Texas A&M Football: 3 candidates to replace Mike Elko as DC

The Texas A&M football team is officially without a defensive coordinator. As recently as Friday night, it was announced that Elko would be leaving the program to take over the head coaching job at Duke. Elko announced his departure via Twitter.

Elko will be taking over a Duke football team that has looked terrible as of late. The Blue Devils finished 3-9 in 2021. For what it’s worth, that’s actually an improvement from a season ago, when they finished 2-9. Even so, Elko will have his work cut out for him, as he inherits a team that went 0-8 in conference play.

But this raises the question — who will replace Elko as the Texas A&M football team’s defensive coordinator?

After a series of great seasons for the Aggie defensive coordinator, his departure shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. Even though the Texas A&M football team will be looking to compete for a national title in the future, it’s time for Elko to pave his own path.

That said, Texas A&M will have to fill a gap that many were not expecting. Again, it’s not the most surprising thing in the world to see Elko leave, but many Aggie fans thought that they had more time with their elite defensive coordinator.

Texas A&M ranked third in scoring defense this past season and Elko gave a new definition to bend-don’t-break. A&M did not rank in the top-15 of any other major defensive categories — that’s how efficient this unit was.

So how will the Aggies replace their beloved defensive coordinator? Here are three potential candidates who can fill in.