COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KRHD) — Texas A&M football completed its first padded practice of the spring. It was an official start to building for the regular season.
While this team may not be playoff-ready yet, a healthy level of competition from now until the fall will determine who has earned their opportunities.
"Yeah, we learned that we have an awful long way to go to be a good football team. I think that's, that's been the revelation of practice one in full pads for the last 20 years. I'm happy with where we are as a group. I'm happy with the progress that we made," Head Coach Mike Elko said. "I don't want it to come out like I'm not, but when you're comparing it to wanting to be a playoff team and where you know this thing needs to go to be successful, three practices in the spring, it's not there yet."
"If you're doing it right, you should have talented players at every position battling for jobs. So I don't think you ever wanna sit here this time of year...you wanna see who gives you the best chance to win and be successful when the fall comes around, and we'll see," Elko said.
A small change you will see on the field is wide receiver Ashton Bethel-Roman wearing number eight instead of three. Bethel-Roman says the number has been connected to him through his family.
"My dad, he wore when he was playing safety at LSU, he wore number eight. My brother wore number eight. My sister at Ole Miss, when she was at ULL, she wore number eight. It was like a family number, and I was born the eighth month of the year, so it just made sense," Bethel-Roman said.
The Aggies are gearing up for the Maroon and White game on Sunday, April 18.
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