This morning, Eastern Kentucky University football head coach Mark Elder spoke with media about their upcoming game against Kentucky this Saturday, and Elder had a lot of praise for their opponent. 

Coming off an impressive performance in the win against Southern Miss, Elder said the defense is what caught his attention the most.

“They were good last year, but they’re legitimately a major, big-time defense,” Elder said. “They’re stout, they are very very tough against the run, schematically they put you in a tough spot by putting more people in the box than what you’re capable of blocking, so not only are they good up front, but they’re schematically difficult to run the football against.”

Before becoming the head coach at EKU, Elder was the special teams coordinator and tight ends coach at Tennessee, and that was the first time he said UK’s defense caught his eye.

In his final year coaching at Tennessee in 2015, Elder said he remembers playing UK’s defense, which was young at the time. Some of those players from 2015 are still on the roster in 2017, and Elder said he knows he has to watch out for the more experienced defense. 

“Obviously, they were making freshmen mistakes two years ago, now they’re veterans who are balling out,” Elder said.

Elder also had good things to say about UK’s offense, which is loaded with playmakers.

Stephen Johnson, Benny Snell and CJ Conrad are some of the players Elder mentioned that stood out to him.

“They’re quarterback is dynamic, he can throw the heck out of the football, you see him lighting people up a year ago with long passes,” Elder said of Johnson. “He can run the football when needed, I think he’s really good.”

EKU last played UK when the Colonels nearly upset the Cats in 2015. UK won the game 34-27, but the Cats needed a 14-point fourth quarter to complete a comeback.

Elder wasn’t on that EKU team in 2015, but he is familiar with playing Kentucky from his days at Tennessee.

“They’re a complete football team; they’re a tough football team; might be the best team that Kentucky has had in the past 25 years is what I’ve heard from a lot of people,” Elder said. “Our guys are excited and can’t wait to get to play them this weekend.”

You can listen to Elder’s full interview here.