Texas A&M Football: Why Jim Harbaugh won’t poach this assistant

The Texas A&M football team lost its defensive coordinator in Mike Elko to the Duke football program in a move that seemed inevitable. The Aggie DC had been elite for a few years and, for obvious reasons, was not in line to be promoted any further. Jimbo Fisher wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon and Elko made a business decision.

This led Aggie fans toward wondering if any other assistants could potentially leave, especially after Jimbo Fisher hired an outside candidate to fill Elko’s open seat.

Many believed that Texas A&M’s current defensive line coach Elijah Robinson was in line for the defensive coordinator position. Spoiler alert — he wasn’t. That said, Jimbo Fisher still made sure that his assistant would stick around.

With Jim Harbaugh lurking, the Texas A&M football team gave Elijah Robinson a strong promotion

For one reason or another, Jimbo Fisher wasn’t ready to promote Elijah Robinson to a defensive coordinator role. The Aggie defensive line coach has strong experience, but Fisher is shooting for a national championship, leading him to the acquisition of DJ Durkin for the DC role.

Around this same time, we began to see Elijah Robinson connect with a handful of Michigan staffers and players on social media, indicating that he may be a candidate for the Wolverines’ defensive coordinator spot, which would open up soon after.

Robinson isn’t necessarily known for his tactical ability — at least not publicly. Instead, the Aggie assistant is known as arguably the best recruiter on the Texas A&M football team’s coaching staff. This is especially significant after watching A&M pull in the greatest class in the history of college football for 2022.

Thankfully, Aggie fans should be able to sleep at night after a smart move by Fisher.

Earlier this week, Fisher promoted Robinson to assistant head coach, a position that is often held by coaches who will later be at the helm of their own program. This move will keep the former Penn State defensive lineman and current Aggie defensive line coach in Aggieland for the foreseeable future.

What implications does this have for the Texas A&M football team?

For starters, Robinson won’t be going anywhere. Any interest between himself and the Michigan football program has seemingly disappeared, indicating that Robinson isn’t going anywhere.

It helps that he is a strong coach tactically, but as mentioned, Robinson’s impact on the recruiting trail will be felt heavily by the entirety of the SEC. Look at virtually any major recruit that comes to A&M — most of whom are defensive linemen — and you’ll see Robinson’s fingerprints all over their recruitment.

The Aggies kept a good one.