Everything that Maryland head coach Mike Locksley said after Saturday’s 29-13 loss vs. Iowa.
Opening statement
“I'm gonna try to take the advice I just got from the security guys. I walked up and he said, keep your head up, we'll get them next year. One, give Iowa credit. Kirk [Ferentz] and his staff, they executed at 57 rushes, we had 57 plays. Tough loss, particularly for our seniors. And to me, that's what I'm going to make this about, because this group is a group of guys that made a decision to come here before we started winning, made a decision to come here sight unseen, because most of them were COVID kids. This is a group that has left a runway for the next few years that I promise you will be what we expect them to be. The minute we walk out, I'll start reviewing and preparing us for we talk about finishing a lot around here, and we got to finish up in Pennsylvania against Penn State next week and we'll continue to show up. The seniors last night, we celebrated them as a team in terms of what they've been able to accomplish, and they've had incredible contribution to this program. Three straight winning seasons, three straight bowl wins and really proud of the way they have laid a foundation for us to build back up on. I'm forever grateful to them for that. I grew up as a coach with this group and got another opportunity next week against Penn State and we want to send these guys out the right way.”
On the impact of Iowa’s long drives
“It gives them confidence, obviously, to sustain drives. And it's, when you look at what they were able to do and get executed, it's when you're dealing with a quarterback that's not healthy, it's what you want to get accomplished. We weren't able to do it in the run game. To take the little pressure off of our quarterback, we needed to be able to cover people up. The last few weeks, I saw us do that today in the course, when you talk about the run game, it takes just one breakdown and now it looks like, hey, it's not working. We had a few of those one-man breakdowns that didn't allow us to get into a rhythm on the offensive side to help our defense because that's what we would have needed to do.”
On the key to the second half success on offense
“I think it started with Billy. I mean, kid's a warrior. He's been banged up all year. We don't talk about injuries. I very rarely come in and talk about injuries and because those are excuses and I'm not about that. Billy came to me and said, coach, I want to try to go and he really gave us a chance. He really was the spark. And then, MJ [Morris] came and he scrapped and fought through, first extended time that he had and I thought he did a good job. But I thought those two together being able to finish the drive to create a little bit of momentum to keep our defense off the field, it helped us. The long run there at the end on the defensive side…we’re within six in that long run, kind of took the win out of our sail. And it's goes back to complimentary football on offense, defense and special teams, where the defense in the first half got a couple turnovers, gave us some opportunities. Offensively, we struggled, and then all of a sudden, we went on offense, and then our defense struggles. As the leader of this thing, man, this is what my job is, is to figure those things out. And I'm more optimistic about being able to figure this out, man. We're going to get it done.”
On the emotions of the senior class following the loss
“They're down, man. They are down and it's all I can do to not be like them, because I know the work that they have put in. I mean, you look all across the country and you see teams that are struggling like we're struggling right now and you see people quitting, not playing, opting out to go play. And I'm not saying that that won't happen, hasn't happened, but I can just tell you, I don't see that with this group. I mean, these guys are fighters, man. They embody that fighter spirit, and it's – hopefully it's something that they're taking from me, because I'm even more motivated to figure this out for our fan base, for our program. We've had a good run here and this gives us an opportunity to hit reset and we want to do it pretty quickly. And next week is kind of part of that reset. So we'll finish it the right way. One of the pillars of our program is how we finish. We want to head butt it and we'll go up to State College and head butt the finish.”
On whether playing two QBs was planned
“Billy's banged up. I mean, he's been banged up for about two, three weeks now and then, a week ago, the thumb affected him. This week, he didn't throw the ball until Thursday. I think he took a lot of the reps, but we just kind of tried to rest the thumb to give him a chance. He gives us the best chance to win as our leader on the offensive side of the ball, but obviously not being able to go we try to add the run game element, or try to focus and force the run game, like we did a week ago. And again, the run game is the tough part when you're making calls because five guys have to be on the same page, and all it takes is one guy to maybe not be on his guy, and now all of a sudden it's, well, the run doesn't work. But gotta give Billy credit. He tried to fight through. I give MJ a lot of credit because he took the run of the reps this week with the ones, and we didn't help him with not being able to run the ball, but he found ways to just grind, and he got us within the score.”
“The plan was to play Billy as long as we could, and then when he couldn't play anymore,
we took him out, and then he went and did some treatment things while he was out. Right before the half, he came up said, Coach, let's go. I'm gonna try to do it. Let's get it done. And he helped us.”
On the reason why things didn’t materialize for Maryland in 2024
“I think each week I kind of talk about [it], we're young. We last couple of years, we've lost key guys that are three and four-year starters, whether it's DJ Glaze, Jaylen Duncan, Spencer Anderson, Deonte Banks, Tarheeb Still, Beau Brade – a lot of guys that have played a lot of football around here over the years. We built this team with high school players, and high school players have to learn to win. They have to go through some of the things we've gone through. And you see [La’Khi Roland] a true freshman playing corner. You see [Terez Davis] a true freshman playing left tackle. You see [Brandon Jacob] a true freshman playing safety. You see Mike Hershey, a true freshman playing center. Those guys, I can't rush their maturity. We put the work in, the resources to them, and they'll be better. We'll be better because of those guys. And now, when you add the resources that the new landscape gives us and we're able to go maybe back fill some of the depth areas that showed up with the injuries. That's why I'm very optimistic about the direction we'll be able to go. It's tough now, but we'll learn and be able to grow from some of the painful things we've had to go through.”
On Locksley’s reaction Iowa chants during Senior Night
“I don't have a feeling about that. We always deal with what we can control. The things we can control, developing our program, the seniors, those guys continuing to lead. We will focus on the things we can control. Those things we can't.”
On the run game vs. Iowa
“Those are RPOs, and when they got nine guys in the box, there's gonna be one unblocked guy. And so then that's where the chess match starts. I mean, Billy threw the ball well in pre-practice. He felt it well the first pass, he ended up getting hit, and that's where the thumb got affected again, went and got some treatment. We put RPOs on the run game because those are the answers once he wasn't able to go. We got MJ in the game.”
On Iowa QB Jackson Stratton
“I thought he made a couple of mistakes in the run game, but it's a matter of they were able to rush the ball to take the pressure off of him. That's a veteran [offensive] line, a veteran group. We're not there yet. And I tell you what, these lessons that we'll take from this this season. Alan Herron, he's a sophomore. Aliou Bah, first year starter, he's a sophomore. You throw in Michael Hershey, you throw in Terez Davis, all right, on the left side. Those guys will will benefit from this year. And again, that's the part of the patience that I don't have. I'm learning. I'm trying – I'm doing everything I can to be patient. But there comes a point in time where you know what, they got to grow up. And I saw them grow up the last two to three weeks. When you talk about our ability to run the ball, that's proof that it's coming. And now we'll backfill it, get some added help in here, and we'll hit this reset button like I said, pretty quickly, and I'm really motivated.”
On why Locksley remains optimistic
“Tell me what being negative will do? What will being negative do? I mean, I just choose to not live my life that way. If I felt sorry for myself and was negative about everything I've had to endure as a person, I wouldn't be standing here in front of you. And so it's my job to model that for my team, for these young men. Because they're our future. And you know what? Sometimes you wake up and life turns out like it did today, and you better get up, look yourself in the mirror, and a lot like that mascot, we have the turtle. Take the next step forward. Just keep going. And so that's who I am. That's what I'm going to continue to be for this program as long as they'll have me and you'll continue to see me be who I am. I'm very, very comfortable with that and my team will represent that.”
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