As Locksley and his staff welcome the latest freshmen haul into the program, 2021 also marks the third season in Locksley’s efforts to change the culture inside the program. Accountability was a word that’s been frequently used to describe the team’s mentality through offseason workouts and Locksley admitted that gradual change stems from a ‘player-driven program.’
“I mean, when that policing comes from within the ranks, when that guy next to you looks at you when you're complaining or making excuses, and he says, ‘look, man, that's not what we're about’ and that's coming from within. That's where you know you have a chance to be great. And what I've seen is some of those things happen here in the last six, seven months,” Locksley said on Friday. “Started in spring ball, it's continued on through the summer to where we're a player-driven team. And that's where it needs to be if you want to have success, because ultimately, when they step in between the white lines, as coaches, we can prepare them. But once they go inside the white lines, they've got to go execute, and they've got to rely on each other. And I've really seen our team take on that type of personality.”
That gradual approach in recent months may also be attributed a bit to Taulia Tagovailoa, the soft-spoken leader who commanded the respect of the locker room. Tight end Chigoziem Okonkwo didn’t meet Tagovailoa until October of 2020 but even then, the veteran could tell Tagovailoa was a natural leader. “Players like that are awesome and hearing the things he speaks about and the visions he has for the team…he gives us great speeches like I’m motivated,” Okonkwo said. “He’s a guy you want to play for, he’s very hard working. He’ll be here at 11 at night on a school night watching film, he just works that hard.”
Wide receiver Brian Cobbs is another who experienced it all during his time in College Park, but called the cultural transformation a “night and day switch.”
“When coach [Mike] Locksley first took over, it was a lot of just fooling around and guys didn’t take stuff too seriously and now, it’s a player-driven team. I feel like when adversity hits, no matter who is on the field we’re going to be able to look left and right and get fired up by our teammates, motivate each other.”
It’s only been a short time on campus for Dan Enos, who was hired back in January as the new offensive coordinator, but even he’s noticed a sense of accountability among the players. “One of the first things that I’ve noticed is being a coach is the culture and how the guys get along and everybody has really bought into coach Locksley and his vision of where he wants his program to go,” Enos said on Friday. “It’s been really exciting for me to come in and be a part of that.”
The revamped culture will face its first test when West Virginia comes to town on September 4, but the Terps know the battles ahead of themselves with the Big Ten slate. Fans have taken note of the deep wide receiver room that compliments Tagovailoa, while tight end Chigoziem Okonkwo added “I know I’m going to be touching the ball more, I know that.” The potential on offense has fans buzzing with less than one month until the season-opener, but to Locksley, he’s ready to shed the ‘potential’ tag surrounding his program. In year three, it’s time for results.
“I mean, we talk a lot about potential around here. I've had the luxury of being here for I think this is my 14th season. And you always hear the potential word. I've been here when we won three straight years of 10 or more wins and won the ACC championship back in those days. I've also been here for some of the lean years. So the potential word for me is something that we're over as a program and looking forward to really going out and establishing ourselves as a program that has the ability to do great things.”
Full transcript from HC Mike Locksley:
Opening statement: “We've had an exciting summer here with our team, a lot of moving parts started June 1, you know, with recruiting opening up to moving into Jones-Hill House, with our players returning to move into Jones-Hill House, our summer workouts, all those things really took place during the month of June. And, I can tell you, a lot of people played a major role in helping us navigate a really busy summer. But through it all, the thing that really shined through for me was the fact that seeing our players, and how they've continued to build the culture that we've talked about it's going to take for us to have the type of program we want to have. But also obviously during COVID there was a lot of isolation involved with being in a pandemic. They're really excited to be back together and start building the brotherhood that’s necessary. And I saw it all summer long with our players. As I mentioned at Big Ten Media Day, our programs ready to take the next step. Everybody always says what's the goal? Well, the goal for us to take the next step, and that begins and ends with playing and having the type of discipline while still establishing the types of habits that will create the behaviors we need to win and win big here. I said it before, there's not any excuses for us this year. You know, COVID is what it is, we'll continue to follow the protocols that state, local, and campus officials asked us to follow as we navigate it. But as far as the football piece and the discipline piece and developing our program, you know, it's time for the excuses to end and we're not going to allow our players, anybody that's part of our football family to make any excuse. I mean, we talk a lot about potential around here. I've had the luxury of being here for I think this is my 14th season. And you always hear the potential word. I've been here when we won three straight years of 10 or more wins and won the ACC championship back in those days. I've also been here for some of the lean years. So the potential word for me is something that we're over as a program and looking forward to really going out and establishing ourselves as a program that has the ability to do great things.”
