Duke Football Flips Veteran Linebacker From Mike Elko to Blue Devil

When two-year Duke football head coach Mike Elko left the Blue Devils for a job in College Station as the head coach at Texas A&M in late November, it appeared that he was set to put together a strong roster for the Aggies in the SEC.

One of the first players who pledged his services to Elko was Alex Howard, a graduate transfer linebacker who played three seasons at Youngstown State. But after spring practices, the 6-foot-2, 230-pound Howard decided to leave Elko for the coach's old stomping grounds.

On Wednesday, Howard announced his commitment to the Blue Devils with a post to his social media pages. He entered the transfer portal just two weeks ago after recently going through spring workouts with Elko and the Aggies.

Across 38 games in his career with the Penguins, Howard totaled a combined 142 tackles, 15.5 tackles for loss, five sacks, one interception, five passes defended, one forced fumble, and two fumble recoveries.

Howard became one of the best tacklers in the Missouri Valley Conference his senior season, with 76 tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss, and 3.5 sacks while adding an interception for a Youngstown squad that finished 8-5 overall. 

Alex Howard will join Duke football head coach Manny Diaz, now looking to put his stamp on the upstart program in his first season at the helm in Durham, with the hopes that his experience will prove valuable in what will be his final season of eligibility.