Texas
Aggies’ Training Camp: What to Watch For As Texas A&M Prepares For 1st Season Under Mike Elko
Looking to turn things around this season, the Texas A&M Aggies have the first big hurdle coming up.
Exactly one month prior to kickoff against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Mike Elko and company will suit up for training camp. Hitting the field for the first time of the season will give them the chance to iron out the kinks in their game plan and begin to build chemistry, which will certainly be important to finding success in the new-look SEC.
From a returning quarterback to new coordinators and everything in between, Texas A&M has some work to do before it’ll be ready to kickoff in the fall. If all goes well, the Aggies could see the revival they’ve been hoping for since firing Jimbo Fisher.
But that’s contingent on training camp.
Here are a few things to watch for as Elko’s squad gears up for the year:
Conner Weigman’s 1st Full Season
Standout quarterback Conner Weigman is entering this third season within the Aggies’ program, but he’s played less than one season’s worth of games.
Taking over the starting position late in the season during his freshman year and only getting four games before breaking his foot in his sophomore year has prevented Weigman from truly becoming the quarterback that Texas A&M had hoped he would be. This season, however, that’s set to change.
“He’s healthy now,” Elko said, dispelling any lingering worries of his quarterback’s health. “You’re starting to see that energy. You’re starting to see him really come into himself and, obviously, it’s going to be really important for us to get good at quarterback play this fall.”
Naturally, Weigman will be quintessential to the Aggies’ overall performance next season. In the four games he did start in 2023, he reached nearly 1,000 yards and threw eight touchdowns on a completion percentage near 70.
His talent is unquestionable. The real concern will be whether or not he’ll be able to stay on the field throughout the year.
If a perfect world did exist and Weigman played all 12 games of the regular season the way he did the first four, he would have finished second overall in passing yards and passing touchdowns in the SEC.
Next season’s success can’t be based on hypothetical numbers, but it does say something about the kind of potential Weigman brings to the Aggies. If he can stay healthy, Texas A&M will already be in a much better position than it was one season ago.
Weigman just has to go prove it.
A Scrappy Offensive Line, Among Other Things
Protecting Weigman up front will be a group made up of four returners.
At center will Mark Nabou Jr., joined by Chase Bisontis, Reuben Fatheree II and newcomer Ar’maj Reed-Adams. Leading them is Trey Zuhn III — one of the Aggies’ offensive captains — who will also play a large role in keeping the offense fluid throughout the year.
That was something that Elko preached heavily.
“Our ability to get really talented and really good on the offensive line, as quick as we possibly can, will play a huge role in our ability to be successful on offense,” Elko explained. ”I do know that they will be a much scrappier, much grittier, much tougher group as we move into the fall.”
With Le’Veon Moss, Amari Daniels and Rueben Owens returning in the backfield next season, that line up front will have a large responsibility. None of Owens, Daniels and Moss had a true breakout season last year, but with a much stronger passing game, that’s sure to change.
While Weigman opens up the field as a passing threat, the trio of backs for Texas A&M can make its offense a big threat for opposing defenses. And at the forefront of it all?
Zuhn III and his scrappy offensive line.
“We’ve put in a ton of work,” the captain said. “Just having that much experience on the offensive line now, it’s going to be huge. We’ve been able to gel together these past couple of months, working hard, competing against each other in the weight room and on the field.”
Klein & Bateman: 2 New Coordinators
Elko isn’t the only new face on the Aggies’ coaching staff.
After being hired in late November, it didn’t take long for the coach to add new offensive and defensive coordinators. With Bobby Petrino now back with his Arkansas Razorbacks and D.J. Durkin set to assume the same role with the Auburn Tigers, Texas A&M was in need of new leadership.
The result? Collin Klein on offense and Jay Bateman on defense.
After spending ample time with the Kansas State Wildcats, Klein brings with him experience and an easy-to-work-with personality that ultimately drew Elko to hiring him to head of the Aggies’ offense in its quest to build upon previous seasons instead of starting from scratch.
“Collin brings an innovative mind,” Elko said of his new offensive coordinator. “I think the thing that really drew me to Collin was his knowledge of the game of football, his intelligence level and understanding how to attack defenses.”
As for Bateman, he’s been around the SEC — most recently with Billy Napier in Florida — and knows what it takes to compete in arguably the toughest conference in college football. Texas A&M has a history with a strong defensive unit, so the pressure is certainly on for him as well.
Since Elko and his staff have arrived in College Station, the change in culture has been made clear by the program. Players are “where they’re supposed to be” and are “more receptive” to leadership as it comes from multiple fronts.
