Maryland football head coach Mike Locksley took the podium today to set expectations for his sixth season at the helm, while he talked about the ongoing quarterback battle, offseason changes and more. Opening statement “Appreciate you guys hanging in there. As we like to say, headbutt the finish the last day. Also want to thank our SEC guys and some of the other guys that showed up without a tie. Going last and near the end, it gave me the ability to come in and have an open collar, which I enjoy having. It's funny because as I walked to fly here, Jordan Phillips, I said, coach, look at you, man, you're looking sweet. I said, you know what? I'm comfortable and I'm confident. And that's funny because that kind of defines the 2024 iteration of the Maryland football family – a comfortable and confident team. Not comfortable as if we think we've arrived, but comfortable in knowing who we are. I'm in year six here at Maryland and to know who you are and to understand what it takes to get to where we can compete for championships. Our players have embraced that. I also come to you humbly because it's funny, this is an election year and I was just newly elected mayor of Terpsville. And so I'm excited to serve Terpsville this season. But when you think of Maryland and what we've navigated since I took over in 2019, we've navigated some enormous change in the college landscape. We dealt with the pandemic. We dealt with the NIL, transfer portal stuff, and then we dealt with conference realignment.” On the conference’s new alignment “And I can tell you, when you have big changes like we've faced in college athletics the last few years, it creates angst, it creates anxiety, it can be frustrating. But for us at Maryland, we see it as a great opportunity. When you look at how we've been able to navigate it, it starts with the three pillars that we kind of use from a vision standpoint. In our alignment, it starts with our president, Darryl Pines, who came in the same year I did. Damon Evans, my athletic director. That alignment we have, we've all had to navigate a changing world to get in the respective rooms that we're in. And I think that starts with the first pillar for us is we operate out of an expanded room now. And when you expand the room, you open up the doors for new ways of thinking, new ways of doing things. When I think of the Big Ten now and with the addition of the four new teams, we've expanded the room there as well. So it's not just a diversity thing. It’s about bringing in different ideas, different ways, different regions. And with the addition of those four teams and the way we set ourselves up at Maryland, we've been able to navigate these things at a really high level to the point where we have consistently become a team that people know has an opportunity to win. We embrace this opportunity with expanding that room, when it brings these new ideas, it also gives us an opportunity, with the second pillar for us is giving to the community. Over the last season in itself, our players have done over 700 hours of community service and we feel like when you're being of service to your team and to your community, it makes it a lot easier to develop a winning culture because you understand here as a Maryland football player that nothing is going to be given to us. We're gonna have to earn or take everything that we get.” On expectations for 2024 season “We're here to challenge status quo. When you look at the lack of divisions in the Big Ten, it's an opportunity for places like Maryland to break down that status quo, that the top of our league has to be the same three or four teams. There was a time as a coach where I was a little scared to dream big and I want my players to hear me talk about this. It's something to stand up here in front of you guys and tell you that we want to compete for a Big Ten championship. And by doing so, that allows you to hopefully compete for a national championship. And then you'll be ridiculed. You'll say you only won eight games. You don't win big games. And you know what? For a long time, I used to be worried about that. And as I like to say, my ‘give a crap’ gauge is on E and I want my players to understand – I want them to dream big. I want my players to embrace that we are here to compete for Big Ten championships and we do it by being of service, not just to ourselves, which today's society kind of leads us to, but to do it by being of service to their teammates and to the community that we want to support. And then the third pillar for this vision is being player-lead. I've oftentimes say that when it's a coach-led team, you're a good team. But when you're player-led, it gives you a chance to activate leadership from within. You have accountability, you have buy in. It means a little bit more when your friend tells you that you're not living up to the standard than when your coach tells you. And I can tell you that our team has embraced those three things.” On the post-Taulia Tagovailoa era “I know a lot of you guys are saying, what are you going to do without Lia, man? I'm still trying to figure it out myself, which is why I lost my weight and I got my comfortable, confident clothes on. Lia left a tremendous legacy in that quarterback room and a little-known fact – he and I met every day from the start of the season until our last game at 10 o'clock at night until 12, 1 o'clock in the morning and the work ethic and the way he approached playing quarterback. He left a legacy in that quarterback room and now as we transition to becoming what I feel is a defensive lead team where we have the seven returning starters that are coming back and a handful of other guys that have played some