Maryland head coach Mike Locksley recaps what went right vs. Virginia, the improvement of QB Billy Edwards, when he saw WR Tai Felton develop and how the Maryland brand has grown through non-conference success in six years.
Opening statement
“When I look in and think about this past week, the game against Virginia, three things come to mind for me. The first was responding. I talked about whether we would respond or react to what took place a couple of weeks ago. I thought our team did a tremendous job of answering and responding the right way. They took it one play at a time. I mean, that was a tough, tough, gritty win for us. And when that play was over, they let that play die and went to the next. I've seen our team when we've faced tough parts of a game, like we did in the first half of Virginia, I've seen us not necessarily play that with that mindset. And to me, that's the part that jumped up to. The second thing was we built awareness of ourselves as a team. Of course, we did a lot of that during the preseason, but I thought in this recent game, we found out a lot about ourselves. We found out the importance of staying in the moment, not playing to a scoreboard. I thought the week before, including myself, as I told our team, I found myself looking at the scoreboard in the third and fourth quarter. When you play for results, they create anxiety. And I thought our team did a really, really good job building on staying in the moment through that Virginia game and played a major, major role.
We had a lot of new players that traveled for the first time and I like the way that they responded traveling. It was a late game, a late night game, which we haven't had a bunch of those, a prime time game. I really like the way our team finished that game. And then the last part was the growth mindset, which is all part of what Maryland football is all about. We're going to make mistakes throughout the season. Having success in winning championships is not a straight, direct path. You'll have ups, down, side movements sometimes take steps back. But I'm really, really excited the way our team grew from week two to week three. We faced a tough Virginia team that came in with a lot of momentum. Coach [Tony] Elliott has his team playing really well. Going into that game, I know because of the rivalry of playing of Virginia, the importance of you can throw records out the window when you play games like that. And that was a tough, tough win for us, and I'm really proud of our team
On Villanova
“Here's what I'll say – they're a veteran bunch. You look at their defense, a bunch of graduates and seniors and guys that have been there six years and five years, and then you look at their quarterback. The quarterback is the guy that makes their offense go. They have a really extensive RPO package, quarterback run package, the zone read stuff. And the guy's been there six years, he's been a three-year starter. He's the guy that makes them go. I mean, he's a competitive guy. You kind of got some traits that, you see toughness, you see competitiveness. So what I'll say is I don't expect Villanova to come in here as an FCS team and be big eyed about playing Maryland because they've got a pretty good team themselves and very well coached. But like I always say, every week is not going to be about Villanova. It's going to be about the Terps. It's going to be about our standard and us taking pride in the way we prepare and the way we do things Monday through Friday. Those things won't change for us. It's going to be about a bunch of players growing this week, continuing to improve with every practice and I really like our team and how they've been able to do that.
On the upcoming home game
“This weekend, we got family weekend and we got our mental health awareness games, which, for me, really important things, because family weekend on campus, our students, who've been great supporters of us now, they get a chance to show off their new home to their parents as they come visit. And we're excited to have these important people here for our game this weekend. And then also our annual Mental Health Awareness game, which, we’ll wear decals. I know this year, our theme as an athletic department is movement and Doctor Kristi Hall and Christopher Williams, who work with our team, are putting together a lot of things this week to bring awareness to something that's really important to myself and my family. Our coaches all got certified in mental health training this summer, which was a big deal for me. It helps us better identify our student athletes that may be going through some mental health issues. And I'm happy to keep shining a light on something that's really, really important to myself and my family.
Game captains vs. Villanova
“Kaden Prather, Taizse Johnson and Quashon Fuller.”
On Tai Felton’s growth on and off the field
“I would say his confidence. I've always said Tai Felton was a talented player. He got over-looked recruiting wise because of the injury his senior year. Prior to that, he was a guy that was a national recruit and we got lucky to get him, because of injury and because of our loyalty to him. And as I've said, he had opportunities a year ago other people came knocking and he decided to stay because he understands what our offensive system offers a guy like him. But the biggest area of his growth has been his confidence. Going into the season, I know he's worked with our sports performance people on just the mindset. We sent him away. Our strength coach, Ryan Davis, sent him and three of our guys away. They had a four-day break in summer workouts where they went down to Pensacola to the Exos workout facility, training facility, and they got to see some pros. And I know he spent time with a veteran pro that kind of – he came back a different guy, taking care of his body. His confidence is through the roof. He's playing and practicing at a high level. Can't say enough good things about Tai and the season he's having thus far is a byproduct of the work he put in.”
On generating explosive plays on offense
“Big time players. I mean, Tai caught a hitch for five yards a couple weeks ago and went 80 [yards]. It's nothing exotic about diagramming a hitch. So big plays are made by big time players. Simple and plain. Our system, every play that you design on offense, you usually have it designed where it blocks everybody but it comes down to 11 guys or a good percentage of those 11 guys winning their battles. But when it comes to big plays, sure, as a play caller, you see the way people react to plays and that's one of the beauties of having people up in the boxes is all of a sudden, you see reactions and you see us hit some double moves because of us, maybe throwing the hitch three, four times, getting five, six yards, and then all of a sudden we see that corner getting antsy. Those things set up big plays. But to be quite honest, you recruit big time players, and the way we do it on our offensive system is we try to give our best players as many touches as they can, understanding that within those touches, big plays are happening. Tai’s a high touch guy in our system. He's a guy that's trying to get 10 to 15 touches a game, three touchdowns, a lot of yardage. Those things just happen when you get your best players the ball and involved.”
