Mike Elko has been through the grind of a training camp at Texas A&M before, but not as a head coach. That will change Wednesday evening, when the Aggies will take to the practice field.

"It's an exciting time," he said. "Obviously, everyone's really excited to kind of take all the work that we've put in this summer, all the things that we believe we've improved on, and now go out in the grass and see if they're a reality."

Elko gets the benefit of having a largely healthy team to start camp, with only defensive end Enai White (knee surgery) and wide receiver Jabre Barber (broken foot) out for the time being. Both players, he said, have a real chance of being ready for the season opener against Notre Dame Aug. 31.

The Aggies enter camp with plenty of competition for spots on the two-deep, with starting jobs on the line at center, right tackle and much of the secondary. Elko said the work done in the spring, along with the first two weeks of fall camp, will play into the decisions on who starts.

"I think we go into fall camp with ... a much bigger body of work that you go into spring ball with," he said. "I think there's some positions where you say, 'Okay, we kind of feel like this guy's going to be a starter, or this guy has earned the right to be a starter,' whereas in the spring, we maybe would rotate through a bunch of guys into that position, there are certain guys that right now have entrenched themselves ... that they'll kind of be with the ones."

One area on offense where there will certainly be competition for playing time is at wide receiver, an area where A&M went into the offseason with a lot of holes and questions. Elko said the combination of returning veterans and newcomers have shown enough to put some concerns to rest.

"I honestly feel better (about the receivers) standing here at the podium today than I did going into the summer. I think each of those kids has taken a step," he said. "I think Noah (Thomas) has had a really good summer. I think Moose (Muhammad) has had a good summer. Jabre (Barber) and Cyrus (Allen) have had really good summers. But some of the new guys that joined us -- (Jake) Bostick, Ashton Bethel-Roman -- I think those two kids have jumped out, from an athleticism standpoint, to say, oh, okay, here's a couple other guys that have flashed and can give us something. And getting Isaiah Williams out of being a true freshman. He was a high school kid in the spring, and now he's another semester further along."

Elko said he also believes the offensive line has improved since taking over the team in January, but there is still work to do on that front.

"I think from where we were to where we are, it would be hard to stand together from you today and say it's a strength, but I think we've made a lot of strides. I think we've improved," he said. "There's a couple guys that you would think are penciled in, but then I think you've got competition kind of all over the place."

Elko said he is confident the offense as a whole is starting to hit its stride as it becomes more comfortable with Collin Klein's system. While Elko's defense retained some elements of D.J. Durkin's scheme, making it easier for defenders to adjust, Klein's scheme was described by A&M's head coach as "180 degrees" different from Jimbo Fisher's offense.

"There was such a steep learning curve for all those kids on offense in the spring, and I don't know that they ever truly got under themselves and were playing as well as they could," he said. "I think we were able to double back, go through it all again in the summer, go out there, get a lot of really quality work in the summer. And I think on the back half of the summer, you saw some noticeable comfort increases in the offense, in their ability to execute or do the things we are asking them to do, seem to come a lot more natural in our work this summer."

Much of the offense's success will depend on quarterback Conner Weigman, and Elko said the redshirt sophomore is healthy and appears to be comfortable in the new offense.

"When you talk about where he was in the spring, learning a brand new system, coming back from injury, not anywhere near 100% ... Imagine being a thrower, but not being able to put a ton of pressure on your plant (foot)," Elko said. "So it was as he's throwing a football, he can't put pressure on his left foot the way he wants to. And so how you compensate for that? It was challenging, was really challenging for him. And so then to be able to come out of that now, be healthy, be able to play and function the way you want, to be a lot more comfortable in the system, which allows you to kind of be able to play the game the way you want. It's been a cool summer for him to just watch it come together, see the confidence, see the excitement, see the energy."

On defense, Elko said the star-studded defensive line will likely be the strength of the team, but he has plenty of faith in the secondary as well. Even though jobs at safety and corner remain up for grabs, Elko indicated that was due to having a lot of talent at those positions and not because they were lacking.

"We have more versatility and pieces in the secondary world than we have at any point in the last six years. And so when you have that, you feel like you have enough to put it together in a way that can be effective from where we were last year," he said. "The thing that excites me is just we have a lot of options, we have a lot of depth, we have a lot of competition, we have a lot of guys that are going to be forced to play at their best level in order to get on the field."

While some of A&M's goals for camp are clearly to develop a starting lineup and make sure the team is comfortable in their new schemes, Elko said there is another key objective he wants to meet over the next couple of weeks.

"I think what we're trying to do in camp is establish what we believe winning football looks like. We talk a lot about playing consistent winning football, and that, to me, is not focused on the result," he said. "We have these internal formulas for what winning football looks like in practice. And I think we're trying to hit those marks day in, day out, consistently. And I think that's, that's what you're trying to build."