Maryland and Nebraska have a chance to clinch bowl eligibility this weekend with both teams taking a 5-4 record into kickoff. While the Huskers saw their three-game winning streak snapped after a 20-17 loss against Michigan State in East Lansing last weekend, it’s been a bit longer since Maryland has added to the win column after the Terps wrapped up a winless October.
Head coach Mike Locksley will look to keep his team dialed in with a sixth win still in sight, rather than look back at the ‘what ifs’ over the last four games.
“Those are things I’ll do at the end of the year. I’m not going to get into answering questions about what this year would be like or how this year, that’s something at the end of the year that we’ll evaluate,” Locksley said on Thursday. “Obviously we got three games left to play which still has a chance to finish better than what we finished a year ago, so we still have that opportunity. But too early for me to give an overview of what this season has been or will be.”
Meanwhile, freshman linebacker Neeo Avery returned to practice for the first time this season after being spotted during the open portion of Tuesday’s practice, in which Locksley said he was “limited” with a redshirt season in order.
“He’s just on his normal return to play protocol. He’s got cleared to start running, doing some simulated football practice stuff, but still no new update as to if and when the return is,” Locksley added.
More from Locksley heading into Saturday’s game:
On how QB Taulia Tagovailoa has fared during the four-game losing streak, whether he’s taken a step back
“I think we all have. The quarterback, the coaches, I mean it’s not one person now. As we all know that the quarterback position and the play of the quarterback is paramount and we wouldn’t be in the position we’re in as a program if not for Taulia. I think what you see now is a guy that is very competitive and is trying to do, instead of pointing fingers and figuring out he’s had different receivers and guys in and out, the offensive line. A lot of things affect how well he’s able to play. I think he’s one of those guys though, that always looks within himself. The minute you want to place blame, you start saying what more can I do? And that’s what I’ve seen out of Taulia. I mean, he hasn’t changed his approach in how he prepares. Obviously, we’ve got to do a better job of keeping them protected to where like I said it’s hard to say he had to play well and very few quarterbacks go 17-of-17 in the first half of a game and we still think maybe [he] didn’t play well. But I think what he has to be able to do is get back to where we hit these explosives. And again, it’s not necessarily him as much as everyone doing their jobs a little bit better.”
On how RB Colby McDonald’s role grows into the final three games
“All those guys, they take the brunt of the reps in practice. We feel like we’ve got 1A, 1B, 1C and Colby was a guy that wasn’t necessarily in the mix early but now has worked himself into it and has really done a good job of coming in and kind of being a change of pace guy. What he’s been probably the more consistent guy in terms of making plays when given the opportunity. And I think what you’ll see is you’ll see his role as we try to get this run game going, you’ll see his role increase in terms hopefully of the touches that he’ll be able to get.”
On whether players have predetermined snaps/touches heading into kickoff
“Obviously you always want and I do in my mind know kind of again, the goal is to get 80 plays. And, when you start saying opportunities and touches, well, do you know how many plays we had last week? We had 62 and what happens with 62 snaps is that’s about 18 lost opportunities of touches. And so then you throw in down by a bunch of points in the third and fourth quarter, and now you have to throw the ball to try to catch up. What we’ve got to do is find a way to get back to being able to sustain drives, play faster to be able to get the 80 plays. Like I said, we’re a team that needs the opportunities. When we get to 60 plays that means and requires that our efficiency on those 60 are really high. We have to be really high in terms of how efficient we are in our execution. When you have 80 plays, you have a little more leeway to where if you have a couple of negative plays in there. So to me, the goal is to get back to where we get close to the 80 plays to where now we can get touches to guys. And then, obviously, we want to keep the game in the balance to where we’re competitive throughout the game which doesn’t force us into having to do one thing to try to get back into it. It’s the gift that keeps giving when we don’t get to the 80 plays.”
On how the TE room has developed through the season
“I think all three of those young tight ends, Preston, Rico [Walker] and Dylan [Wade], the future looks really bright for us in that room. They’re all from a size wise, fit and are the types of sizes and body types we want at the position. Obviously Corey’s production and the things he’s been able to do. The toughest part with the young tight ends right now is in the run game because now in this league they’re playing against the 275-lb, 260-lb defensive ends. As I’ve said on the [offensive] line, it takes two years, three years before guys physically mature enough to hold up. We’ve thrown these guys into the deep end of the pool, some of these young tight ends and they’ve struggled at times. I can think back to the Ohio State game and Preston Howard, lining up over top of number 44 and really it’s a maturity thing there and size and strength. But I think these reps and what they’ve gone through this year that we will be so much more benefited from them going through this growing process. But I think the room is really talented. I think they’ve performed about where we thought this room could perform and I think you’ll see them continue to get better now and at the end of the year because of some of the reps they’ve taken in practice and games.”
On DL rotations with Isaac Bunyun, Tre Colbert, Taizse Johnson
“Usually it’s about production. Brian Williams does a really good job of creating competition in his room with the [defensive] line and this is across the board. We’re really deep at the D-tackle, the interior D-line positions, including the two young guys in Dillan Fontus that have contributed as well as Jordan Phillips and some of these other younger players. But a lot of it is based on how they’ve performed. Their jobs inside with the interior D-line position, are to get knockbacks, to play physical, to play heavy-handed and keep the O-line off of our linebackers to allow them to run and make plays. The guys that do the best job of showing the discipline of being in their gaps. We have to stop the run, stopping the run causes you have to be physical. And so I think coach Williams has done a really good job that if you’re doing the job at a high level, you’re going to be the guy that’s out on the field. And so I think it’s a byproduct of production. We end up still playing a bunch of those guys and that one position group for the most part, we do have good depth there.”
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