Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com MARCH 2017 79 record and Military Bowl victory over Temple serving as the program's first winning season and bowl vic- tory since the 2008 campaign. Notre Dame is a program coming off a 4-8 season and with a head coach on the hot seat. Elko was a hot commodity, with both Florida and Or- egon making a run at him for their vacant coordinator openings. For Elko, the decision was easy. "Winning national championships, coaching the best student-athletes in the country, kids that get every- thing," Elko said of why he chose Notre Dame. "Life, football, how it balances itself, academics." In the past some in the national media would point to the academic rigors Notre Dame football players have to go through as a negative when it was looking to hire top coaches. It's not football all the time at the prestigious university, and for Elko, those demands were a selling point. "I have children, and I want my children around those kind of kids," Elko explained. "I want players that understand life and are willing to listen and learn and develop. I want players that I can have relationships with — that's a big thing for me." One of the knocks on VanGorder was the complex nature of his defense, which made it difficult for his players to fully grasp his system. Far too often under VanGorder the defensive players would find themselves out of position or thinking too much, which kept them from playing full speed. Elko's defense is every bit as complex from the per- spective of opposing offenses, but it's one his players will have a much easier time grasping. "We want our kids to be able to play fast, so we'll only install what they can play fast," Elko explained. "Then I think it's just how you coach your progressions and how you teach the whole package. We want clear, concise messaging to the kids and the constant repetition of it." His philosophy is a stark contrast to VanGorder, who had his entire defense installed before his first spring at Notre Dame had been concluded. One challenge for Elko will be breaking down the techniques the players had previously learned and get- ting them to play the game the way he wants. "It'll be a constant work in progress. If we're doing our job we will be much better in week 12 than we are in week one," the coordinator explained. "All will be within the mindset that we better be good enough week one to be successful and not lose sight of the fact that we need to get this thing really good, really quick. "We are Notre Dame, and that's what we do here. But if we are doing our job, we will be a group that develops week to week and is certainly playing our best football at the end of the season." Kelly likes having a defensive system that is complex and difficult to defend, which is why he hired Van- Gorder. It also was something he looked for in his next hire. With Elko, he sees that level of complexity, but he also recognizes that his new coordinator has clearly achieved better results in how it is taught to his players. Kelly saw it first hand in 2015 when Elko's defense held the potent Irish offensive attack to just 21 points and a season-low 282 yards. Notre Dame's next lowest total was 405 yards against Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl. "Mike Elko does a lot of things that are hard to de- cipher, but easily taught," Kelly noted. "He does an incredibly efficient job at communicating what he's teaching." Elko's defense is designed to create confusion on the offensive side of the ball. He will mix up his coverages and bring pressures from all three levels of his defense: the line, the linebackers and the secondary. The multiple looks are meant to disrupt the quarterback and the of- fensive line. "Whether it's the zone read game or the RPO [run pass option] game, you're changing reads," Elko said, referring to quarterback reads. "We're not this stagnant defense where the quarterback knows exactly who the point of attack player is that he's reading. "Maybe it looks like he has to read the end, but he really has to read the three-technique because of the call," he continued. "Maybe he thinks the RPO is off, but it's really off the backside corner. You want to cre- ate that uncertainty with quarterbacks with the modern offenses." One major change for Notre Dame will come up front, where Elko and VanGorder have dramatically different philosophies on how to use the defensive line. In 2016, Notre Dame's defensive line accounted for 23.5 tackles for loss and just three sacks. The Demon Deacon linemen racked up a combined 44.5 tackles for loss and 26.5 sacks. Wake Forest achieved more sack production from its defensive line last fall than Notre Dame got from its en- tire defense in 2016 (14 sacks), 2015 (24 sacks) and 2014 (26 sacks) under VanGorder. "I want to be disruptive," Elko stated emphatically. "The first group that can be disruptive is your D-line. We want to allow them and afford them the ability to get penetration and get in the backfield and disrupt the ball." The objective of attacking with the front is to slow down today's modern offenses, which work with a faster tempo and are more explosive. "Nowadays the best way to stop this offensive on- slaught that is going on in college football is to get people off schedule," Elko said, referring to the desire to get teams into second- and third-and-longer situations. "That's a disruptive play from someone in your front seven usually. Our philosophy is trying to get people off schedule and creating tackles for loss." Getting teams off schedule helps create more oppor- tunities for takeaways, which was the primary objective for Kelly when looking for a defensive coordinator. In 2016, Wake Forest tied for 10th nationally after forcing 27 turnovers. Notre Dame forced just 28 turnovers the last two seasons … combined. If Elko can have the same level of success at Notre Dame that he had at Wake Forest, the turnaround should be drastic and immediate. ✦ MIKE ELKO "I WAS LOOKING FOR SOMEONE THAT WOULD TAKE THE FOOTBALL AWAY." HEAD COACH BRIAN KELLY ON ELKO