“Like I said, I'm really pleased with the talent level. When you look at our team and what we've been able to do in the three short years of being here, we felt like we brought in the smart, tough and reliable players that usually give yourself a chance to win and we've balanced the roster. We've gotten our numbers kind of fixed in all the different areas that ensures that our roster is made up with the right kind of guys. But also, we have the correct numbers to continue to build upon. 86% of our production on offense returns, 10 of 11 starters return on defense. I know for some of you guys say we weren't very good on defense, or offense last year, but we played a lot of young players. I think last year we had 56 first-time Terps. And the more games, the more opportunities, the more experiences that we get we get from playing games, the better you'll see. And you can sit continue to see the development of talent while in our program. Our players reported for camp yesterday, we're headquartered over at The Hotel to create kind of that that bubble necessary for us as a team. It's the one time in our lives every year that we get to just focus totally on football. There's no school, there's no 20-hour rule. It's 24 hours of football, rest, recovery, rehydration, and doing all the necessary things that we've got to do to build the callus that's going to be necessary for us to get through a tough season playing in the Big Ten conference. The competition that you'll see out on the field is what's going to make us grow at every position and that's what recruiting does for you. It allows you to build a roster where each and every position group has tremendous competition, which I think in any business when you have competition pushes you to be your best each and every opportunity you get and we feel really strongly that we've been able to bring in the type of talent that creates competition across the board at every position as we take the field. Today. Like I said before, is a lot like Christmas for me. It's the first day I get to kind of see the team that we've established, the team that we've put together for the ‘21 season. And whether you win or lose last year means nothing, everything's about the ‘21 season moving forward. And we're going to continue to do the things necessary to build our football program to where we all want it to be.”
On QBs: “Yeah, you know, we're very fortunate because at the end of last season, we had one scholarship quarterback in our program. And I know we made it a priority to try to build the depth in that room, while also trying to bring in guys that will give us an opportunity to create competition for the position. You know, obviously, we have a returning starter in Lia, we've been able to add a guy like Reece Udinski, who, you know, when we started the recruiting process on him once he went into portal, you know, here's a guy that had an NFL grade on him and I think he was a fifth through seventh-round grade, had opportunities if he would have chosen to to turn pro, you know, unfortunately, had the ACL but here's the great thing. He's been cleared to go have these, 100% cleared to start practice today, obviously no contact, which we don't tackle our quarterbacks anyway, Eric Najarian had offseason shoulder surgery. And I can tell you the last couple of weeks, he's increased his throwing, he’s back, now we'll have him kind of on a pitch count because of the throwing shoulder and the surgery that will kind of monitor how many reps he takes on the football. But being able to have Eric back and healthy this early, we've really helped ourselves with the way those two have progressed. And then you know, there's a guy named David Foust, that I'm really, really been impressed with as a walk on quarterback that’s going to compete and give us a chance. So we feel like going into it, you know, with those four guys, as well as the two walk on quarterback that we brought in and that we've been able to create some depth at the quarterback position. And we feel really good about the direction of where we are with that position.”
On type of culture he envisioned: “Yeah, I think what I what I envision from a cultural standpoint is a player driven culture, you know. What I've learned over the years, you know, 30 years in in business is that when the team is led by coaches, they're typically a good team, when we as coaches have to lead, and we have to police and we have to push, you usually can get some good play out of your team. But when it's player driven, I mean, when that policing comes from within the ranks, when that guy next to you looks at you when you're complaining or making excuses, and he says, ‘look, man, that's not what we're about’ and that's coming from within. That's where you know you have a chance to be great. And what I've seen is some of those things happen here in the last six, seven months. Started in spring ball, it's continued on through the summer to where we're a player driven team. And that's where it needs to be if you want to have success, because ultimately, when they step in between the white lines, as coaches, we can prepare them. But once they go inside the white lines, they've got to go execute, and they've got to rely on each other. And I've really seen our team take on that type of personality. I also think we were a team, from a culture standpoint, that we don't believe or whatever, we'll make excuses, we're not going to complain about things. We got a job to do. And the bottom line is to figure out how to get your job accomplished. I see that out of this team. And that's to me is what's been very encouraging to me."
