Austin against Steve Sarkisian and Arch Manning’s Texas Longhorns. If A&M ain’t locked in, that game could be a playoff play-in for Texas while Elko watches from the outside.

This is it. No more moral victories. No more “next year” talk. 2025 is the year Elko either proves he was the right guy for the job or gets Aggie boosters side-eyeing his buyout clause. The offense has the tools, the defense has some playmakers, and the schedule isn’t a gauntlet. But after last year’s late-season flop, every game will be a referendum on whether Elko is that dude.

So, Mike Elko — time to clock in. Smoke Dixon already lit the match. Now we find out if you can handle the heat.