Texas A&M coach Mike Elko enters his third season at the helm with a 2026 roster built to compete for a second consecutive College Football Playoff appearance, but looking ahead to the 2027 and 2028 seasons, Elko and his staff have secured the future safety room after five-star Kamauri Dorsey shut down his recruitment late last month, followed by four-star DB JayQuan Snell following suit on Friday afternoon.
For those who haven’t followed Elko’s coaching career, the New Jersey native made his bones as a secondary coach, going back to his playing days as a standout safety at Penn. After more than ten seasons in the FCS and Group of Five, Elko was hired as Wake Forest’s defensive coordinator and safeties coach, leading to one season as Notre Dame’s DC, before making his way to Texas A&M (2018-2021) to serve as DC and safeties coach under former head coach Jimbo Fisher.
Both Dorsey and Snell are highly familiar with their future head coach’s expertise at the position, and while ace recruiters and running backs coach Trooper Taylor led Dorsey’s recruitment, Elko’s affinity for hard-hitting safeties led to pursuing Snell harder than any other program, ultimately leading to his recruitment being shut down.
Knowing that the current starting safety rotation of Dalton Brooks and Marcus Ratcliffe will only last one more season, Dorsey is slated to compete for a starting job in 2027, while Snell, who will likely serve in a reserve role during his freshman season, will compete for the starting boundary safety job in 2028.
Combined with Colorado State transfer Tawfiq Byard likely returning in 2027, Texas A&M’s future safety rotation will be tough to compete against.
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This article originally appeared on Aggies Wire: Texas A&M’s future safety rotation secured after recruitment shutdown
Reporting by Cameron Ohnysty, Aggies Wire / Aggies Wire
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By Cameron Ohnysty, Aggies Wire | USA TODAY Network
