Maryland wrapped up its first of two scrimmages on Saturday afternoon to give head coach Mike Locksley and the staff the first opportunity to watch the 2022 Terps in action.
“First opportunity for our coaches to be off the field and work on our sideline organization stuff and then for us, it’s another opportunity for us to see what our players know,” Locksley added. “During practice oftentimes we do a lot of coaching where today we wanted to see what those guys know and we wanted to let them go out and work on running, blocking, tackling, catching the ball, throwing it.”
Locksley also confirmed that Dontay Demus was available for today’s scrimmage. “Made a couple good plays in there for us. He’s still right on track like we talked about in our opening media opportunity. Like I said, having him back is a plus for Maryland because of the leadership he brings and because of the type of player he is and so it was good to see him out in The Shell running, catching, blocking. We’ll continue to kind of bring him back the right way, which is limiting kind of his load. But today he was able to get some work and was really pleased with what I saw.”
Locksley noted there weren’t any major injuries coming out of the scrimmage, as well. “There weren’t any that they were out and didn’t couldn’t return,” he added. As for the good and bad, Locksley emphasized that “if there was an Achilles heel” during the scrimmage, that resides with the special teams unit. “We still have some work to do in our special teams, had too many penalties. The execution of some of the techniques weren’t where we need them to be and so we’ve gotta get that stuff cleaned up.” But when asked about who the early standouts and playmakers are during the first week and change of fall camp, the answer pointed back to the special teams.
“If I were to throw out a name, I’d say it starts with Chad Ryland, our kicker. I haven’t talked a lot about that, but probably one of the best pickups we’ve had out of the transfer portal, another weapon, scoring the ball is really important and he came back from his off-season training and has been killing the ball. And I’m really, really excited about having that consistency from that position. So, if I had to give somebody a little love about the guys that really have stood out to me, it’s Chad Ryland and his confidence is at all-time highs, kicking the ball out of the end zone on kickoffs. He’s been very accurate on his field goals throughout camp, and I really expect him to have a big year for us.”
Still, execution and miscues overwhelmed Maryland during conference play last season as the team’s mantra heading into this fall is ‘Terps vs. Terps.’
“It’s us not beating ourselves and having self-inflicted errors like turnovers and penalties and drop balls and missed tackles. Those are all things that we can control. So, when we reference Terps versus Terps, it’s us managing and taking care of the things that we can control, which is half the battle to winning.”
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Opening statement: Our first scrimmage back in The Shell, great opportunity for our team to get in there and really get some work. First opportunity for our coaches to be off the field and work on our sideline organization stuff and then for us, it’s another opportunity for us to see what our players know. During practice oftentimes we do a lot of coaching where today we wanted to see what those guys know and we wanted to let them go out and work on running, blocking, tackling, catching the ball, throwing it. And I thought there were some good things today, but also some not so good things that we’ve gotta get fixed. As I always say, it’s a good scrimmage when we have the ebb and flow of both sides of the ball doing some good things. If there was an Achilles heel today, we still have some work to do in our special teams, had too many penalties. The execution of some of the techniques weren’t where we need them to be and so we’ve gotta get that stuff cleaned up, which I know we will. We’ve got one more opportunity in The Shell next Saturday to get stuff cleaned up but was really pleased with the way today scrimmage went and, uh, getting out of it healthy so that’s, that’s a major, major key for us.
On Demus availability: “Dontay took part in the scrimmage. Made a couple good plays in there for us. He’s still right on track like we talked about in our opening media opportunity. Like I said, having him back is a plus for Maryland because of the leadership he brings and because of the type of player he is and so it was good to see him out in The Shell running, catching, blocking. We’ll continue to kind of bring him back the right way, which is limiting kind of his load. But today he was able to get some work and was really pleased with what I saw.”
On Terps vs. Terps: “It’s like anything, you continue to talk about it. You coach it up Terps versus Terps isn’t just a camp thing. To me, it’s an always thing because the opponent is really important, but what’s more important is that good teams don’t beat themselves in any of the three phases. And that’s what Terps vs. Terps are for us. It’s us not beating ourselves and having self-inflicted errors like turnovers and penalties and drop balls and missed tackles. Those are all things that we can control. So, when we reference Terps versus Terps, it’s us managing and taking care of the things that we can control, which is half the battle to winning. Obviously, we’ve got opponents to prepare for, but as I told our team, the biggest opponent for us is making sure that we don’t beat ourselves because good teams don’t do that and we gotta continue to work through that. I’ve seen some maturity from our team in that aspect. I’ve seen the leadership from within, which is part of it. And now it’s just a matter of playing good, smart, clean football.”