On what’s impressed him with Taulia’s growth: “Yeah, I think the biggest thing with Lia is his command of the offense. You know, obviously, he had some familiarity with it, because he got, you know, installed at the place he was before because they continue to do some of the things that we do as well. And so really now, because he didn't play a lot in his first year, to be able to play in four games last year and add to, as I call it, his toolbox. You know, now when we're talking and we have plays that we're executing, he knows the why he understands where the ball needs to go, he understands where to start of it is and where the end of the progression is. And to me those are all the fine intricacies but I’ve also seen him take a step forward from a leadership standpoint. You know, Lia is a guy that's very confident in his ability and very confident in terms of getting his job done. But now I see him starting to take steps where the encouragement of the other position groups, you know. We had a short administrative meeting yesterday with the offense. And as we sat there and finished doing some of the administrative thing, he asked the coaches if we could, you know, leave so he can say something to the, to the offense. And to me, you know, not that it's a player only meaning but the fact that he is taking kind of the bull by the horn in terms of stepping out in front last year was getting to know his teammates, they were new, the pandemic didn't allow him to create the relationships necessary. But now I see him really stepping forward from a leadership standpoint.”
On COVID: “Yeah, great question. There's no doubt about, we're well aware, obviously, as a program has been one of those teams last year that really struggled to play the amount of games we wanted to play. And so that definitely plays a major role in how we approach things. I'm very confident in our medical staff, and as well as you know, our state, local and on campus leaders, that they're going to continue to give us the protocols necessary to navigate it. You know, when it comes to our vaccination, obviously, you know, to be here on campus, you have to be vaccinated or at least have some form of a waiver. And I think, as I've said before, we're somewhere around 93%. In terms of our team being vaccinated, and our staff, I think we're, I know, we're 100% on our staff being vaccinated. So now we've got to do is just continue to follow the guidelines, if they come out with a mask mandate inside the building, that's what we'll do, if we have to social distance. We're fortunate now that we moved in the Jones-Hill House, which has given us a lot more room to be able, if we need to make adjustments, we will and our team understands we're not out of the woods yet, with the Delta variant and what it's doing locally here. But again, there's no excuses for us, we do what we need to do to go out and get the job done. And we're willing to do whatever it takes to go play.”
On first day of practice: “As with any first practice, the big thing you want to do is see guys be organized. You know, we've had a lot of time to prepare for this first practice, you know, when my staff meeting this morning, you know, dotting eyes and crossing T's with our staff to make sure you know, we're in a new facility, we’re on a new practice field, everything is still kind of new for us. And so, you know, just being organized, number one, number two, you know, I'm looking to see our guys go out and practice with the right kind of energy. And then, you know, I can't say it enough, you'll hear this word quite a bit throughout our program this year, the discipline that takes them in creating the right habits, which form the right behaviors. And, you know, again, I'm excited to be able to see who we are, what type of team we're going to become. And that's what training camps for is to get those questions answered. And what a great way to measure it by having to play a team like West Virginia, the first game of the year. So we're excited about that got a lot of work to do to get us to September 4, and it's things like our team's excited to do the work.”
On WR room: “Yeah, the receiver group for me is, as I've said before, one of the deepest rooms that I've been a part of top to bottom, really talented. We've got some veteran guys like Dontay Demus and Jeshaun [Jones] that have played a lot of football around here. You guys some good young players like Rakim Jarrett, DeaJaun McDougle and Brian Cobbs, another veteran. So from top to bottom, I think it's probably the deepest, most talented position on our team. And we need those guys to go out and play to their ability because we're going to lean on our playmakers as we go into training camp, we always try to identify who are the playmakers in our offense on our defense and special teams and find ways to keep them involved in all three phases so excited about the group but you know, now they got to live up to the expectation we have.”
