Mike Elko offers early impressions of Miami’s defense: ‘They’re a challenge’
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Mike Elko knows what Miami will bring to College Station on Dec. 20 when the Hurricanes play his Texas A&M team in a first-round College Football Playoff game.
Kyle Field will be rocking, because when is it not? But the Aggies and Canes will kick it off at noon ET on ABC and ESPN with everything at stake, and Elko is well aware that Miami will be a tough team to move the ball against. He spoke to reporters on Sunday in the aftermath of the CFP selections, when the Hurricanes were seeded 10th and in a direct path with his 7th-seeded Aggies.
Elko had nothing but praise for Miami’s defense.
“They’re a challenge. I don’t know that it’s possible to pick them apart,” Mike Elko said. “They’re really big and physical up front. They’ve got NFL talent all over the place on that defense, especially in the front four. They’re big, they’re fast, they’re athletic.”
Elko’s task over the next few weeks will be to try to find a way to counter what Miami’s defense brings. He’ll be a busy man, no doubt.
“I think they’re going to present a ton of challenges to us,” Elko said. “I don’t know if I’m at anywhere near a point where I’m talking about picking them apart. We’re just trying to figure out how to find yards right now.”
And finding yards against Miami won’t be easy, as Elko is well aware.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
