Texas A&M's 2025 season is officially in the rearview mirror, and after nearly two full months, third-year head coach Mike Elko is lazer focused on moving forward, knowing that the spring football season provides another opportunity to evaluate the current roster, which now includes 17 new additions from the transfer portal.
Just days before the Aggies' first round matchup vs. Miami in the College Football Playoff, second-year offensive coordinator Collin Klein accepted the position as Kansas State's next head coach, as the former Wildcats star quarterback was always the favorite to take over, leading to Mike Elko's most critical offseason coaching change yet.
With plenty of intriguing outside options, Elko opted to elevate co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach Holmon Wiggins, which felt like the plan all along, given his decision to elevate four other coaches, including assistant Lyle Hemphill, as the new defensive coordinator.
Wiggins, who has not called plays during his extensive coaching career at Alabama and his last two seasons with the Aggies, received another vote of confidence from this head coach on Monday afternoon, primarily due to his impressive resume, serving as former Alabama coach Nick Saban's longtime WR coach and assistant head coach.
"We felt like it was the natural thing that made sense."
"He has been awesome with it and is really excited about it... Playcalling is new, but at some point, you have to do it for the first time. Someone has to trust you to do it, and I trust him."
After finishing 11-2 and 7-1 in SEC play, Elko has earned the right to trust his instincts when it comes to staff changes, and after serving as co-offensvie coordinator last season, I expect that the offense, led by redshirt junior quarterback Marcel Reed, won't look vastly different outside of new wrinkles in the passing game, and possibly the run game.
Even moreso, Wiggins will be surrounded by an elite group of assistants, including offensive line coach Adam Cushing, wide receivers coach John Perry, and new offensive analyst Drew Hollingshead, who served as Coastal Carolina's offensive coordinator last season.
"What we have in Holmon (Wiggins) is a guy that is a really, really elite football coach who has been around some elite systems and has learned from some of the elite coordinators in the country." "It's a group of people around him that I have a lot of confidence in."
Time will tell if Holmon Wiggins was the right choice to lead the Aggie offense, but given the offensive talent, now including Alabama transfer receiver Isaiah Horton, joining star wideout Mario Craver, the first-year OC can't blame a lack of talent if things go awry.
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This article originally appeared on Aggies Wire: Texas A&M HC Mike Elko has ' a lot of confidence' in OC Holman Wiggins