Rick Neuheisel believes there was a key stretch in Mike Elko’s career that led to his future success.

Elko, who is now head coach at Texas A&M, got his first big job as defensive coordinator for Wake Forest under Dave Clawson. Neuheisel identified a key stretch of games that led to him being recognized on a bigger level.

“I go back, you remember when he was the defensive coordinator for Dave Clawson at Wake Forest,” Neuheisel said on College Sports on SiriusXM. “Over the course of like 14 games, 2 seasons stretching 14 games, he had held the opponent to less than 10 points 3 times and lost all 3 games. They got beat 6-3, they got beat 7-3 and they got beat 9-7. I said, this guy is not getting nearly enough attention that he deserves.”

After that stretch, Elko became the defensive coordinator at Notre Dame, before stepping into his role at Texas A&M as defensive coordinator for 4 seasons. He then got his first head coach job at Duke, leading him back to the Aggies just a few seasons later.