Texas A&M Football Hires Alabama's Holmon Wiggins as WRs Coach/Co-OC
Elko Rounds Out Texas A&M Football Staff with Top Receivers Coach in the Country
New head man for Texas A&M football, Mike Elko, clearly saved his biggest splash for last when it comes to his coaching hires. Late Tuesday evening, Billy Liucci and AggiesToday jointly reported that Elko would be hiring Alabama's Holmon Wiggins to fill the final spot on his first staff in College Station. ESPN reported that Wiggins would also be named co-OC.
As you might imagine, this is a seismic-level hire when it comes to the world of assistant coaches. Wiggins is one of the top names in the sport as a developer of talent as well as a recruiter; Wiggins is listed by 247Sports as having landed 14 top-100 players during his time in Tuscaloosa, with four of those being from the state of Texas.
Goes without saying that @CoachMikeElko adding longtime Crimson Tide assistant Holmon Wiggins to the Aggie staff is going to turn heads around the SEC. This one is a big one on the field in terms of WR development and in the recruiting/portal arena, as well.
— Billy Liucci (@billyliucci) January 3, 2024
Wiggins has had other programs hot on his trail recently, and reportedly had an offer on the table from Texas last season. He turned all those programs down, including the Longhorns, but could not say no to the opportunity Mike Elko offered.
Of course, Alabama fans are playing the "mutual parting of ways" game a bit in their shock over this news. The recent downturn in offensive play since the 2020 season has been obvious to anyone watching the Tide closely, but it's a stretch to blame that on Wiggins. I think the decision to hire Bill O'Brien as OC and then to follow him up with Tommy Rees strikes much more closely to the heart of the matter on that front.
Texas A&M is hiring Alabama’s Holmon Wiggins as its wide receivers coach, a source tells @247sports.
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) January 3, 2024
Among the receivers that Wiggins coached at Alabama: DeVonta Smith, Jerry Jeudy and Jaylen Waddle. (@billyliucci 1st).https://t.co/dJORJ81sdD pic.twitter.com/h29aGHrnha
In any case, even if you are loathe to give Wiggins credit for the development of such luminaries as Jaylen Waddle and Devonta Smith (despite both seeing the majority of their careers under his tutelage), he also boasts Jameson Williams and John Metchie on his resume. If you have been paying attention to the Tide's offensive issues, you would know that laying the blame at the feet of the technique and development of the receivers is far from accurate.
This is just about one of the top hires Texas A&M football could have made. Elko has assembled quite the impressive first staff in Aggieland, and I think it will pay dividends in recruiting—both high school and portal—soon enough, especially at the receivers spot.
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