Maryland football will look to extend its dominance against nonconference opponents in this Saturday’s opener vs. UConn. Maryland has won 12 consecutive nonconference openers, tied for the second-longest streak in the conference, while its 12-game win streak against nonconference opponents sits second nationally to Georgia. The biggest question is who will take starting quarterback reps for the Terps against the Huskies, but head coach Mike Locksley declined to name his starter heading into the opener. He talks about his team’s progress through the offseason, what went into the quarterback competition and more:
Mike Locksley’s opening statement
“Great to be back with a game week. I know our players are excited. I know I'm excited about the opportunity to go see what we have, see what this ‘24 iteration of the Maryland football family looks like. Camp was [a] super, super competitive camp. When you look around and see the depth that we've been able to add to our team and what I've found over the last few years is that the competition is what really has helped us improve, and you get better when you compete.
On position battles through fall camp
“Really healthy competition in a number of spots – quarterback, corner, the tight end position, the left side of the offensive line. Great, great healthy competition. We got a lot of guys, young players, reps in practice and if you watch the way we practice in the development of our young guys, especially the young [offensive] linemen. This is one of the biggest classes we signed in [offensive] lineman and I can tell you that those guys were coached and when you have three guys working with those guys in Brian Braswell and then obviously Damian Wroblewski as well as Brian Ferentz, I saw the immediate improvement and the development of those young linemen. And we're going to need that depth.”
On facing UConn
“Obviously we open up with UConn. I've got a ton, ton of respect for Coach [Jim] Mora. He's been really successful at the NFL level. He's had success at the college level. He’s done a pretty good job. You look at how they finish last year with two wins at the end of the year to get momentum going into this year, very similar to how we finished our season. We get a chance to be back inside The Shell.”
On playing at home
“As you guys know, I really love having an opportunity to play at home. I think as our program has grown and as we've developed the championship mentality and habits, I've seen our fans try to do the same, and I expect and hope that we're able to fill The Shell. I know myself and some of our game captains had an opportunity to speak to our incoming freshman class this Saturday, and we got a small taste of what the energy is like. And I can tell you, the class of ‘28 did a tremendous job Saturday night with how they responded, and I'm excited to see as we work to get better as a football program, the challenges for our fans and our supporters to work to be better at supporting the program. And I see it. I saw it in the freshman that reported here Saturday. But what I really hope is that this entire area can get behind this team. We need it. We need the entire area to support Maryland athletics, to support Maryland football. I know today is our fall sports media day and so we need this area to get behind [us]. When the governor came talked about six million people behind our programs and not just football, but all the fall sports that have opened up or are opening up this week.”
On buy-in from the players
“We've waited eight months for 12 weeks of a season. We've worked hard for eight months to get 12 guaranteed opportunities to play, and I've seen total buy-in from our players. Total buy-in. When you talk about the player led team, there's no doubt in my mind that what I have seen and what I told you is really what's happening and I'm excited that now we get the opportunity to show what this team is all about and it starts Saturday.”
“Our game captains going into this game, Ruben [Hyppolite], Rob Smith and Roman Hemby -- all three guys have really been a major part in what this program has become in their own special ways, and I'm excited for them to lead us against UConn on Saturday.”
On the current state of the QB room
“What I've learned from this quarterback competition that we've got a room full of the guys that we can win with. That we recruited the right guys to the room. The three guys that have competed for the position during fall camp, I come out of the meeting Sunday, I met with all three together. I come out of the meeting with a really strong confidence that we'll have the ability to win with all three. Obviously, we're not going to get three quarterbacks ready. We can't. That's not the nature of how you build a team and how you develop it. It gives us no competitive advantage to name it publicly. They know who it is. We're preparing the way we typically prepare where our starter gets a good portion, lion's share of the reps, and then we get a number two guy ready and then the third guy gets a lot of visual reps and is up. And I can tell you, there's no doubt in my mind that I can win with all three. And they all competed. We got better collectively. And I'm excited with the starter, our team is going to get behind the starter, rally behind that guy. The guy doesn't have to win the game for us. What we've got to do is play to the standard, practice and prepare to our standard and I feel good about the quarterback room as a whole.”
