Press Conference: Elko speaks to local media on Monday afternoon

The following are live, paraphrased notes from the Monday afternoon media availability:

Mike Elko

• We woke up and had a good practice. Miami is a talented team. Excited for the opportunity.
   
• Carson Beck is a talented quarterback. He does a good job of delivering the football. They have an explosive passing attack. They are talented at wide receiver. Trying to find a way to get them out of rhythm is key.
   
• It's an ongoing conversation when you are not doing things at the level you want done. I don’t know if there is a magical revelation. It is an ongoing target.
   
• Le’Veon Moss and Scooby Williams: They’re great. They all appear to be great.
   
• There is excitement in seeing your name, but we have more aspirations than just seeing our name up there. The first step is getting in, but we want to do more than that.
   
• There are challenges to not playing for a couple of weeks. We have a rhythm to what we are trying to get done.
   
• Cashius Howell’s journey is awesome. We recruited him early on. He was one of the first kids to buy in, him and Will Lee III. I know he is excited to try and finish this the right way.
   
• It's a lot more collaborative on offense to begin with. Collin Klein is not the only one... I have a ton of confidence that he will give this what he needs to.
   
• We are in a good place with the OC search. We will get through the season... We are in a good place with knowing what direction we want to go. 
   
• You can't play tight in football. You have to raise your focus level to the moment. It will be great to be back in front of the fans.
   
• I have a ton of respect for Holmon Wiggins. Klein is phenomenal, but sometimes, there is a belief that it's a one-man show. There are talented coaches in that room.
   
• If you look at what we did on offense at Duke, there are some strong similarities.
   
• For us, we don't want to get into next year's conversations and rock the boat for this year. There will be time for those, and hope it's after Jan. 20.
   
• The positives of a loss are that it refocuses and re-centers things. When you get slapped in the face, you have to re-adjust.
   
• Miami has probably the best DE combo we have seen since I have been here. These two kids can destroy a game. They haven't given up over 20 points in a month and a half.
   
• Malachi Toney is an unbelievably talented football player. They move him around. He is an absolute dude. You can't identify where he will be all the time.
   
• The magnitude is larger, the process is the same. It’s controlling all of that and focusing on what matters when being successful.
   
• At kicker, we will make that decision when the time is right. Trying to get both of those guys up to the level we need them to be. We will see what that looks like over the next couple of weeks.
   
• I think the windows we have are the best we can get with the portal. People will point out fallacies, but there is not really a solution. Between TV contracts, academic calendars and two different types of recruiting… We are bound by a lot of things. I think this is about as good as we can ask for.
   
• I think playing in Kyle Field is an advantage to the home team. I'm excited for that. I'm excited for our students to turn out. I'm excited for our fans to turn out.