Mike Elko makes Texas A&M coaching debut against former QB when Aggies host Notre Dame

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — When coach Mike Elko makes his debut with No. 20 Texas A&M against No. 7 Notre Dame on Saturday he will see a very familiar face.

Quarterback Riley Leonard transferred to Notre Dame this offseason after spending three seasons at Duke, with Elko as his coach for the last two.

“It’s interesting and weird and not really something I want to do,” Elko said. “But at the end of the day, it’s part of the game. I have a tremendous amount of respect for who he is, not just as a player but also as a young man. I have respect for his family. It’ll be three hours competing against each other, and the rest of the year rooting for him.”

Leonard takes over for Sam Hartman, who threw for 2,689 yards last season after transferring from Wake Forest. Leonard played just seven games last season due to injuries. But he threw for 2,794 yards and 20 touchdowns while running for 636 yards and 11 more scores in leading Duke to nine wins in 2022.

“To be able to play against him, it’s awesome,” Leonard said. “It’s not just him. It’s a lot of the coaching staff from Duke and it’s a lot of people I’m close with. We’re all extremely competitive. This game means a lot to me. People say every game is the same, but this means a lot to me. I don’t want to make it about me vs. Elko.”

Elko was asked if he thought his knowledge of Leonard would give the Aggies an advantage.

“I would argue that he has more of an upper hand than we do,” Elko said. “He’s probably a little bit more familiar with this defense than most quarterbacks we play. It’s not the exact defense we ran at Duke, but we don’t have a ton of comfort as a program going against this offense.”

Weigman returns

Texas A&M quarterback Conner Weigman returns after a season-ending foot injury in the fourth game last season. He had thrown for more than 300 yards in two of his three full games and had eight touchdown passes combined.

He will face a secondary that boasts two of the top defensive backs in the country in cornerback Benjamin Morrison and safety Xavier Watts. Watts won the Bronko Nagurski Trophy as the nation’s best defensive player last season after tying for first in the country with seven interceptions. Morrison is projected to be an NFL first-round pick.

“They’re really elite in the secondary,” Elko said. “Benjamin Morrison is one of the best corners in the country. It’s a big challenge. It’s a challenge that we’ll be ready for.”

Road test

Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman spent time during camp trying to recreate the atmosphere his team will face on the road this season after the Fighting Irish struggled away from home at times last year.

“We’ve trained that,” he said. “We’ve trained being able to execute your assignment in crazy conditions with crowd noise and trying to do surprise situations in practice.”

But he knows anything they did in practice won't come close to replicating what Notre Dame will face Saturday in front of a crowd certain to surpass 100,000.

“You can do it in practice,” he said. “That builds confidence within yourself and with your coaching staff. But you got to do it when it matters versus an opponent and we won’t know that answer until we get to Saturday.”

Key transfers

While Leonard leads the group of transfers making their debut, both teams feature many other new faces nabbed from the portal.

The most significant of these additions are Notre Dame receiver Kris Mitchell and Texas A&M defensive end Nic Scourton.

Mitchell joined the Fighting Irish after spending the last four seasons at Florida International, where he had a career-high 1,118 yards receiving last year.

The 6-foot-4, 285-pound Scourton, who spent the last two seasons at Purdue, was named a second team preseason AP All American. He led the Big Ten and ranked eighth in the nation with 10 sacks in 2023.

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Kristie Rieken, The Associated Press