While Maryland football head coach Mike Locksley boasts three other coaches on his staff with head coaching experience, there’s also a former first-round pick now in an analyst role tasked with developing the next wave of defensive linemen with Corey Liuget filling in as the program’s assistant defensive line coach.
Liuget, a Florida native out who came out of Hialeah High School (FL), went on to star for three seasons at Illinois as an All-Big Ten defender before becoming the 18th overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft.
“It was, to be honest, coach, it was a feeling that money can’t buy,” Liuget said during Talkin’ Terps. “It was exciting. It was like, dang, I accomplished one of the most toughest things that a lot of people never get to obtain and I was able to obtain that. And, I mean, I was truly blessed. I had my grandmother there, who you met. I had my mom, my stepfather, my brother, had everybody in the green room with me, so it was family. It was emotional. It was a great night. Awesome night.”
But it was former Illini assistant and current Maryland head coach Mike Locksley who played a big reason why Liuget landed in Champaign.
“I met a young Corey at Hialea [High School], man. I think we had a little basketball game, if I can remember there in the gym – horse for his commitment. We got Reggie Mitchell, who we worked with together with Coach [Ron] Zook at Illinois, recruited that area, but I can remember Reggie brought the specialists in,” head coach Mike Locksley added. “Corey was [an] athletic guy and I had to make a few bets that I would beat him in horse. I was dunking it at the time, Johnny. He couldn’t dunk.”
After ten seasons in the league, including eight with the San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers, Liuget opted to make the shift into coaching as he explored the idea of reuniting with Locksley in College Park, but it wasn’t until the offseason leading into the 2024 season when it finally materialized as he’s hit the ground running with the underclassman, drawing praise as a “rock star as a coach.”
“We're able to hire what we call analysts now. And Corey is one of those guys that he called me two years ago and said he wanted to maybe get into coaching. I said, okay, but I don't have no money for you here so you decide you want to come and, show me that you really want to coach, I'll give you an opportunity. And you know what? He got his affairs in order. I actually coached at University of San Diego for a minute, right? Coaching over at the University of San Diego for a minute and then this off season, he called again, and I said look, I said, I can offer your ham and cheese sandwich and a small room in the facility. If you do a great job, next year you'll be like on the NaVorro Bowman plan. We had NaVorro Bowman here for two years, a former Penn State guy that I got to know in recruiting and I've created an organization to help coaches like Corey Liuget get into this business. And he has just been a phenomenal young coach. The job he's done with our young [defensive] line. And so here's how it works for us. We got coach [Brian Williams] coaches the guys that travel during the week. Corey is on my field giving us a headache because he coaches the young [defensive] lineman that are red shirting with some of the guys that play on the other field coming over. And he is coaching the effort. He is coaching the technique, the fundamentals.”
“These young guys, they're like sponging, and they're soaking it all up,” Liuget added. “They're enjoying it. I'm giving them the knowledge that I have because it's good to pay it back. I was fortunate enough to learn from some of the best guys in the NFL, from my [defensive] line coach…to Dwight Freeney, playing with Tommie Harris, playing with guys that, I mean, were true pros of the game and the students of it more than anything. And now I'm just trying to teach these young guys how to first begin to be a student of the game and then eventually be a good collegiate athlete at the game and then a pro.”
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