On four takeaways vs. Virginia
“I thought this past weekend – even in the loss, we had three takeaways, which is where very few teams lose. Like I show a stat every Sunday, every Monday, with our team, the winning ledger of the Big Ten teams of teams on the plus side of the takeaway ratio and play teams on the opposite. After yesterday's, I think it was 25-2 people on the plus-side of the takeaway ratio in our conference up. Through these first three games, teams are 25-2 just being on the plus side. And so to me, on the defensive side for us, we've made a big emphasis on the importance, just like we talked about big plays with Sam, the importance of takeaways on defense. And it starts with, I mean, if you come watch us today, you'll see we every Tuesday, Wednesday, we do a turnover circuit where we invest the time with our starters. We're working on protecting the football. Our defensive guys are working and taking the ball off their bodies. And it good on good work. And we rehearsed trying to take the ball away. But I thought this past week and a couple of the times, we did a good job of showing one picture, disguising our coverage and getting out of it. And a couple of times they've got some pressure on the quarterback, where he had to make some errant throws. And you know, Dante [Trader Jr.], Big Ten player the week on defense was Johnny on the spot for us.”
On the progression of QB Billy Edwards
“Billy the Kid is playing really clean, good football, man. I mean, when I talk about the mind of a coach and the skill of a player. A play happened in a game that just, kind of just stamped his passport that he's made that, taken that next step. We had the last touchdown we had. We were in a formation. He saw that there was a blitz coming off the edge, and something that's not even in our system, he points at Kaden Prather and says, Hey, you come in here, line in close and turn out on them which allowed the edge rusher to not to be a free hitter. Like that's mitigating risk. That's having the mind of a coach but still the skill of a player. Billy's playing really clean for us, making good decisions. I think there's still some growth in there for us in terms of the consistency and then, as I like to say, he always has one or two Billy balls during the game where he throws…the ball in areas that the ball should not go and we've got to eliminate those plays. But I'm really pleased the way he's playing.”
On the relationship between QB Billy Edwards and WR Tai Felton
“Our whole team, we got a team full of workers and that's why, when I came in here earlier this summer and talked about the work ethic of this team is phenomenal and it's not just the good players or guys that you write about. It's this team is has that and understands putting in and doing the work. And they've embraced that piece of it almost to the point where I've had to coach them up on maybe having a little more fun and enjoying it because as an 18-to-22 year old, you take on this responsibility, and everybody has, you have these influences and all this information at your hands and it creates anxiety. And I've done everything I can to release pressure on these guys to understand and love the way we prepare. And we talk about practice being the show. Make practice the show, not Saturday. The show should feel like practice. And so the big emphasis for this team has been that and Billy and Tai exemplify that. Tai has done a lot of work behind the scenes. I said something to him in the team meeting yesterday. He's a guy that was catching off the lobster, the tennis ball machine that from 11pm to 1am and he's in there in the summer, and he's in there in the offseason. And he's doing it when nobody's watching, when nobody's writing articles, nobody's talking about how bad we are. He's working. And all that is being seen now because of the stuff he did and the pride he took in doing the work in the dark.”
On OT Andre Roye
“I don’t.”
On how the OL will fare
“The next guy has to come up, the next guy up mentality. Whenever we've had injuries, it's the next man up, and we'll turn to whoever our third tackle has been. Rotate some guys through. I expect [Andre] to be available, but I have not had an update just yet. He was out there yesterday, walking around, but it'll be next man up, as we've always done when we've dealt with injuries.”
On RB Nolan Ray’s progression in the rotation
“He's one of our top playmakers in our offensive system. If you were to, as I think of things, and I know as Josh [Gattis] puts together his thoughts in our game plan on offense, it's always geared toward getting our best players the ball. And Nolan is one of our best players on offense. We've got a really good running back room. Colby McDonald made some big runs last past Saturday and has continued to kind of find a role in a niche as well. But with Nolan, he's a high touch guy that we know if you get him enough opportunities, he's going to make a play for you. Explosive play and he did it all summer in our practices. He's one of those guys that we got to continue to find ways to keep them involved.”
On the DL, run defense
“It starts with our front seven when it comes to the run game. It's not been a secret that the strength of our team is that front. When you think about the Taizse Johnson's, who's played a lot of football around here, Quashon Fuller, transferring from Florida State the last three years, has been really productive and has grown in our program. Tommy Akingbesote, having a big, big year for us. Jordan Phillips. We've recruited and created the depth and size on the interior. And I haven't even mentioned guys like Neeo Avery, who's starting to come on here the last couple of weeks here, you see him coming on. So the front seven, the linebackers – Ruben [Hyppolite], Caleb Wheatland – those guys are veteran group. When you are able to stop the run the way we've been able to do it, it makes people play one dimensional. And that's where for us, on the back end, we've got to just continue to develop back there to where we can hold up. And once we kind of get that thing in sync, I think we'll have the makings of a really good defense that you'll see us continue to improve as the year goes on. As we know, as we just talked about, that growth mindset.”
On how the Maryland brand has grown through the non-conference success
“I would say that, based on the way we're recruiting, that our regional brand has improved, contrary to what some may think. It's not linear. It's not going to go straight up. It's going to have peaks, valleys, steps back, setbacks, takeoffs. But if you study us, we've recruited well and recruiting tends to get better as people tend to see you get better. And I think that's when you talk about growth mindset and the people that are inside Jones-Hill House and the people that have intimate knowledge about our team, they understand the magnitude of what we're trying to get accomplished.”
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