On the differing thought process on the QB battle in post-Taulia program
“It’s been a luxury to have Taulia Tagovailoa in our program. And like I said, he kind of set the standard and the foundation for how you prepare as a quarterback. He's put a solid foundation in place to where I think all three of these guys have benefited from how we prepare, how we practice, how we develop, because I've seen them all really, really improve their games from the eight months that they’ve been here working. And it was a healthy competition. And like I said, we leave out of it feeling really good about what we've been able to get accomplished in the QB room.”
On Locksley’s confidence in the offensive line
“We got two-deep, ten guys. We've got a smattering of some true freshmen in that two-deep that have earned the right to be in it. We've expedited the growth of some of these guys. I mean, really, when you look at the job that we've been able to get done over the last three weeks. Now we gotta go play but when you look at the competition of the front seven on defense, which is one of the strengths of our team, and the way we've come along up front on the [offensive] line, we're gonna have some growing pains, but I feel good that we've got the right guys in the right places and what we've got to do down is get the continuity and get those guys playing together. When you have a quarterback competition, the one negative is you don't have a consistent voice in the huddle or on the sideline and they've all kind of had to adapt as those three guys have competed. And now that we've got the consistent voice in there, I expect you'll see the [offensive] line kind of gel and get better with each game. Up front is the toughest and the longest to develop players and we've done everything, based on the resources that we've been given, to be able to try to expedite how we develop our guys up front.”
On winning 7+ games in three consecutive seasons
“It starts with playing good defense. Being a part of championship teams, whether it's national championships, conference championships, in this league you got to win up front and we knew that. The way we've constructed our team over the last five years, it's been how do we get depth up front on the [defensive] line. How do we develop the depth to get through a tough Big Ten schedule on the [offensive] line? And everybody knows we got skill. We've had receivers, [defensive backs], speed. Very few teams in our league have the ability to recruit the speed that we have in this area and where we've struggled is getting the big guys. And I think anybody that's seen us practice says, ‘hey, we kind of look like a Big Ten team now.’ We've got length and size on the [offensive] line and [defensive] line. Now, it does take three years, typically, to grow an offensive lineman to be able to play and be productive in this league, just like we've been able to do on defense. The gradual, incremental development of our defense has shown. Offensively, we were a little ahead of schedule because we had a quarterback that had the ability to make plays, and we always recruited skill. Our coaches did a really good job of doing what the players are capable of getting executed. Well now the comfort level is that our defense is salty. A lot of veteran players that have played a lot of football. We still got to go play it. I mean, this is like Christmas for me to open up Saturday against UConn and really see who we are. And we got to play the game to see who we are and start the chess match of making the moves and the adjustments we need to make to get the program to continue to move forward.”
On forcing turnovers in 2023 and continuing that into 2024
“I think it starts with stopping the run. Any time you stop the running, and that's been a big emphasis – for us to take the next step on offense, we’ve got to rush the ball better. We know we can line up on 1st-and-ten possession pass, RPO, get the ball in space. We know how to do that. But there comes a time where you're going to get in the phone booth with a tough guy, stand toe to toe and fight him and in the Big Ten it typically happens as the weather changes. And so we want to develop a mentality of stopping the run and being able to run the ball while also still creating the explosives that it takes to win on offense while limiting on defense. So what I like to see us do to answer your question, on the defensive side, continue to tackle the way we've tackled the ball because the most big plays start with missed tackles. And then the next starts with the missed assignments, making sure everybody's on the same page and not giving up the explosives. We did that pretty well a year ago, and we need to continue that trend.”
On the impact of RB Roman Hemby and his growth
“Even more than what you talked about, Roman Hemby on the football field, Roman Hemby is the real deal as a person, man. Kudos to his mom and dad, the job they've done. From the time that kid got on campus here. And again, he came in [a] three running back class, if you remember – Colby [McDonald], him and Antwain Littleton – and much like some of the other guys, he didn't play very much as a freshman and redshirt, and then all sudden, boom, he shows up in the bowl game and people starting to see the things that we knew about him. But the thing we talk about Roman the football player, but Roman the person, Roman the Maryland Terp representative, is an unbelievable guy, and that's how you win championships. When you recruit guys like Roman. Because you know what Roman gonna do? He's gonna bring in other good players, which he has. And I expect Roman to continue to build on the legacy that he started here. He's been a tremendous leader. I mean, that's the reason why, when we start the year off, it's kind of like the liftoff of a rocket. It takes hundreds of hours to build this rocket, to take off and go places it's never been before. A lot of people play roles. Not everybody gets to make the trip up, but they all play a role in it. And so this is kind of lift off, and we were able to do it because of players like Roman Hemby.”
