His college career coincided in the Ivy League with Jay Fiedler who led Dartmouth to three championships in that era, but Elias was able to lead Princeton to one co-championship.

[4] Elias is the son of Nancy, a teacher and Pop Warner football coach, and Hector, a transportation consultant, and has three younger brothers.

[11] On November 16, he had 142 yards rushing and two touchdowns in spite of two fumbles and a wrist injury against Yale to help Princeton reach a 5–1 Ivy League record as it headed towards a season-ending showdown with 5–0–1 Dartmouth.

[9] The Tigers were defeated by a Jay Fiedler-led Dartmouth team for the Ivy League Championship the following week however.

[14] In a game that was believed to be a deciding factor in the conference championship outcome,[14][15] Elias had 114 yards on opening day against Cornell in a 22–20 victory on September 19.

[20] However, he injured his ankle and the subsequent week, he only rushed three times for two yards as Princeton fell to 4–1 by losing to Holy Cross on October 17.

That week he surpassed Heisman Trophy-winner Dick Kazmaier for fourth place on the all-time Princeton career rushing yards list.

[3] He tallied 140 yards on 20 carries as Princeton clinched a share of the Ivy League title by moving to 6–0 with a victory over Yale.

[25] Despite a 207-yard two-touchdown rushing effort by Elias, Fiedler once again led Dartmouth to a season-ending victory over Princeton, this time for a share of the Ivy League championship.

[30] Elias nicknamed his offensive line "The Beast" and called fullback Peter Bailey and tight end Chris Beiswenger, "the Killer B's".

[4] As a senior, Elias was elected co-captain and was considered the biggest media sensation on the campus in the past several years.

[35] On October 16, despite missing the first two offensive series due to a hip pointer injury, Elias posted his tenth consecutive 100-yard game with a 160-yard one-touchdown effort in a 31–23 victory over Lehigh, who established a Princeton opponent record by passing for 403 yards.

[37] On October 23 against Harvard, Elias rushed for 201 yards on 33 carries and ran for two touchdowns in a 21–110 victory for the undefeated Tigers.

[40] The effort earned Elias his sixth and final career Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week award.

[42] On November 13, as Princeton clung to hopes of at least a share of the Ivy League title, Elias rushed for 198 yards and three touchdowns on 39 carries in a 28–7 victory over Yale.

[45] Vinson set the single-game and single-season rushing yards record and won the season statistical championship over Elias.

[47] Elias beat out Fiedler and Jim McGeehan (quarterback of the undefeated Penn team) for the Asa S. Bushnell Cup as the Ivy League Player of the Year.

[49][50] He was recognized as one of fifteen scholar athletes by the National Football Foundation, earning an $18,000 ($37,965 today) postgraduate scholarship.

Elias surpassed Marinaro for career points and tied with him for touchdowns, but both records were bettered by Nick Hartigan.

[62] He made the roster ahead of 1994 third round draft choice running back Gary Downs.

[68] Following the season, he was left unprotected in the 1995 NFL Expansion Draft to stock the Carolina Panthers and Jacksonville Jaguars.

[72] However, in the first preseason game, he scored the Giants' only touchdown,[73] and the next week he ran for 77 yards on just 12 carries;[74] After two preseason games, he led the Giants roster of running backs that included Rodney Hampton, Herschel Walker, Kenyon Rasheed, Downs, Charles Way, and Tyrone Wheatley in rushing with 123 yards.

[75] The following week, he blocked a punt that the Giants recovered for a touchdown and scored the winning two-point conversion.

[91] In the September 30 contest against the Minnesota Vikings, John Randle picked fights with some of the Giants, including Elias.

[100] However, he was soon suffering from a torn posterior cruciate ligament and a damaged meniscus in need of surgery and was lost for the season.

He spent 1997 coaching his high school alma mater's football team where his brother, Greg, was playing.

His 20-year-old brothers Brian and Gregory as well as New York Jets wide receiver Wayne Chrebet were also arrested.

[117][118] When the case was heard in court, the three Elias brothers and Chrebet all pleaded guilty to a public nuisance violation and paid fines of $230 apiece.

[120] In November 2000, Elias attended the minicamp of the New York/New Jersey Hitmen of the XFL who were scheduled to begin play the following February.

[121] In the early season games, he saw plenty of action as a ball carrier,[122] even though he was struggling with a knee injury.