Texas A&M's Top 10 Players Heading Into 2026

Texas A&M enters 2026 off the best season of the Mike Elko era — an 11-2 finish, the program’s first College Football Playoff appearance, and a roster that Elko has now rebuilt three transfer classes deep. Ten players were selected in the 2026 NFL Draft, a program record, which means this roster is simultaneously the deepest of Elko’s tenure and one of the least proven at the very top. That tension is the whole story of this list. Here are the 10 Aggies who matter most walking into fall camp — counting down from 10 to 1.

10. Ray Coney, LB (RS-Senior, Tulsa transfer)

Coney is the riskiest inclusion on this list, and he’s here anyway because the tape and the numbers both back it up. He spent two seasons at East Tennessee State (97 tackles, 12 TFL, 5 sacks in 2024 alone) before transferring to Tulsa for a monster 2025: 128-129 tackles (sources vary by one), 7.5 TFL, 2 sacks, 2 pass breakups and a forced fumble, leading the American Conference and finishing in the top seven nationally in tackles. He was a First Team All-Conference selection and a team captain. PFF graded him at 87.6 overall and 86.3 in run defense with just a 7.3% missed tackle rate — an elite number for a downhill linebacker. His career totals across ETSU and Tulsa: 273 tackles, 21 TFL, 8 sacks in 35 games.

None of that has come against SEC competition, which is the honest caveat. But with Taurean York gone to the draft and Daymion Sanford sidelined for the start of the season with a lower-body injury, Coney isn’t competing for reps — he’s the incumbent at middle linebacker. The tackle production is real. The question is whether it holds up against SEC guards instead of AAC tackles.

9. Mark Nabou Jr., C (Senior)

The Aggies were staring down the loss of their entire interior offensive line this offseason — Dametreous Crownover, Chase Bisontis, Trey Zuhn and Reuben Fatherree all departed. They kept Nabou, and it cost them: a re-signing deal worth up to $1.2 million, reportedly making him one of the highest-paid centers in college football. He’s earned it. Nabou has started at both center and left guard across three seasons in College Station — 11 starts at left guard and one at center as a true freshman in 2023, then a Week 1 start at center in 2024 before a season-ending injury ended that year early. He was back and effective enough in 2025 to earn Second Team All-SEC recognition from Athlon’s 2026 preseason poll. Every protection call Marcel Reed makes at the line starts with Nabou.

8. Rickey Gibson III / Julio Humphrey, CB (Grad transfer / RS-Senior)

Two different paths to the same job opposite Dezz Ricks, and Elko’s staff likes both enough that neither is a clear CB1 heading into camp.

Gibson arrives from Tennessee, where he started 12 games as a sophomore in 2024 opposite All-America and 2026 first-round projection Jermod McCoy — 32 tackles, 2 TFL, 5 pass breakups, a forced fumble. He was trending toward a bigger junior-year role before a left arm injury in the 2025 season opener against Syracuse wiped out most of that season. Career at Tennessee: 26 games, 14 starts, 42 tackles, 3 TFL, 6 PBU. He was fully healthy and reportedly impressive throughout Texas A&M’s spring practice.

Julio Humphrey has been in the building longer. A former four-star-by-Rivals recruit out of Clear Lake, he started 10 games across three seasons at Georgia — including the 2024 SEC Championship team, where he led the Bulldogs with four pass breakups. While he appeared in just a rotational role behind Ricks and Will Lee III in 2025, he might have gained the most buzz of any defensive player from spring camp. At 6-foot-1 and a legitimate 4.3-range athlete, Humphrey has the tools; he’s just never had the clear runway to start at A&M until now.

Whoever wins the job in fall camp, expect the other in the rotation immediately. This secondary needs both.

7. DJ Hicks, DT (Senior)

Hicks arrived in 2023 as the No. 1 recruit in Texas and the top-rated defensive tackle in the country. Three years later, he’s never been a full-time starter — a fact that’s fair to hold against a five-star, and also a fact that ignores what actually happened in 2025. After totaling just 30 tackles, 4.5 TFL and 2.5 sacks across his first two seasons combined, Hicks broke out as a junior: 26 tackles (13 solo, 13 assisted) and 3 sacks in 2025 alone, nearly matching his prior two years combined in a single season. That happened behind a defensive tackle rotation that included multiple future NFL draft picks.

