Texas A&M Has the Talent to End Its SEC Championship Drought

For years, Texas A&M has had one of college football's most frustrating combinations: elite recruiting results with little success to show for it.

The Aggies have consistently signed highly-rated recruiting classes, stacked up their roster with future NFL talent, and have had plenty of the resources necessary to compete at the highest level of the SEC.

Still, all that talent has yet to translate into an appearance in something as big as the SEC Championship, or even the National Championship.

Depth For Days

The newly released Team Talent Composite offers another reminder of just how much ability resides in College Station. But more importantly, it raises an important and timely question: Does Mike Elko finally have enough talent and structure to turn A&M into a true SEC contender?

The answer, increasingly, looks like yes. Talent has never been the underlying problem at Texas A&M.

The Aggies have had talented rosters before, but were separated from the SEC's most frequent contenders by a lack of the ability to develop that talent, withstand injuries, and consistently perform against the nation's best teams.

Elko isn't starting with a roster that had major turnover or a lack of elite players. He inherited a program that was recruiting at a high level but had no culture, foundation, or stability.

Now, his job is to turn that collection of talent into a less divided, more balanced, and competitive team. The Team Talent Composite suggests the talent is there, but the season's success is dependent on the work ethic of the players involved.

The Aggies need their highest-rated players to become the players who determine games. In the SEC, that is the dividing line between the middle of the pack and a contender.

This doesn't guarantee an SEC Championship Game appearance. The conference remains the most competitive, and the Aggies still have to prove they can consistently beat the teams standing between them and the trophy.

Talent rankings also don't measure coaching, execution, or injuries. But there comes a point when the talent excuse stops working in both directions. If Texas A&M has accumulated enough depth, then the next step has to be translating that into meaningful wins.

Elko no longer needs to prove that Texas A&M can recruit in the SEC because the program has demonstrated that for years. He needs to prove that he can turn that recruiting advantage into an actual competitive advantage on Saturdays.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/tamu as Texas A&M Has the Talent to End Its SEC Championship Drought.