On the impact of the community and students has on the program
“We need them. I mean, we really do. I've said this before, and again, I'm not gonna beat a dead horse, but we've tried to do our part as a team to recruit the right kids, to build this program. My bosses, Damon and Colleen, have given me the resources. We've navigated COVID, we've navigated NIL, transfer portal. We've done our part or have tried to do our part to the liking. Well, to take the program to a championship level, we got championship-level support – fans, people coming in. I mean, there's no reason in this area that there's a Saturday family-friendly environment. It should be a block party. Like all the local kids, whether the youth football programs that play on Saturday morning, those of you here supporting the Terps. We're the flagship university. We're the marketing arm for the state. When you leave this state, people talk about your flagship University football team, and you know what, when we bring some of these top players – I mean we have some of the top players in the country in recruiting and they need to come and see that we have championship-caliber fans. We've tried to do our part to put the product on the field. We got to do our part by winning, sure, win some big games Locks, shut your mouth and win some games. I get it, but it'll be a lot easier to win some games and shut my mouth if I can keep the top players here, because we got fans in the stands early, staying late, rabid fans that don't care. Win, lose or draw, they love their Terps. I know I love my Terps, and I know our Terps love representing the state of Maryland.”
On non-conference success under Mike Locksley
“Our standard, how we practice, good players that that believe in each other and believe in us as coaches. The support staff getting through a tough training camp and we practiced the right way, our training room staff, getting our players healthy, the former coaches and players that have worked here, that have gone on and maybe doing different things or better things. There's been a lot of that has gone into it. The support that I get from administration. To win is a culmination of good habits coming together, and we've had good habits in the non-conference. We're building and we've looked at what we've got to do to kind of compete for all three parts of our season – the beginning, the middle and the finish. And [I] feel good about this team because of the player led culture that they've created. These guys want to win and they want to win now.”
On whether players or position groups have made biggest jump during fall camp
“I would say I think it's the [offensive] line just because when you look and see I think how many true freshmen we got in the two deep – two, three, and then we got some on defense. But I have seen that young, [offensive] line, when you watch them work, and I've seen them work like, those guys kind of get it, and they kind of got like a little bit of an edge to them and that's what you need in this league. I keep going back to there’s going to come a time where you gonna have to line up and go toe-to-toe and get in the phone booth with a tough guy, maybe have to take a couple [of] punches, and you have to give a couple and that area – you achieve what you emphasize. And I put a big emphasis on developing and making sure how do we develop them quicker? Because it takes three years, but I ain't got three years, do I boss? I got three years? Because I got to get it done now. And so Braswell, the [offensive] line and those coaches that we've added I've been bragging about, I hope they proved themselves right.”
On the trait that the starting quarterback showed to win the job
“Going into it, I was pretty clear on what, what it would take to be the starting quarterback and it starts with who gives us the best chance to win now. Not preparing for later down the road, but who gives us the best chance to win against UConn? And it starts with the metrics that I've used. Unfortunately, I've been part of a lot of quarterback battles, whether it was at Alabama, Jalen [Hurts] came in as a true freshman and whether it was when Tua [Tagovailoa] came in and him and Mac [Jones] are in the same room. It's not my first rodeo trying to figure it out. And one of the biggest metrics I always look at is the drive chart. When we chart live drives and practices and games with the ones, the twos, the threes, they all mixed and they played with different players. And the thing you want from your quarterback is he has to have the mind of a coach and a skill of a player and the ability to mitigate risk. So when you're practicing with the threes and they don't really know what they're doing, how do you manage that group? And so the guy that we picked, I couldn't tell which group he was going with because he managed the groups to where I didn't know if he was with the ones, twos or threes. And so the metrics of the drive chart and the drives ending in kicks, punts, field goals and extra points. The next piece is protection of the football. Who does the best job of taking care of football? And the third is who elevates the play of the players around them? Because we've got playmakers on offense to where our quarterback, it’s not necessarily on him. He just has to mitigate the bad plays and make sure he does a good job of getting into the right guys. And I have to have a trust level. I mean, some of it is trust. Who do I trust most going into this game as our starter? And so the guy picked met those metrics.”
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