Texas A&M enters spring football with Lyle Hemphill as defensive coordinator, but all signs suggest Mike Elko will still have a major hand in calling the Aggies’ defense.
Texas A&M football heads into 2026 spring practice with a new defensive coordinator title on the staff board, but the biggest question in College Station hasn’t changed ... Who is actually calling the Aggies defense?
Logically, that responsibility belongs to Lyle Hemphill. In reality, Mike Elko still appears to be the central force behind the operation, and neither coach exactly tried to hide it this week.
Hemphill’s words were as revealing as anything said all spring.
“Mike calls the defense. How that works out this year, we'll see. The way we gameplan, we'll come up with a call sheet, and the calls are made before the game, pretty much.”
That’s not a dodge. That’s a flashing neon sign.
And he doubled down on why the setup makes sense: “From the ground up, it's his defense.”
That doesn’t mean Hemphill is just a placeholder with a title. Far from it. His relationship with Elko runs deep, and that history matters.
“We just kept in touch. Every offseason, we'd get together. We talked weekly about schematics and personnel. We just always kept in touch, and schematically, we stayed in the same cylinder a little bit.” Hemphill made it even more personal when he said, “He has been my mentor for pretty much 20 years, so it was an easy decision.”
So yes, Hemphill is the coordinator.
But this still looks and sounds like Elko’s defense, with Hemphill helping shape it, organize it, and possibly handle play-calling duties depending on the week, opponent, or flow of the season.
The real focus now is what that defense becomes. Texas A&M wants more havoc. Hemphill made that crystal clear.
“We play a lot of man, and when you play a lot of man, there are some give-and-takes there.” He also pointed to the next step: “There are things we've got to schematically figure out, and there are other ways to turn the ball over other than interceptions. We need to force more fumbles, too.”
That’s the mission for 2026. Tighter run defense. Fewer explosive passes. More takeaways.
And if the Aggies get that right, nobody in College Station will care whose voice is in the headset, as long as the defense starts playing like Elko built it to.