Mike Locksley on Maryland football's progress through spring ball, ongoing QB battle, development of offensive line

After wrapping up the second scrimmage of spring ball and ahead of Saturday’s spring game, Maryland football head coach Mike Locksley joined the BTN set to dive into the latest on his team’s progress over the last month. Plus, what the additions of coordinators Ted Monachino and Pep Hamilton provide to the identity of the team as Locksley stresses the focus on becoming more balanced on offense:

On the focus during the final week of practice

“I think the big thing for us, Dave, we've had two, really, our two toughest or most revealing practices have occurred the last couple of Saturdays where we've had 120-play scrimmages, and really has given me a good idea of which guys. And for us, we took this different approach this spring, and that it had an OTA feel, NFL-ish. Our scrimmages were more running, blocking, catching, tackling and throwing to see just how guys are fundamentally improving. And I'm looking forward to staying healthy, which we've been able to do most of the spring with them now just having kind of a showcase this Saturday, where we put them out in front of a crowd and we see them go out and again, run, block, catch, tackle, throw, which are the fundamentals of the game. And that's what we focused on until we get to June 1 where we start building our team.”

On the new coordinators, Pep Hamilton and Ted Monachino

“I think the big thing is, we've always done and Pep has been a friend, and he and I are probably my closest friend in the coaching business, is Pep Hamilton, and we go back 30 years. And I think with Pep, as with most coordinators that I've had a chance to hire, it's a matter of putting their personalities on to the schemes and the different offenses, defenses or special teams, whatever there is. Their personalities into those systems. Pep is a guy that has shown the ability to design run game with a lot of creativity, which he did at Stanford. I've learned that in the Big Ten over the years, that winning in November is about being able to run the football. So I think with Pep, you'll see that – people know that Maryland has the ability to throw the ball, but what we've really focused on and with Pep’s leadership and what he's brought to the table is the creativity and being able to find ways to create run angles, leverage in numbers. And he's done it with some of the best offenses that I've seen.”

On the development of the offensive line this offseason

“That's the nature of what the landscape looks like for us. We've had offensive linemen drafted, or five of our offensive linemen off the years of our team have been drafted or part of NFL rosters from Jaylen Duncan, Spencer Anderson, DJ Glaze and then you throw in Corey Bullock with the Ravens on their practice squad, and got Gottlieb Ayedze on the Raiders practice squad. We lost a lot of very talented, older players. And we've built our teams over the years through what I call the high school model, similar to the NFL through the draft. And a year ago, we played a lot of talented young players, and I think we'll be better just because of the maturation of that group and experience they gained from a year ago, but we’ve also been able to add some pieces to it through the transfer portal and I imagine that the philosophy we want to have on offense is obviously balanced. The ability to run and throw the ball and we'll be a better offensive unit up front because of the maturation of some of the young players in our system.”

On the ongoing quarterback battle

“We're finishing up spring and Justyn Martin has been a great get for us. Having an opportunity now to work with him, I think we're 12 practices in, you see why he was recruited the way he was out of high school. A really smart player, understands the game. Through the tutelage of obviously, Pep and myself working with the quarterbacks, I've seen him get a comfort level and what we want to get accomplished on offense and that leadership and obviously the experience that he's gained having been in college. With Malik on the other hand, I think he has been as advertised, as I've said before. You see a maturity out of him that that I've only seen out of a few people. Jalen Hurts comes to mind who I had a chance to be a part of his freshman year there at Bama to see that maturity level. It's very similar, not to compare because I hate comparisons, but I would say the maturity level that Malik has shown at a very early stage in his career is what kind of gives me hope that, hey, you know, this competition will be one that we see continuing. And me seeing that we're going to need both those guys at some point and we're preparing them as if that's how we'll play.”

On new DC Ted Monachino, development of the defense

“We talk a lot about elevating this year, and to me, when you elevate, that means you have to separate. There's no way to elevate without separating from something. And for what we built this program on, the foundation that it has been built on through guys like Brian Williams and some of the other coordinators that I've had in the program, as we get into this new landscape and I've often continued to talk about the pro model that it's starting to feel like, what better or who better to bring in to help elevate your program than guys that understand what it takes to coach at that level, to prepare players for that level. And you know, I think Ted Monachino, much like Pep, brings the NFL experience while also having spent time in college to understand we are still building through the high school, but now we've got to take a different approach that instead of building for three, four years down the road, it's every year, we have to build a team for right now. And that's kind of been the approach because I've been one of those ‘the best is ahead’ programs over the years because of how we've developed our team and our players. But when you start paying guys, the best has to be now. And so I've turned to guys like Ted Monachino, Pep Hamilton, and you know, even Andre [Powell] who's come in as our special teams coordinator, turn to guys that have done it at a high level to help us elevate the program, which I expect us to do.”

On the ongoing rev share battle, NIL state of athletics

“I think the big thing is we all have to kind of again, take those lenses off. I mean, right now, where we are isn't what we expect to be and I've tried to prepare us for July 1 with the expectation that the House settlement will happen. And once that happens to me, that's where I've talked about it for us here at Maryland, it's the right model for us. We lay in a landscape in between two major metropolitan areas where our players should be able to benefit from the model of true NIL. And then the money that we're using on our players comes directly from the TV revenue share, which we all know football is the engine that typically drives the train of that model because of the type of money that we make from the Big Ten TV deal in football. I expect the parity from the $3 million team, the $23 million team, to kind of shrink. And this is where I've said it all along that this is a great model for us here at Maryland. It's one that you don't have to worry necessarily about being outresourced. But as I said, let's see who can coach, including myself, with us all kind of being close and creating the type of parity that makes the NFL the biggest money maker of all sports.”

Related Links