Senior quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa comes into his fourth with Maryland holding almost every positive quarterback record in school history. His imprint is forever etched in Terps history, yet his sights are set higher now than ever before.
Maryland kicked off training camp Wednesday with now two practices in the books, and head coach Mike Locksley spoke about how beneficial it is to have an experienced presence behind center.
“[Tagovailoa] has the ability to have a positive impact on others,” Locksley said. “[When] you have that type of leadership from that position, it gives you hope that you have a chance to go out and play…a way that he’s capable of playing consistently.”
While Tagovailoa has been around the block in College Park, there are still areas where he can improve. He expanded on those ideas and chimed in on how far he’s come since his freshman season. “I think ball security for sure…my decision making. Knowing what checks to make, and making the plays,” Tagovailoa said. “I think last year, I think if you look at all of our close games, I think we were about nine plays away beating those teams, the Ohio States, the Michigans, the Purdues.”
Another was improving redzone scoring efficiency as Maryland scored touchdowns on 33 of 48 attempts last season.
“I think we got in the redzone probably three times in the first half against Ohio State, we got to the fringe area against Michigan and didn’t come away with points.”
While the offensive line is two practices into ironing out its starting unit, the Terps’ will go as far as Tagovailoa will take them and following two bowl wins in the past two seasons, the expectations for this team are at a place they haven’t been in years.
At Big Ten media day, Locksley made a statement regarding those expectations that captured everyone’s attention. “For us, our program is at a point [where] we can [finally] say we’re here to compete for Big Ten championships,” Locksley said.
It became clear the players shared the same mindset when later that day in Indianapolis Tagovailoa shared what he believed a successful season entailed. “A successful season to us is winning ten-plus games and winning the Big Ten championship,” Tagovailoa said.
As far as his legacy, Tagovailoa has helped immensely in turning the program around and in a winning direction. In terms of Maryland history, he’s atop the rankings in passing yards, passing touchdowns, completion percentage, completions and total offense.
“The veteran presence that we have in our skill positions, with [Tagovailoa] coming back, leading us at the quarterback position… we’re really excited about all of those guys being able to contribute to offensive success,” first-year offensive coordinator Josh Gattis said.
Even with these ideas and conversations about what’s ahead of him, Tagovailoa stays in the present and focuses on the season day-by-day. “The biggest thing for us is taking this one day at a time. Keep the main thing the main thing…and for us to do that we have to remain disciplined and we need to continue to stick together,” Tagovailoa said.
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