Obviously, there is more to be done before that culture shift can impact the result on the field, but the Aggies are in a good place. After all, two new coordinators and a much better attitude?
On paper, it sounds like a recipe for success.
In an incident that was horrific beyond words, late last month, a stunned family watched in horror as a car plowed into the Katy, Texas home of a 76-year-old mother and grandmother, killing her. The driver has been charged with manslaughter.
In the aftermath of the crash, it emerged that the car in question was a Tesla, and that the driver was making use of full self-driving mode (FSD) around the time the crash occurred. The victim’s family has named Tesla and the driver as defendants in a lawsuit. But per Electrek, Tesla was able to view crash data very quickly after the incident, and the head of AI at the company, Ashok Elluswamy, said the driver “manually overrode self-driving by pressing the accelerator all the way to 100% of the accel pedal in this residential area.”
In the days after the crash, Tesla fans took issue with coverage that characterized the car as in FSD when the crash occurred. CEO Elon Musk seemed to agree, replying to a post, “Yes, this makes no sense. FSD drives slowly through neighborhood streets and this was a high speed crash!”
But Musk seems to be assuming bad faith, as if coverage implied FSD had suddenly shifted into, perhaps, some kind of previously unannounced homicidal maniac mode and attacked a house. If anyone was saying this is what happened, they should apologize. It’s clearly not what happened.
And on Wednesday, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) largely confirmed Tesla’s version of events. Their report reads, in part:
“Electronic data recovered from the vehicle indicated that before the crash, the driver manually overrode FSD (Supervised) by pressing the accelerator pedal to 100%, and the vehicle’s speed was greater than 70 mph when the crash occurred.”
But cooler heads had noted weeks earlier that, like with good old fashioned cruise control, accelerating doesn’t boot you from FSD. The car takes the input, and stays in FSD. The question isn’t one of mechanics and technology, but one of philosophy: if FSD is meant to be “driving” when someone jams on the accelerator in a residential area, FSD may not be the “driver” in one important sense, but the car was still in FSD mode.
Because as much as Tesla would probably like FSD to be a total non-factor in the incident, that may not be the case either.
ABC News noted that, according to court documents, the driver claimed he “passed out” with the car in FSD on the highway, and that’s the last thing he remembers before the crash. He says he wasn’t sick, and medical records show no seizures, cardiac episodes, drugs, or alcohol.
A local Fox affiliate says records show the car was making deliveries for DoorDash while in FSD in the “hours and minutes leading up to the crash.” While in a neighborhood, it apparently signaled it was going to turn left onto one street, but instead the pedal went to the metal. This took the Tesla onto the victim’s cul-de-sac instead, and put it on its fateful collision course with her house.
To make matters weirder, other court records now show, per Electrek, that the driver had Googled the terms, “Tesla fsd not aggressive enough 2026,” “FSD is not aggressive enough for city driving,” and “Tesla fsd too timid.” That’s the kind of thing you Google when you’re looking for a Reddit post from someone sharing your consumer gripe.
In any case, the odds aren’t good that the driver wanted this to happen, nor that Tesla programmed its cars with evil intent. But FSD was being used around the time of this unusual fatal incident, and the public deserves to know more. Fortunately, a lot more will come out as the lawsuit progresses.
AUSTIN – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Wednesday he has secured a settlement of bankruptcy claims against genetic testing company 23andMe stemming from a 2023 data breach that exposed personal information, including some genetic ancestry data, of 6.9 million customers worldwide.
Paxton’s office said the settlement includes $150 million for a multistate coalition of 42 states. But because of limited funds in 23andMe’s bankruptcy estate and competing claims, the states’ recovery will be $18 million paid immediately, with Texas receiving $1,266,860.
23andMe disclosed in October 2023 that attackers had accessed accounts affecting 6.9 million consumers. Some of the information was later posted for sale on the dark web, according to Paxton’s office, which said the company learned of the breach months after the data became publicly available. The office said 23andMe initially denied a breach and later blamed consumers’ account settings and password practices.
Paxton joined a multistate investigation that concluded 23andMe used unreasonable security practices and failed to implement adequate safeguards against hacking, the office said.
23andMe filed for bankruptcy protection in March 2025. Paxton’s office said the settlement incorporates privacy and cybersecurity requirements, including enhanced security standards, comprehensive risk assessments and creation of an independent advisory board, along with enforcement of state privacy laws and continued consumer data deletion rights.
“Companies that collect and profit from Texans’ most personal information have a legal duty to protect it,” Paxton said in a statement.
The company also agreed to a $46.75 million class-action settlement in the bankruptcy case for affected U.S. consumers who submitted claims by Feb. 17, 2026, Paxton’s office said.
Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.
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