really significant minutes, I can tell you that Lia Tagovailoa played a huge role in the foundation that we're building on to compete for championships. On former Alabama HC Nick Saban “I would be remiss if I didn't talk about a guy that still is impacting my life and Coach Saban, who is retiring, obviously from football, but now working on TV. He still has a significant role and still plays a significant role as a board member for the National Coalition of Minority Football Coaches, an organization I started after the pandemic and coach plays a huge role and continues to help guide and shape as we navigate preparing and promoting and producing the next level of coaches. And so I wouldn't be here now as the head coach of Maryland if it wasn't for the three years I spent under coach’s tutelage. I know my family and I wish him well in his retirement. On LB Ruben Hyppolite “I brought three guys here today that I think you guys are really good to enjoy talking to and they embody what this new iteration of the Maryland football family looks like. When you talk about a guy like Ruben Hyppolite, Ruben came back for an extra year that was granted. Here's a guy that took the vision that he saw that I showed him a vision, and he jumped on board before it became fruition. He was part of building us to the team that's won three straight bowl games, that have had seven players drafted the last two years. And so with Ruben, you see a guy that had a strong belief factor.” On DL Jordan Phillips “When you look at Jordan Phillips, you see a guy that has the unrelentless work ethic. There's not a guy in the country that I think will outwork Jordan Phillips and you'll see the passion he has for the game.” On WR Tai Felton “And then last but not least, Tai Felton, a guy that shows tremendous resiliency as a player. Tai is one of those guys that has kind of waited his turn and now I expect him being paired and partnered with Kaden Prather to become a pro receiving core that you guys will come to know as we move forward.” On the Maryland fanbase “I want to thank our supporters and all the people that have supported Maryland over the years for giving us this opportunity and this new college landscape to make an everlasting impact on the game of college football.” On having several African-American coaches in the Big Ten “I think I mentioned this in my opening statement that anytime you expand the room, it's a good thing. And just imagine if everything operated like a football locker room, we would not have some of the issues we're having today. And by expanding the room with the diversity we have in coaching, we're given new ways of looking at things, new ways of doing things, a different kind of voice or perspective. And that's what Maryland has been and that's one of the values we've added when I talked about the alignment we have on our campus.” On local recruiting efforts “When you start talking about the DMV and the recruiting factor there, I can tell you it's one of the most fruitful areas in the country. We've built our foundation on local players. When you see a guy like a Deonte Banks who was a low three-star recruit get drafted in the first round, you see the D. J. Moore’s get drafted in the first round. It shows that we do kind of have an idea of what it should look like. And now because of the development of those types of players in our program, it's opened the door for us to start reaping the benefits with some of the top players, not just in the DMV now, but in the country with the way we've expanded the room in the Big Ten to compete.” On Maryland’s community service efforts “The good thing is part of the fabric of our program is that we pay our players to go do these community service things and they're all making an impact. I can tell you that Dante Trader, I know is on the All-States good works list for this season. And we've had players each year be a part of it. I was a recipient of it as a coach of that team a year ago. And again, we're big on knowing that if you're of service to your community, understanding that great things happen for you when you pay things forward. And that's what I'm doing with the coalition that I started. That's what I'm encouraging my players to do in our community while they are then able to also take advantage of the opportunities that the NIL stuff has opened up for them.” On the returning experience on the defense “I'm really excited. If you study my background, my first half of my career, the first eight, nine years I coached on defense, I played defense in college. And so, now, as we transition to a defensive lead team, I'm gonna put my defensive hat on and you guys can say I'm a defensive guy too. So no and the defensive staff, Lance Thompson, James Thomas. Zac Spavital, they've all done a tremendous job – coach Aazaar is back – putting together and putting our players in the best position to have success. And to me, that's what great coaches do. They put their players in the best possible position and Brian Williams has done that each year when you look at the way our defense has improved. Brian's one of those guys that I know that the people are going to come knocking doors down to hire and as he should be on anybody's list that's looking for a head coach, but I'm expecting our defense to now lead us. We've been an offensive-led team for the last few years. We've played great defense. That's not to take away from that. And that's not to say we won't score points on offense because we've got weapons and once we've identified the starting quarterback, I think you'll see the offense grow into a role where they complement each other.” Related Links
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