DALLAS - Mike Elko is in his first year as the Texas A&M head coach and a former LSU coach is impacting his staff.

When Elko took the stage on Thursday, the final day of SEC Media Days, he had nothing but good things to say about longtime LSU strength coach Tommy Moffitt, who is now with the Aggies.

“You get hired, and everyone wants to talk about who is the OC, who is the OC?” Elko said. “But in truth, sometimes, the most important hire you make is the strength and conditioning coach because that guy spends so much time with your team. He establishes your toughness level and establishes your culture and establishes your discipline level”

“When I dug into him and really started interviewing and talking to him, I was blown away by how modern he was,” Elko said. “When you have a guy who has had as much success as he has and resumé as long as he does, three national championships for three different head coaches, you anticipate maybe there being a little bit of an old school thought process, and it was the exact opposite.”

Moffitt spent over 20 years with LSU.

Auburn was one of the other teams to take the podium at SEC Media Days Thursday.

Hugh Freeze is in his second year with the Tigers and is giving sixth-year quarterback Payton Thorne full rein of the offense.

“The best quarterbacks are accurate, it's not the guy who can throw it the farthest, it's not the guy who can run the fastest,” said Thorne. “It's the guy who gets the ball out on time and accurately that is a successful quarterback in college and in the NFL.”

“So for me, it's just focusing on mastering our offense, but also when you play quarterback, you can't just know what everybody is doing on your side of the ball,” said Thorne. “You need to know what the defense is doing, too, or what they're trying to accomplish.”

Auburn was 6-7 last season. LSU does not play Auburn this regular season.