COLLEGE STATION, Texas — ESPN's College GameDay is headed to College Station for week one of the 2024 college football season.
Kickoff is slated for primetime--6:30 p.m. central--on ABC, and will conclude a packed slate of high-caliber matchups that day. Clemson will take on Georgia in Atlanta at 11 a.m. central to start the day, with the scheduled Florida-Miami matchup following at 2:30 p.m.
The last time GameDay was in College Station for a matchup at Kyle Field was in 2018 at the start of former head coach Jimbo Fisher's tenure with the Aggies after being hired away from Florida State. That game against second-ranked Clemson ended in a nail-biting loss to the Tigers 28-26, who were led by Trevor Lawrence at the time and later clinched the national championship after a perfect 15-0 season.
In February, ESPN rated Texas A&M at 25th in their updated way-too-early top 25 ranking. The Fighting Irish were ranked fifth in the poll behind Texas and ahead of Ole Miss.
New head coach Mike Elko has been hard at work since being hired at the end of November. In the winter transfer portal window, he and his new staff at A&M were aggressive in acquiring talent to replenish a depleted roster that had only 55 scholarship players available in the Texas Bowl against Oklahoma State.
In fact, between injuries, players entering the transfer portal and others declaring for the NFL draft, there were only three scholarship wide receiver targets for quarterback Marcel Reed--the then-freshman who entered the game after third string quarterback Jaylen Henderson left with an injury--to throw the ball to: Moose Muhammad III, Jahdae Walker, and Micah Tease.
Over the course of the winter transfer portal season, Mike Elko brought in major reinforcements to Aggieland, which at one point saw Texas A&M ranked second in the transfer portal rankings. In the 247Sports rankings as of Tuesday, the Aggies are seated above Texas and behind Alabama at fourth.
With the picture of what the 2024 season is going to look like becoming a little bit clearer, A&M looks to enter with a familiar but also fortified defense with Mike Elko and Jay Bateman familiar with each other's defensive makeup. It certainly helps that the starting quarterback the Aggie defense will be pursuing is one Elko is knowledgeable of, as Riley Leonard was Duke's starting quarterback during his two years with the Blue Devils. He transferred to Notre Dame in the offseason and is looking to continue the success the Irish had with Sam Hartman now off to the NFL.
On the offensive side of the ball, new offensive coordinator Colin Klein and other offensive position coaches aim to harness the talent still present in returning members Noah Thomas, Jahdae Walker, Micah Tease, and Moose Muhammad III. They won't be tackling the task alone as Iowa transfer Jacob Bostick, Troy transfer Jabre Barber, Louisiana Tech transfer Cyrus Allen, and others all join the fray to revitalize the receiver room that isn't as star-studded as previous years with Evan Stewart and Ainias Smith playing for Oregon and the Philadelphia Eagles in the upcoming season.