Now those players are gone. Hicks is the most experienced interior lineman on the roster, and for the first time in his career, there’s no one ahead of him. The 2025 numbers say the traits are finally translating. The next step is doing it as the unquestioned starter, not the rotational piece.

6. Anto Saka, DE (RS-Senior, Northwestern transfer)

Saka is Elko’s answer to arguably the toughest loss of the offseason: SEC Defensive Player of the Year Cashius Howell, who led the conference with 11.5 regular-season sacks and helped power a pass rush that finished with 43 total sacks — fourth-most nationally. Saka isn’t Howell, but he’s not a reach either. Across three seasons at Northwestern (31 games), he recorded 12 sacks and forced three fumbles, and he was ranked as a top-80 overall transfer portal prospect and a top-13 edge rusher available in the cycle by 247Sports. At 6-foot-4, 255 pounds, he’s bigger than Howell and brings the kind of length A&M’s staff has consistently targeted at the position. Preseason Athlon voters already have him Third Team All-SEC — before he’s played a single down in Maroon and White.

5. Dezz Ricks, CB (RS-Junior)

The steadiest player on this list. Ricks has started every game across his first two seasons and enters year three as the unquestioned CB1 opposite whoever wins the Gibson/Humphrey battle. In 2025, he ranked second on the team with six pass breakups — four of them in SEC play — and added 26 tackles. Athlon’s preseason All-SEC poll has him on the Fourth Team, which is probably light: he’s the only returning corner on the roster with sustained SEC starting experience at a high level, and he’s playing across from an entirely rebuilt room. If A&M’s secondary lives up to the hype in 2026, Ricks is the reason why more than anyone else.

4. Marcel Reed, QB (RS-Junior)

Team captain. Returning starter. And, on paper, one of the most accomplished quarterbacks in the country: Reed opens 2026 as one of just eight returning FBS quarterbacks nationally with 5,000-plus career passing yards and 1,000-plus career rushing yards, and one of nine with 40-plus career passing touchdowns and 14-plus rushing touchdowns. His career line through 27 games (21 starts): 402-of-653 passing (61.6%) for 5,407 yards, 41 touchdowns and 19 interceptions, a 146.02 efficiency rating, plus 233 carries for 1,085 yards and 14 rushing scores — 6,492 yards of total offense.

The 2025 season specifically: 3,169 passing yards, 25 touchdowns, 12 interceptions, and 493 rushing yards with 6 more scores across 13 starts, good for fourth in the SEC in passing touchdowns and top five in both passing yards and efficiency. That’s the résumé of a top-half SEC quarterback. Here’s the part that keeps him at four instead of higher: Reed threw six of his 12 interceptions across his final four games, and posted zero touchdowns against four interceptions combined in the two losses that ended the season — the Texas regular-season finale and the CFP first-round exit to Miami. The talent isn’t the question with Reed. Whether he can protect the football and finish games against elite competition is the single biggest swing factor for A&M’s ceiling in 2026.

3. Isaiah Horton, WR (Grad transfer, Alabama)

The headline transfer addition on offense. Horton is a 6-foot-4, 208-pound boundary receiver who spent three seasons at Miami (2022-24, capped by 56 catches for 616 yards and 5 touchdowns in his final year there) before transferring to Alabama for 2025. The Alabama tape is what earns him this spot: 42 catches for 511 yards and a team-leading 8 touchdowns across 15 games (11 starts), catching 71% of his targets — a top-15 mark in the SEC. That’s exactly the red-zone and third-down profile Texas A&M’s passing game lacked without a true X receiver a year ago. He gives Marcel Reed a contested-catch, boundary target that didn’t exist on this roster in 2025.

The fact that Horton was left off Athlon’s preseason All-SEC teams entirely — while a receiver with a smaller target share made Second Team — is its own conversation, and one worth having once the season actually starts.

2. Marcus Ratcliffe, S (Senior)

Ratcliffe transferred in from San Diego State two years ago and has been one of the best defensive players in the building ever since. Over two seasons at A&M: 113-114 tackles (sources vary slightly), 6.5 TFL, three interceptions, six pass breakups and a forced fumble across 24 starts in 26 games. His 2025 season alone: 66 tackles, 3 TFL, 3 pass breakups, and a Pro Football Focus grade of 80.3 — sixth among all SEC safeties. He posted 35 run stops combined over his two seasons in Aggieland, the profile of a physical, downhill safety who fits exactly what Elko wants at the position.

