“So far, so good,” he said. “I’m happy with the progress, happy with where we're headed. We still don't have all of the answers that you guys want to hear about, but I think we're making progress.”

Elko was fairly guarded about the team’s injury situation as well, indicating that there had been some players who had been banged up, but no new serious issues had been encountered.

“I'm happy with where we're at. We're still rolling three deep groups. We're still able to get really good quality work and wraps in. And so obviously we've had some guys that are nicked up, but so far, so good,” he said.

Elko was more forthcoming about the state of the defensive line, which has to replace future NFL draft picks Shemar Stewart, Nic Scourton and Shemar Turner. Some players who had smaller roles last year will have to step up, and Elko seems to like what he has up front.

“I think we talked a lot about DJ (Hicks), Cashius Howell, but I think everyone forgets about Al Regis. Al Regis was a very productive member of our front last year. Rylan Kennedy (is) certainly a kid who’s had a lot of success, and we anticipate taking he next step forward. And so I think it starts there, and that right there puts together a group that can compete in this conference pretty consistently and at a pretty high level,” he said. “And we were able to fill enough depth in there of guys who've played a lot of football, Tyler Oneydim has played a lot of football. TJ Sears, he has played a lot of football. Deyon Hayes has played a lot of football. And then you add a little bit of quality and youth, and Sam M’Pemba comes from outside. Kendall Jackson and Solomon Williams have to develop; Marco Jones and the three D-tackles that we bring in, and you certainly have plenty of SEC bodies.”

When asked about Hicks, the former 5-star defensive tackle who will get an opportunity to start this fall, Elko said the junior has developed not just physically, but mentally.

“I just think like there's a level of maturity that that happens over time. And you know, he's not feeling his way through things anymore. He knows what it means to be a college football player,” Elko said of Hicks. “He knows he got enough of a taste of it for sure last year to kind of know where his strengths are and obviously what he's capable of, but also maybe some of the areas where he can improve and get better to be the dominant player that he wants to be all the time.”

While Elko may have an idea what his defensive front may look like, he still doesn’t know what form his actual roster may take. The House v. NCAA suit could alter the form of college football rosters to 105 scholarship players and no walk-ons — but uncertainty still reigns as a final settlement has yet to be reached.

“At this point we have no idea, right? And (it’s) relatively crazy, considering we're knee deep into preparations for the season, and we don't even really know what the roster rules are for the season that we're about to play,” he said. “The people behind the scenes are doing what they can do to get those answers as quick and as fast as they can. To some degree, you're making sure that you have plans and options to move in whatever direction you're going to need to move.”

For now, though, Elko is more interested in a sense of urgency on the field. He said the idea of not repeating last year’s late season collapse has been firmly drilled into the team.

“That's been a huge emphasis point for us this off season, given how last year ended … is our ability to finish,” he said. “So we've tried to build that into everything, finishing this last four-week segment, finishing the last part of a workout, finishing the last part of practice, like that's been an enormous emphasis in what we're trying to do to get ourselves in the position we were in last year, and then finish it the right way this year.”