On early standouts and playmakers: “We’ve had a bunch of guys that make some plays in practices and games. The guys that have been around here and done good things have still been consistent in the receiver room, the running back room, our [defensive backs], the front seven so it’s really hard right now to just throw out some names. If I were to throw out a name, I’d say it starts with Chad Ryland, our kicker. I haven’t talked a lot about that, but probably one of the best pickups we’ve had out of the transfer portal, another weapon, scoring the ball is really important and he came back from his off-season training and has been killing the ball. And I’m really, really excited about having that consistency from that position. So, if I had to give somebody a little love about the guys that really have stood out to me, it’s Chad Ryland and his confidence is at all-time highs, kicking the ball out of the end zone on kickoffs. He’s been very accurate on his field goals throughout camp, and I really expect him to have a big year for us.”
On camp standouts: “Again, I know you guys love like throwing names out, man, and it’s just way too early. Our first scrimmage, I haven’t had a chance to necessarily evaluate the tape. As I’ve said before, collectively the young running back room have all done some really good things, the offensive line has continued the improvement that we wanted to see. Everybody talks about our receivers. Our [defensive backs] with Deonte Banks back and Jakorian Bennett, as well as Tarheeb [Still] healthy, I’ve been really happy with those guys. And then Jaishawn Barham and Caleb, Wheatland two young linebackers in there along with Ruben Hyppolite and guys like Gereme Spraggins all kind of continue to come along. So, lots of names, again, too many to necessarily call out one or two guys.”
On Vernon Davis inducted into Maryland HOF: “He was part of a class that was probably one of the more higher ranked classes that that Maryland has had and I can remember he’s a guy that much like the Rakim [Jarrett] and the Stefon Diggs, he was part of the forefather of the DMV movement of staying home and could have went anywhere in the country and decided to stay right here at home and used this platform to create a great career at the NFL. And now, even beyond some of the things he’s doing in his life after football. Comes from a great family, grandma, miss Adeline, who I’ve had an opportunity to get to know her very well having recruited Vernon to, to Maryland, and obviously Vonte his brother to Illinois. Know the family very well. Was a guy, like I said, that came in, stayed home, showed that staying home, you still can reach the goals you want to reach by playing here at Maryland for the hometown team and, again, a great Terp.”
On DL Austin Fontaine: “I’ve been excited with what he’s done, on the defensive line came here as a [defensive] lineman. We moved him over to offense out of necessity for the last couple of years and then at the end of this season, he and I had to sit down and talk, and he felt his best opportunity, uh, to maybe go to the next level would be as a defender. I’ve never been a guy that makes a player play a position they don’t want to play and moving him back over to defense, he’s been able to fit in well with the front seven. And he’ll be a guy that will play a lot of football for us as a [defensive] end, [defensive] tackle, that 4i technique we like to play and he’s athletic and can run so been pleased with what I’ve seen out of him back on the defensive side of the football and he’ll be able to add some things to our defense.”
On Durell Nchami’s versatility: “We don’t play right and left and so our defense will kind of, they play both sides, which to me, gives them the ability to show that they have that ability diversity wise to play on both left and right. And Nchami is a natural pass rusher, a quick Twitch athlete that plays with great speed and power. When he is healthy, he has been a productive guy for us and for us to take the next step on defense, we’re gonna have to have a big year out of Durell rushing the passer, setting the edge with his athleticism and the fact that he plays in both the right hand and lefthanded stance is great for him and for him using that ability to create value for himself.”
On biggest competition: “We’ve created depth at all these positions and so it’s always going to be competition and that’s how we wanted to be around here. We really believe that when you have great competition, it brings out the best in our players and that’s one of the things through recruiting we’ve been able to create the necessary depth that allows that competition to happen and we see it in the running back room, we see it in the receiver room. We’ve got some talented players. From a tight end standpoint, guys like CJ Dippre and, and Corey Dyches and you throw Leron Husbands in there and been really pleased with his development. I thought from an inside linebacker position has some really good depth there. And so, there’s been great competition with those guys and up front, we rotate a bunch of players, so we always want to keep healthy guys on the field, and we’ve created pretty good depth in the front seven. That competition is something that’s ongoing. It’s something that’s really made us a better team.”
On scrimmage injuries: “As of right now, there weren’t any that they were out and didn’t couldn’t return. I mean, we’ve had nicks and bruises, have not met with our trainer yet. We usually do that here. We just kind of finished up and I’ll know a little bit more after the players check in here now that the scrimmage has ended.”
On secondary’s communication: “It’s been clean. To me, when you look at kind of last season and one of the areas, we wanted to kind of clean up for us to play better on defense, we had to limit the big plays, the missed assignments that create the big plays and a lot of those missed assignments a year ago were some communications issues between safeties to corners or safeties to linebackers getting us lined up and correctly. One of the things we challenged our team with this year was let’s make, do a great job of communicating, getting lined up and then executing. If we want to limit the big plays, then we gotta limit the missed assignments and the missed tackles and, and I’ve seen us even after the day, our first time in The Shell, I leave there pretty pleased with the way I thought we played defense today.”