The preseason accolades back it up: Second Team All-America from Walter Camp, First Team All-SEC and Second Team All-America from Athlon, a spot on the Lott IMPACT Trophy watch list, and an early-offseason nod from On3 as the No. 1 safety in the country and the 25th-best player nationally. He’s the anchor of a secondary replacing three starters, including NFL draft pick Will Lee III.

1. Mario Craver, WR (Senior)

The face of the passing game with KC Concepcion off to the Cleveland Browns. Craver’s 2025 season: 59 catches for 917 yards (15.5 yards per catch) and 4 touchdowns, ranking sixth in the SEC in receiving yards, plus 81 rushing yards and a score on 11 carries out of the backfield. That production earned him FWAA Second Team All-America honors, Third Team All-SEC recognition from the conference vote, and a spot as a Biletnikoff Award semifinalist — the actual, earned hardware from a real season, not just projection.

The projection is loud too: Phil Steele and Athlon both have him on their preseason All-America teams for 2026, and Athlon’s preseason poll has him First Team All-SEC, the only Aggie on either side of the ball to earn that distinction alongside Ratcliffe. If this offense takes the leap from good to genuinely dangerous in 2026, it runs through Craver first — the only proven, SEC-caliber, primary receiving option on the roster.

Honorable Mention

Rueben Owens II, RB — Led the Aggies in rushing in 2025 with 639 yards on 119 carries (5.4 YPC) and 5 touchdowns, adding 130 receiving yards on 13 catches. He made just 5 starts, all against SEC opponents, and posted two 100-yard rushing games against SEC competition. Athlon’s preseason poll has him Fourth Team All-SEC. One more step forward in a full-time role and he’s forcing his way onto this list by midseason.

Dalton Brooks, S — A career year in 2025: 62 tackles (a career high), 4 sacks, 1 interception, 1 forced fumble and 1 fumble recovery, used regularly by Elko as an extra pass rusher off the edge in third-down packages. Third Team All-SEC in the preseason polls — the same tier Anto Saka landed in — and reportedly climbing NFL draft boards. That a Third Team All-SEC safety isn’t in the top 10 says more about A&M’s overall depth than it does about Brooks.

On the Rise

Two names to watch between now and Thanksgiving. Marco Jones flashed as a true freshman rotational piece behind SEC Defensive Player of the Year Cashius Howell in 2025 — 21 tackles, 3.5 TFL, 2.5 sacks and 8 quarterback pressures across all 13 games, tying for fourth on the team in sacks despite never starting. He now steps into a full-time role opposite Anto Saka on the edge. Ashton Bethel-Roman quietly put together a breakout redshirt-sophomore season — 24 catches, 503 yards (21.0 yards per catch) and 5 touchdowns — while playing behind Concepcion and Craver. With Concepcion gone, he’s the wild card in a receiver room that also includes Craver, Horton and Terry Bussey. Neither has to be great to matter this season. If either takes the leap the building expects, one of them is a top-10 Aggie by the time this team plays Texas in the Kyle Field finale.

The Bottom Line

This is the deepest roster Mike Elko has built in College Station — three transfer classes deep, back-to-back double-digit-win seasons, a two-deep with legitimate answers at nearly every position group, and a program that just sent a record 10 players to the NFL Draft. But depth and star power are different currencies, and A&M is about to find out which one it actually has. The schedule doesn’t offer a soft landing: true road games at LSU, Missouri, Alabama, South Carolina and Oklahoma, plus Tennessee and Texas at Kyle Field.

Craver, Ratcliffe and Ricks are proven SEC commodities. Reed has the résumé of a star quarterback and the fourth-quarter interception numbers of one still figuring it out. Everyone else on this list — Horton, Saka, Hicks, Nabou, the Gibson/Humphrey duo, Coney — is a bet, backed by real production somewhere else and unproven in the SEC specifically. The deepest team of the Elko era has the pieces to be the best one. Whether it has enough difference-makers at the very top to win the four or five games that will decide the season is the question 2026 actually has to answer.