Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM PRESEASON 2024 39 GAME PREVIEW: TEXAS A&M tel's main ballroom, he lit up. He was ready. He said he spoke on the phone with Leonard earlier in the summer so the two could drum up a scripted an- swer every time they were asked about each other. Between now and Aug. 31, it'll probably be a whole lot. But Elko spoke from the heart on the matter in July. "Riley's a phenomenal quarterback," he said. "He's a phenomenal competi- tor. He obviously played a huge role in our success at Duke and, in a lot of ways, me getting this job here at Texas A&M. And so the irony of playing against him in the opener certainly isn't lost on me." HEALTHY COMPETITION Elko and Leonard's new destinations are about so much more than whatever happens on the Saturday night of La- bor Day weekend. Elko wants to build a national contender. Leonard wants to be a part of one for his final year in college. He wants to parlay that into an NFL Draft selection. Two years together in Durham were more than enough to heighten the stakes of Texas A&M versus Notre Dame, though. Elko and Leonard are certainly thinking of their respective futures, but tied into those thoughts is the first game of the 2024 season. It couldn't be any bigger of one for them personally. There is no shying away from the in- dividual head-to-head chess match lay- ered within a team matchup that yields plenty of intriguing subtext on its own. This is only the sixth time the Aggies and Irish have ever played each other, and it's just the second-ever meeting between them at Kyle Field in College Station. The Aggies won the first one there, 24-3 in 2001. When will Notre Dame have another chance to notch a win at one of col- lege football's most impressive venues? History suggests it'll probably have to wait at least a couple decades, probably more.