On new staff: “Well, you know, comparison isn't a kiss of death. So I won't get into comparing our this staff versus last year staff. I know this each and every year, for me, I have the support of our administration, it gives me the ability, that if and when we lose coaches, which we will, because we've hired really good coaches, and since I've been here, that we've got a lot of people that want to come and be here at Maryland and help us build this thing. I think the best part about this staff for me is that I have some familiarity with these guys maybe a little different than a couple of the guys that we've hired here in the past, where I've worked with Dan Enos, I've been in the wars with him and been able to be in that room and helped shape and develop these game plans and we worked really well together, the last time we were together. Then with Brian Stewart, the familiarity of him being here, the last time we went to back-to-back bowl games and the job he's done on defense when he was here. So to me, that's the comfort level I have because of the familiarity. They know who I am, they know how I like to do things, the systems haven't changed. You know, when you bring in new guys, they can add to it, but the base and the foundation of who we're going to be on offense, defense and ‘wefense’ is not going to change. And so it's great to have some guys come in that I have familiarity with that allows us to kind of keep growing without having to restart, which typically happens when you hire new coaches.
No, it is not about Locks. I think they're excited to be a part of coming to a place like Maryland. I mean, everybody knows the feeling I have about this place and that's why I'm here and excited to be here. And I want people that want to be here. And as you saw, whether it's players, staff members, if guys aren't bought in. So wanting to come here and help them grow and become great, then we move them on and we wish them well. And there's no ill feelings. Well, the guys that we brought in here, and the reason I was able to hire so quickly, is I think the respect they have for the potential. And that's why I said I'm tired of that word. But everybody knows that this place has a chance to be really special. If we're like Brian to come back. He was here the last time and we did some decent things went back to back bowl games, which Maryland hasn't done in quite some time. So I think people understand that Maryland has an opportunity to be a really special place. Obviously the new facilities, the type of players we've recruited here. It's a destination that I think a lot of coaches would want to be a part of as we move this thing forward.
On Terrence Lewis: “Yeah, you know, he's not cleared to go yet. You know, he had knee surgery and then he had follow up shoulder surgery, which all went really well, our medical staff did a great job of identifying it, you know, and it's a byproduct of what COVID does, when you're not allowed to be on campus, and you recruit a guy. I mean, here's a guy that played in the state championship game and then he showed up here 25 days later so that means he probably played with these injuries. And so for us, we're all about player safety, we did our physical because we were able to get our hands on him and see, we got him fixed, our doctors did a great job of timing it. So now it's just a matter of how quickly he can recover and the type of recovery time it takes for him to get back. But you know, the surgeries he's had aren’t major deal so hopefully we can get them back in time to get something out of them this season.”
On NIL: “First of all, I'm all for NIL. It’s something that I think I'm on record of saying that these players should have the ability to take advantage of the name, image and likeness that they've created for themselves. And what a better place to do it than right here in a major metropolitan area that has two big time markets to be able to utilize it. As far as Taulia, I think he's approached it the right way. He's more concerned about the team and making sure that he's prepared because they all understand that if you want to grow your brain, then success is what it takes. And as I've told our team, if you make the investment into the team success, the individual accolades, the individual owners, the individual benefits grow exponentially. And so I will also say this, don't believe everything you don't hear. Because I know for a fact that Taulia has done some things from a name, image and likeness standpoint. They just don't advertise it. And we may not just slip it out during our press conferences like some people do.”
On Tarheeb and the defense: “Yeah, great question. And again, Tarheeb, he was one of those guys that we recruited and, you know, for as much as we talked about, you know, Rakim Jarrett and some of the other players we've been able to sign. You know, all Tarheeb did was quietly come in here. You know, I don’t know how many stars he's had. But I think he was maybe a three-star guy that came in and started every game as a true freshman. Very, very competitive. But if you look at his pedigree, here's a guy that was all-time leading receiver in New Jersey high school football, showed up here and really, really from the day he stepped on campus, put himself in position to be able to play and help this team. Just imagine that he was a true freshman just getting off the yellow school bus last season when we opened up against Northwestern. Imagine what happens now that he's got five games of experience under his belt, just how good an upside he has. So he plays in a position group that I think much like how we talked about the receiver group is a very talented group, I thought our DBs did the best job of any position along with our offensive line of taking the biggest step last season because if you look at the season before we didn't defend the pass very well, we gave up a lot of big plays in the passing game. You know, by the end of the year we were playing cat coverage I mean I got that cat you got that cat and running all across the field covering guys when you pair him with Deonte Banks and Kenny Bennett…Jakorian Bennett, all those guys. We got speed, we got length, we got size and Tarheeb fits very well with that group of corners.
