Career Day for Blake Elder
Blake Elder, former walk on, had a career-best day against S.C. State.
His top performances have been in the playoffs, and Saturday’s game continued that tendency. Elder, helping fill a void left by CoCo Hillary, who is out for the season with a knee injury, had five catches for 57 yards against the Bulldogs.
“I stepped into CoCo’s position for the first time since he’s been down,” said Elder, a junior from Duncan, S.C. “They asked me to make plays and I went in there and tried to do that.
“And I kind of live for the playoffs. You either make it happen or you don’t have a next week, and I want to know we have a next week. I love knowing at the end of the day that I get one more chance to play with these guys.”
Elder played in pain for much of the game. He took a hit in the early stages that left him down on the turf for a while.
“I came across the middle and when I reached up for the ball their outside linebacker just drilled me straight in the stomach,” Elder said. “It was a good, clean hit but it knocked the breath out of me. I have a rib injury and it kind of re-aggravated that a little bit. But as soon as I got up, I was ready to go.”