Maryland football is four practices into spring ball as head coach Mike Locksley and his staff begin to identify its playmakers and stars heading into the 2024 season. Locksley joined Glenn Clark Radio to dive into the upcoming ‘Baltimore Day’ practice, how the quarterback room has developed, his hopeful breakout candidate in the WR room and plenty more:
On how ‘Baltimore Day’ came to fruition
“It’s pretty easy. It started for me being at Illinois under coach [Ron] Zook, and when you think of the University of Illinois, we were located in Champaign which is about a two-hour drive from Chicago, and Chicago, very similar to Baltimore and to the DC area, has really strong football with the Catholic League and the public league they have. And one of the things we wanted to do back then was take our brand up there to kind of give it some legs and kind of a thank you to Baltimore and thank you to Chicago when we took practices up to different high schools up in those areas for spring ball. And I brought that idea here to Maryland when I was here under Randy Edsall,and I can remember taking a practice up to Baltimore City. We practiced on the city field there that St. Frances used. We took one to Frederick. We took one down to Southern Maryland. I really think it’s our responsibility as the flagship university for the state to do a good job of promoting football throughout the state. And so we’ve played games over up at Baltimore before every couple of years. I was here [when] we played West Virginia at Ravens Stadium. I know they played Navy there at one point. And so I thought it was important for us to kind of keep our foothold as the flagship university to make sure we did some things up in Baltimore. It’s been a very fruitful area for our football program. And to me, it was a way to say thank you. We initially looked at taking it up to the Under Armour headquarters where they just opened up a new stadium but because of their construction there, we couldn’t do it there. So I talked to our chief of staff, Brian Griffin and say, look, let’s call around and then all of a sudden, Morgan being an Under Armour school, we called up Morgan and Damon was really receptive of the idea of letting us use his facility. I did not know it was Baltimore Day initially when we hatched it because we’re actually taking another one of our scrimmages down to my alma mater, Ballou High School in the southeast section the next week after this weekend. It was an idea that I thought was a way to promote Maryland football throughout the state and doing it there in Baltimore, which we haven’t been up there in a while.”
On Saturday’s practice schedule
“Yeah, I think they’re going for about two and a half [hours] and then we’ll go for about two and a half, which we typically would practice early, but because [of] them being gracious hosts that we’re thankful that we get to use the facility they have there and Damon has done a really good job there at Morgan. And I’ve known Damon [for] over 20 years. I recruited his first cousin Dennard Wilson to Maryland and he was heavily involved in that process, even back then as a young assistant where he worked under Henry Frazier, who was also on my staff here. Longstanding relationships. We’re both in the same fraternity, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Incorporated, and so it’s a great event for Morgan and it’ll be a great event for us at the University of Maryland.”
On getting a chance to see prospects during ‘Baltimore Day’
“Well, I gotta say this–we can’t interact as coaches with players. Now our players can interact with their people because we’re taking it off campus. And I wanted to make sure the players that make it up there understand, like, if we walk past them cause we can’t acknowledge them per se, it’s only because of NCAA rules, but for us to be able to have the ability to take our brand up there, it’s a win-win for us and for Damon and Morgan.”
On keeping up with every NCAA rule
“It’s hard to do, but you know what, we’ve got a great staff and Cody Gambler and Jeff Baker with our compliance office. And anytime we do stuff like this, I always start with them first to say, hey, how can I do it? And so we’ve done it before and I knew it was possible. I just want, they always kind of give us the guidelines to do it. You can practice there, but afterward you guys can’t talk to players or recruits that are there. Our players can, obviously they have relationships with some of these high school guys that they played with and so it’s legal for our players to, but we can’t use it as an off-campus recruiting opportunity because we’re practicing there, but you know what, it gives us a chance to get the Maryland brand up in Baltimore and what a better day than Baltimore Day to have it there. I definitely want to thank Damon and Morgan for having us.”
[cont.]
“We want to do everything we can. We want to try to sell some season tickets while we’re there. Hopefully we get some of the Baltimore base…I go to a bunch of Ravens games and when I’m there and I just see the passion in that M&T Stadium for the Ravens, I just keep asking myself, how do I transfer that over to us? Taking it up to Baltimore, practice there, hopefully gives them a chance fans and supporters up there to see, hey we got a pretty good brand of football and I know Morgan State as well, so it’s a great opportunity.”
On trying to break into both Baltimore and DC recruiting
“You hear it. It’s a kind of unwritten. Being a DC guy, I know the frostiness between DC and Baltimore in terms of just the culture pieces, nothing personal, but I went to school at Towson and I’ve kind of got the best of both worlds. So I’ve got a chance to embrace it and see the beauties of what Baltimore offers. Obviously, Under Armour is headquartered there in Baltimore, and it means a lot to our one of our biggest supporters, Kevin Plank, who built his company through Baltimore. And if you look at what the city is all about, it reflects kind of who we are. So I know we get that whole we’re a D. C. school because we’re 20 minutes outside of D.C. but we’re only 35, 40 minutes from Baltimore. So what I’m trying to do is embrace the best of both worlds that we have two major metropolitan areas that are very powerful cities and they can help uplift the brand here at Maryland as the flagship university. So [I] know all about the frostiness and you and I both know it kind of started with Coach Wade in his short tenure here at Maryland. He kind of was the barrier breaker as a minority coach here on campus and he did the best job he could do and that’s what I’m trying to do.”
