Mike Elko among the coaches thinking through strategy to deal with release of new college football video game

While most of the country has been celebrating the return of EA Sports College Football game, and anticipating the release of every trailer and bit of information to come out regarding it, many coaches at the college level have been thinking through how to handle the distraction it may become.

The last time a game had a release that even remotely had this type of hype came Call of Duty with their release of Modern Warfare II.

That was back about midway through the 2018 season, when Mike Elko was the defensive coordinator under Jimbo Fisher at Texas A&M.

In an ironic full-circle moment, Elko is back in College Station as the Aggies head coach as they prepare for the release of the return of the college football game after a decade off the shelves.

Asked by Travis Brown of The Bryan-College Station Eagle if there was excitement among players on the roster regarding the game's return to the market, Elko reflected back on his experience 

“In full disclosure, because I’ve been a part of this before, you can’t imagine how much the release of a hot new video game can impact your football team.”

"I remember going all the way back to when the second Call of Duty came out and it got released in October in the middle of one of our football seasons."

So, how did they deal with it then?

"We literally were having meetings with our defense about why it was not good to say up until four in the morning playing call of duty. We had practice at 7 o'clock the next morning."

Something tells me college football players being able to play as themselves will carry significantly more excitement and Elko and his staff will have some conversations that will seem familiar.

He won't be the only one, as his colleagues and those of us at the high school level will battle a lot of the same issues when the game is released.

Stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.