Friday marked a milestone for Maryland football as athletic director Damon Evans and head coach Mike Locksley unveiled the Jones-Hill House, unveiling a significant upgrade for the program filled with state-of-the-art equipment.
Inside the new indoor facility is a 24,000 square-foot weight room, four times the size of the existing room inside Gossett, and features 22 custom weight racks including Perch video technology to watch player reps. A players’ lounge featuring a custom pool table, a barbershop with the ability to turn into a DJ station, seven HD televisions. A sports medicine center three times the size of the existing area inside Gossett, which features two 45-foot plunge pools for immediate cooling and recovery. A 196-seat auditorium that extends over two stories, in addition to separate meeting rooms for the offensive and defensive side of the ball with doors that exit directly onto two full-length grass practice fields. The new dining area was the cherry on top for the new facilities, revealing a 10,000-square foot dining area featuring a Mongolian grill, helmet-shaped pizza oven along with available outdoor seating.
It was a monumental day for the program as Locksley and the staff welcomed a host of elite local talent beginning Friday through the weekend and athletic director Damon Evans recognizes the benefits of unveiling the new facility. “I'm excited for the young men that will be able to utilize it on a daily basis, as well as some of our other student-athletes in the athletics department,” Evans said. “But I know that when we brought coach Locksley back to be our head coach, one of the things that we promised him was that we would provide the necessary resources here at the University of Maryland so we can have championship success. He believes in excellence; I believe in excellence. And when you take a look at this facility here, the interesting thing about it is this, you can look right behind me, they’re within 100 yards of being able to compete, practice, get rehab, all the things that they need to do to be successful.”
Second-year wide receiver Rakim Jarrett knows just how long it took to reach Friday as the one-time eighth-grader first heard of plans to build an indoor facility. “To actually see it, be able to be the first guys in it is actually like, it’s a crazy feeling,” Jarrett added. As a high school prospect, the former five-star receiver took in visits across the country before the longtime LSU verbal flipped to the Terps. Having seen facilities across the country compared to Friday’s unveiling, he admitted the Jones-Hill House was “second-to-none.”
“Everything that this place has, every other place has. I mean, given that it’s at home, I think that makes it a little bit better than everybody else’s but I mean I think it’s second-to-none.”
Friday’s unveiling was first met with reaction from the players in the morning as they basked in the revamped weight room before seeing the personalization and comfort of their new lockers. With a bright Maryland ‘M’ hanging in the center of the locker room, all 126 lockers feature a recliner with a custom turtle shell wireless phone charger, a personal favorite for Jarrett. The cherry on top is the lighting in and around the locker is controlled via app, exemplifying why it was an easy personal favorite for the players. “If you saw the faces of our players, that's where that's like the kitchen for most homes. And if you saw the reaction our players had, and again, having seen what we were in for the last, you know, 14 seasons as a coach here at Maryland, to see their face when they ran into that locker room,” Locksley added. “Obviously, the weight room is really important for us in our development, and it has all the bells and whistles, but I was really happy with the reaction that I saw out of our players when they were able to go in and see their lockers compared to what we've been at.”
The facility also becomes a strong recruiting pitch for the staff as 2023 five-star defensive end Jason Moore, four-star safety Sherrod Covil, quarterback verbal AJ Swann, and four-star wide receiver Shaleak Knotts were among the talent to trek through the indoor facility on its first day. The Terps finished inside the top-20 last cycle and rank inside the top-25 on the recruiting trail in the ’22 class as Locksley is fully aware that the pitch coming out of College Park carries even more weight now.
“For me, it's like Christmas in June. I work late and I can tell you I've stopped through here throughout and Josh will tell you, every chance I get to see just the fruits of the work that these different companies that came in and did the work in here. And for me, it's a dream come true that be able to see a vision and I know like I said, I've been selling this place. I was here when we went to the Orange Bowl and Well, to see this come to fruition and the vision that Maryland has, this is the statement that we are serious about football and I'm excited to be a part and lead the charge for.”
Athletic director Damon Evans revealed the cost of the facility was $149.3 million, which accounts for the conversion of the first floor of Gossett into an academic facility for all student-athletes. With the facility comes elevated expectations as head coach Mike Locksley reiterated that message in Friday morning’s player reveal. Locksley recalled the need for an indoor facility back when the Terps were set to play Florida in the 2002 Orange Bowl. “We had to practice on ice outside our practice fields and then we had to call and beg the Washington Football Team to use their indoor facility to help us get read,” Locksley added. With the Terps’ head coach noting the support of the late Mike Miller, Rich Novak, and Mark Butler to make Friday possible, Locksley knows his team now has an opportunity to pay it forward.
“When we take the field and we run through Mark Butler's tunnel to come and take the field in The Shell, it's really important that our players understand that excellence is the standard and we're looking forward, as I like to say the best is ahead. We’re looking forward to being able to display just that type of commitment that Maryland, Damon, the university, and all of our supporters have made to give us, and I've worked at a lot of flagship universities, to give us, in my opinion, the best facility in college athletics, to take a young man and send them back once he's spent time in our program to be the best version of themself.”
With an opportunity to shine in a loaded receiver room, Rakim Jarrett knows it too.
“I definitely think the resources we need are definitely provided. I think for us, as a player, it’s just time to give it back.”
Related: AJ Swann (good) (+)
Related: Pictures of New Indoor Facility