On the current QB battle
“I won’t even get into the prognostications as to whether it will be one or two. I mean, I’ve been here through some tough quarterback years where I went from a quarterback to a scout team linebacker–Shawn Petty started the last half of the season. So you know what, I’m taking this quarterback competition. I’m in the room now one day at a time. I can sit here and go through the strengths and weaknesses of each one. As you know, we got six that are going to be kind of fighting for the job. It’s early, just taking a scrimmage up to Baltimore. If you look at kind of some of the positives of it, it gives me a chance to evaluate quarterbacks with people looking and fans watching and seeing how they react in this type of environment, so all part of the grand scheme as we try to move toward making a decision, but not even close to doing it. I’m not even close to saying who has legs up and all those things. We’re going to do as much as we can to make sure. I’ll tell you this, whoever the quarterback will be, will be the guy that takes best care of the football, has the ability to sustain drives and have every drive in and the kick, that’s who our starting quarterback, the guy that does that the best will be the starter.”
On what to know about QB Billy Edwards Jr. as a passer
“I would think you would hope to know that, as an evaluator of talent and I’ve had a chance to be around some pretty good quarterbacks in my career that we wouldn’t bring a quarterback in that doesn’t have the ability to do both well. At least done what we’ve asked him to do. We’ve had a starter for the last 4 years in Taulia Tagovailoa. When we use Billy, we use Billy’s in ways that took things off of Lia’s plate where we’ve got a quarterback we don’t want to expose in a run game so let’s use Billy. So that does not mean Billy is just a runner. That means that’s what we ask Billy to do. But I can tell you, there’s very few quarterbacks that I’ve recruited that I bring in that don’t have the ability to throw the football. Like, that’s not what we do. If you look at the history of this system and the type of receivers and skill we’ve had, so I would venture to say that Billy has the ability to throw the football contrary to what maybe people think based on what we’ve asked him to do the last couple of years.”
On who is stepping up at WR
“The veteran guys that we have coming back and we’ve always played a lot of guys over the years at the receiver position because we asked them to do so much, but the veteran guys like Kaden Prather. Kaden made a bunch of plays for us a year ago as the first time player in our program. The development of Tai Felton and how he’s come along. The one guy that I’ve, I just I am hoping to see the breakout year for that I think has just a tremendous upside is ‘Punch’ Knotts, Shaleak Knotts. And Punch is one of those guys that has length, size, speed. Maybe he’s been behind some talented players, as you said, with some of the receivers we’ve had, but I’m looking for him to have the kind of Tai Felton breakout year that Tai had a year ago. And then you look at Octavian Smith Jr. who’s made plays for us since he’s been here in our program. So quite a bit of players, you know, Braeden Wisloski returned the big kick versus Virginia. That is one area that I’m really excited about because I know we have great depth and great skill there and I think the two veteran guys in Tai and Kaden will be kind of the leaders of that room now that they’ve progressed in this program.”
On the 2024 NFL Draft class
“I think DJ [Glaze] or Gottlieb Ayedze, who transferred in from Frostburg who’s climbing up the charts with his athleticism. Both DJ and Gotti. I mean, DJ’s played all four positions, both sides of guards on both sides, tackles on both sides and people don’t know this, but I actually approached him a year ago and talk to him about after our season a year ago saying, look, if you have a COVID year, let’s do some research. Thought about moving him to center because I think he can play center in league and just that versatility and then his athleticism and his durability over his career here at Maryland, where he’s been one of those guys that’s been a pretty much a four-year starter for us over the years. Definitely a guy that I think could help a bunch of NFL teams, not just the Ravens. And then, as I said before, Gottlieb Ayedze and his athleticism, I think his upside, he’s a guy that would have probably benefited for one more year with us but he didn’t have any more eligibility after a four-year starting career at Frostburg. He just logged a lot of hours. And when you look at his skill, he’s very similar to Jaelyn Duncan and that twitchiness that big guys have because he was a guy that kind of played one year of high school football, grew up kind of a soccer player, so I think he has a lot of upside to him and a person that you’ll hear his name called.”
On Alabama DE Chris Braswell
“All I know is this, man. Chris, he sat at Bama for about two or three years before we heard his name the way we heard it this year. And I was glad to see that he finally got the opportunity to show what he’s capable of. Over the years, he’s one of those guys that maybe would have benefited from a place like Maryland, where you get on the field to play early, but I’m glad that it’s worked out for Chris and really talented player, great family. You know, as I said, recruited him to Bama there right before I left. He committed there and it’s great that he had that type of year he had this year, which hopefully can get him drafted as high as possible.”
On whether Nick Saban will ever be an analyst at Maryland
“I talk with coach often. He’s also on my board for the National Coalition for Minority Football Coaches. He and I have a really special relationship. He’s been very helpful in pushing the mission of the coalition and like I said, we talk a lot. I use him to bounce ideas and things off of and he’s been a great mentor for me.”
[cont.]
“I think ESPN will keep him busy. You know, he makes a lot of money as a public speaker where he goes and speaks to people. So, and he plays a lot of golf now. Maybe one day I could save some money and get him to come speak at one of our clinics here at Maryland. Maybe I’ll be able to afford them in a year or two.”
On Vontae Davis’ passing
“I appreciate it. Spent the other day over at Miss Adeline, Grandma Adeline’s house when we heard the news. Went over there and had a chance to spend some time with Miss Adeline, Vontae and Vernon’s grandma who is the matriarch of the family, man. And I’m tired of burying kids. I’m tired of seeing kids go too early, man. The circle of life hasn’t built for parents to bury children, man. These don’t ever, ever, you don’t ever get over them. You just learn to get through them. And obviously prayers are to Vontae’s family, the Illinois family, [I] recruited him to play and spent a lot of time talking to a lot of his former teammates and we’re all saddened by his untimely death.”
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