Kirk Herbstreit credits Mike Elko for bringing 'juice' to Duke program

Duke Football is on the national stage Monday night against Clemson. In a standalone ACC matchup, Mike Elko has his team competing early against the conference’s premier team. It’s just an extension of the 9-4 performance from a season ago — a true turnaround.

People are beginning to take notice of Duke, including ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit. He gave credit to Elko for bringing some ‘serious juice’ to Durham since taking over ahead of the 2022 season. Now, the chance to take down a top-10 opponent is seriously there.

“Mike Elko has created some serious juice to @DukeFOOTBALL since his arrival last year,” Herbstreit said via Twitter. “Incredible how much more athletic and confident this team is now. Giving Clemson all they can handle here early.

The tweet from Herbstreit came in the middle of the first quarter. Since then, the opening period has wrapped up with Duke holding a 3-0 lead. Quarterback Riley Leonard has the Blue Devils driving as well, currently sitting on the outskirts of the red zone. They have been able to move the ball on Clemson’s talented defensive front.

Even so, there are four quarters of football to play. Duke is not used to being in the spotlight on the football field, while Clemson has been there under Dabo Swinney. It’s still early in the night but the performance from the home team has been impressive thus far. Just three quarters to go.

More on Mike Elko, turnaround at Duke

In recent times at Texas A&M under Jimbo Fisher, a lot has been made of how good the defense has been. Arguably even better has been the recruiting, headlined by the historic 2022 class. A lot of the credit goes to what Elko was able to accomplish during his time in College Station.

Elko decided to leave when the Duke job came open. The Blue Devils were in a tough situation, winning just one ACC game over the past two seasons. While everyone thought Elko was going to be facing an uphill battle, the success was immediately there.

Prior to last season, Duke had not won nine games since the 2013 season. A winning record had not been there since 2014, with it being a rough eight-year stretch in Durham.

Elko has come in and completely changed expectations in just one season. Getting a win against Clemson in prime time on Monday night would only up the level for the Blue Devils.