[2] Raised in South Brunswick, New Jersey, Elko graduated in 1995 from South Brunswick High School, where he played baseball, basketball and was the quarterback for the school's football team.
[3] He was recognized by the coaches of the Greater Middlesex Conference as the league's top quarterback in 1994 and was inducted into the school's athletic hall of fame in 2012.
[4] He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, where he played for the Penn Quakers football team that won the Ivy league championship in 1998.
On December 20, 2016, Elko was announced as the new defensive coordinator at Notre Dame Fighting Irish football[5] The Fighting Irish fired DC Brian VanGorder the prior September after Notre Dame started the season with a 1–3 record and a defense ranked third from the bottom of the FBS.
[6] On January 4, 2018, Elko was hired by Jimbo Fisher as the defensive coordinator at Texas A&M inking a three-year deal averaging $1.8M/year.