SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA DAYS

July 22, 2026

Daymion Sanford

Texas A&M Aggies

Press Conference

Q. Obviously at the top of your list are team goals. But what are one or two individual goals that you want to try to hit to get to those team goals?

DAYMION SANFORD: I have a lot of personal goals, but team goals, you know, the season we had last year, we ain't really win any meaningful games. So I feel like my goal this year is to hopefully win some meaningful games for our 12th Man, for our fans.

Q. Texas A&M's defense was ranked eighth in the SEC last season. What are you guys doing to hopefully move up in those rankings this season to be a more powerful conference team?

DAYMION SANFORD: I'd say creating more turnovers. That's number one in our plan to win is creating more turnovers. So I feel like if we create more turnovers this year, I feel like we're gonna progress.

Q. You get the opportunity to call Kyle Field home. Is there another stadium in your opinion in the SEC that even comes close to comparing?

DAYMION SANFORD: I ain't going to lie. I would say nothing compares to Kyle Field, just how loud it gets, 100,000 fans there. It just sounds like they're pumping crowd noise into the speakers. So I feel like really no stadium compares to Kyle Field.

Q. Being from Texas, what made Texas A&M stand out to you over all of the other schools in the state?

DAYMION SANFORD: Texas A&M has been my dream school since I was a kid, going through the recruiting process. I was really fighting to get a Texas A&M offer. My mom helped me through that process. She was driving me to camps and stuff like that.

Ultimately, just made the decision for her, too, staying close to home. And then my trainer, obviously, he played Texas A&M. He kind of taught me the Aggie connection, the Aggie network and how that all works. I feel like those two most influenced me for the decision.

Q. You said you were going to talk a lot today about creating more turnovers and the consistency being the thing, your focus. What is it about consistency that you feel like is the important thing this offseason to focus on?

DAYMION SANFORD: I feel like if you stay more consistent, you have a lot more success. Not being consistent, you've got a lot of things happen during the season. You have ups and downs during the games. You create bad habits and stuff like that. I feel like being consistent this year is going to help us progress.

Q. It's a Saturday afternoon at College Station. You're standing in the tunnel again. You look out, there's 110,000 crazed Aggie fans, screaming, shouting, do you still get goosebumps?

DAYMION SANFORD: Oh, yeah, for sure, every time. The 12th Man, they always show out for home games. I always look forward to playing in Kyle Field every Saturday. It gets loud because they've got to be loud for the away team, when the offense is up there.

So I enjoy all the -- the D.J., the D.J.'s really good. They play the "Mo Bamba." They play the "Mo Bamba" and all that. So I feel like that's pretty good.

Q. What would you rather play against, a pocket passer or a scrambling, dual-threat cornerback?

DAYMION SANFORD: Oh, I'd rather play against a pocket passer. Just trying to figure out ways to rush him. I feel like a more a dual threat, that's kind of scary because he can attack you in different ways. But a pocket passer, you can send blitzes at him and send different looks at him. So I feel like a pocket passer.

Q. What does it mean to represent Texas A&M here at media days this week?

DAYMION SANFORD: It's an honor and a blessing to get voted as a captain and by the players. And to get picked by coach Elko to come here, it's an honor and it's a blessing.

Q. When you talk about consistency and you look at last year and how it went, what was the difference in your mind when you kind of look back at the season of how the season ended compared to some of the high points during the season?

DAYMION SANFORD: Just finishing, like what Coach Elko always preaches, finish. I feel like we could have finished a lot better. That consistency in practice every day is like what he preaches every day. And our (indiscernible) is a precise finish this year. So I feel like if we do that, the sky's the limit.

Q. Every SEC stadium is electric during game days. When you're playing the game that's all you're focused about. But do you ever wish during the pregame stuff and anything postgame that you guys had a traditional cheerleading squad or are you fine with the way that it is?

DAYMION SANFORD: I'm fine with the way that it is. I like our yell leaders and our tradition. So I enjoy that.

Q. If you haven't played football, the word "culture" doesn't appeal to people. What's the culture at A&M?

DAYMION SANFORD: The culture at A&M, grind. We have that on every wall, in the hallways, have it in the stadium and have that on the field. It's a (indiscernible), integrity and dependability, that's all we preach every day.

Q. What did you learn about yourself last year and also what did you learn about your team?

DAYMION SANFORD: What I learned about myself, that I've got to come every day with a better mindset. I didn't have the fall camp that I wanted last year. And ultimately changed that with my mindset, my preparation, going into games.

And the team, what I learned about the team. We had success at the beginning of the year, and then we kind of got complacent towards the end. The last two years, we lost the last two games in a row. So we got kind of complacent towards the end.

Q. What's one part about this team that excites you the most for the 2026 season?

DAYMION SANFORD: I feel like we're hungry. We've got a lot of players that are hungry on this team. You could see it in the offseason, just sitting back and watching. We've got a lot to prove. We've got a lot of guys hungry.

Like I said earlier, we haven't won any meaningful games. So I feel like that's our main motivation this year is to go win some.

Q. Obviously you had a very strong season last season. Is there anything that you've been doing in the offseason to sort of help you win those meaningful games, like you said?

DAYMION SANFORD: Yeah, just focus on the little details, just in practice, like creating good habits, like I said earlier, and just focus on my craft, pretty much it.

Q. When you look at the teams that are in the College Football Playoffs, the guy under center isn't a freshman. It's a guy that's got experience. You've got that guy. How important is it to have that leader that's already been there?

DAYMION SANFORD: It's really important. Ultimately, he's going to drive this offense this year. I like that he has the confidence this year and he's leading that offense good.

Q. Who will be the complacent captain this year? Are you going to be the complacent captain to make sure it doesn't happen.

DAYMION SANFORD: You said complacent?

Q. You said the team was complacent the last couple of games.

DAYMION SANFORD: I'm not gonna be that complacent captain. We gonna push these --

Q. You're going to be on top of that?

DAYMION SANFORD: Yes, sir. We're gonna push these players this year, for sure.

Q. Mike Elko being your head coach, he is so important. Can you talk to us a little bit about your relationship with him specifically and what that means to you?

DAYMION SANFORD: Yeah, the funny thing, I'm gonna take y'all back to the recruiting process. I was committed to him at Duke for a little bit during my recruiting process. And then going to some camps, I got a lot of buzz and then got the A&M offer. So I ended up going to A&M, flipping my commitment to A&M.

And he still gives me stuff about it. But he's known me for a minute now. And he's seen my growth and seen my progression. Our relationship is pretty good. I love Coach Elko. He's a great dude, great leader. He's the best leader I've ever met.