On timing of Terrence Lewis’ surgery: “I want to say sometime mid-March. He did the knee first, I want to say end of January, early February. And once he was off the crutches, obviously, we wanted to get them off crutches from the knee to be able to do the shoulder which then allows him to kind of manage both injuries. But he was out, he's out doing running things. You know, we're getting him closer, back as quickly as we can.”
On how players should handle themselves on and off the field: “Man, I can write a book. If you’ve ever raised children, you preach everything. You preach being careful with who you hang around, you preach doing things the right way, you preach that everything you do in the dark usually shows in the light, you preach making the right kind of decisions each and every day. So as I always do, I equate this coaching business to raising kids. And you know, I've got a lot of practice, I have four kids myself, to be able to use those experiences. So to me, it's just like raising kids and the same things you want for your children are the same things I want for this team when we go out on the field.”
On offensive line: “I think the biggest thing with the offensive line is that it is a process in developing that position group meaning, you know, we have an old adage in coaching that the further away from the football you play, the quicker impact you can have on a game whereas, you know, when you're upfront in those trenches on the O line, and D line, you know, that’s grown man stuff like that's, you know, you can't come in…you know, imagine a high school guy like they're doing basketball going to the NFL as an offensive lineman, just doesn't happen. And so for us, coming in, building the depth in the O-line and bringing in the kind of guys that we need to be able to run our system. on here for three years. It's usually takes about three years to develop an offensive lineman. Unless you get one of the ten percenters, meaning a high school guy that has the body rate ready to play, along with the mentality ready to play and the size and strength ready to play, you typically got to grow and develop that position group. And you know, that's what for me, the tough part about last season was that we got five games as opposed to the nine that we wanted to play, where those four games made the difference in a guy like DJ Glaze and Amelio Moran, being able to get extra experience. But we were able to have spring ball this year, bringing in Brian Braswell and the job he's done with that offensive line group, I think them the next step for them is just developing the mentality because it still starts and ends with how you play up front in the trenches. I like the way where our defensive line is and our offensive line, just we still are probably a couple of players away from a depth standpoint to be able to be exactly where we want to need to be.
On transfer portal: “Well, I think the biggest thing that I've learned for the transfer portal and again, unless like name, image and likeness, that's something I'm totally for. And again, my philosophy is if you don't want to be here, man, hit the road. That’s OK and we're going to wish you well, and there's no ill feeling whether it's coaches, players, staff; that's just been my approach. But I think what the transfer portal taught me first and foremost, is that the most important recruiting that you do is your team that you have here with you. Because everybody always puts emphasis on bringing in players. Well, now with this transfer portal, I think it's really important that we develop the players in our program and we give them the necessary programming to help them be the best version of themselves. And if you do that, there's a good chance they'll stay right here and not leave. And I can tell you, I told this to Colleen my day to day boss and Damon and that the need for player development, meaning the type of staff that helps us manage it, the day to day and creating programming that then allows us to keep guys in the program is critical. Because I think you know, every time you lose a player that's in your program, you know, it takes a while to develop them a new guy coming in. And so we put the emphasis on let's take care of the kids in our program. First and foremost, we're definitely going to always recruit and, you know, we're a high school based recruiting operation. I mean, we're not going to just use the portal. I mean, we're gonna use the portal like we use junior colleges, meaning to fill need based only but I still see us being high school driven, going out find a talent in the high school ranks, bringing them in, but we also realize because of this transfer portal and this one time transfer rule that we better put some emphasis on making sure the players in our program are happy, like being here and having a great time being a Terp.”