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Greg McElroy takes the temperature of Mike Elko’s expectations at Texas A&M
By Keith Farner
Published:
Greg McElroy is familiar with Mike Elko and watched him from Elko’s time earlier at Texas A&M and Notre Dame, so McElroy is confident he has a good beat on who Elko is as a coach.
But can Elko win consistently at Texas A&M?
“I’m very optimistic about it,” McElroy said, and added that Elko is meticulous with details and the defense is run as a “thoughtful scheme.” “Everything they try to take away is for a specific reason.”
Perhaps as important, McElroy suggests, is Elko understands the landscape in College Station. The Aggies have resources, including NIL, and are located 90 minutes from Houston, a few hours from Dallas and in McElroy’s mind, should be appealing to attract qualities pieces.
McElroy praised Elko as a great teacher who runs a great defense, is savvy and smart, and will know how to play the game.
“Because at A&M, much of it is about playing the game and making sure everybody’s all in,” he said. “And making sure everybody’s buying into what it is you’re putting forth.”
The Aggies will be patient with Elko, and it comes down to whether he’ll win 10 games each season in a more challenging SEC.
“Mike Elko is in a really good position, but I also think at the same time, the expectation level is not what it was when Jimbo Fisher was there, which is a good thing for Texas A&M,” he said.
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
