Interim head coach Aazaar Abdul-Rahim recaps Maryland football's first Big Ten win in 2026

18 hours ago

6 min read

Everything that interim head coach Aazaar Abdul-Rahim said following Maryland football's 34-29 win at Purdue:

Opening statement

"I'm just extremely excited and happy for these young men who've been through a lot of trials and tribulations the last two or three weeks. And again we talked to those guys about our new process, how we want to do things, how we're moving, and they trusted us. They trusted the adults in the building. We literally tried to turn a program completely backwards and just try some different things that we believed in and just to get guys going. Again, I think, this [win] is we doubled down on our process, and I think this win is a reflection of that."

On significance of picking up the win

"I'm happy for the fan base. Obviously, they've been starving for a Big Ten win, and we're aware of that. Internally, we always felt like like we can win a lot of games. Even this year and previous years, so we're happy about that. Beyond just the fan base, again, I'm happy for these coaches who haven't had a win since the second week. And we talked about this being our new season, and so right now we're 1-1 and we're looking forward to playing Wisconsin."

On the defensive strategy vs. Purdue

"They were extremely resilient. A little bit bent, bend, but not break but they played their best football when it mattered. When you can hold an opponent to four field goals and zero touchdowns, that's huge. It's not only it's huge for our defense, but it's huge for the momentum of the game and keeping our offense who sputtered a little bit. But again, it gave them life to keep going, and we were happy with that first touchdown that made it 12-7. But we've got some extremely resilient young men on the defensive side of our football program, that I think it's the strength in numbers. We have a talented [defensive] line and we can throw a lot of different individuals out sometimes on run downs, as well as well as pass downs. Some key people went down during the first half and some other guys stepped up, Ricardo Cooper, Darrell Carey, who was a true freshman, stepped in and did a did a wonderful job. So it's a team win. You look at the special teams. We had some great kickoff returns, and then that critical down inside the five at the end of the game was, I mean, we talk about special teams either set up a score or score, but we we literally set up a win with that downing."

On Malik Washington, offense in second half

"Big play ability, getting the guys, getting the ball into guys that can make us look good. [DeJuan Williams] making someone miss, and I don't know how many yards that was, but it seemed like a lot. Was the 80 yards right? And then you know, [Chris] Durr, Malik should be thanking him because he padded his stats with a pass behind the line of scrimmage and he went 87 yards. I think it's very important, and it goes back to our bye week, which was our training camp of really being diligent and and really looking at our roster and seeing who needs to get touches. And then it's important to get the touches in critical situations. We needed those drives because the defense was -- I didn't even realize we play 80 snaps on defense and only for 400 yards, which is a really good day."

On Chris Durr's touchdown

"It's pretty high, you know, because you know I was a little nervous because he he cut back about four times all the way on the other side. He just kept going. He looked tired, but he kept going. He kept going. So no, I was excited. Again, I try to keep a stoic look on my face on the sideline. But internally, I was excited as I don't know what."

On Malik Washington

"I think it's growth, because I think sometimes with him being the quarterback, and everybody knows he's that guy. He still has to understand that he's a part of a team. He doesn't have to do the miraculous things if he just does his job to a high level, so he ran the ball a little bit more this this game, and got himself in rhythm, and he allowed the talent, he allowed the other individuals to kind of make plays. Obviously he's a captain, you know, so he definitely has to walk the right path. And the beauty of it is, these young men listen to him. Like when he talks, people listen. And they believe. And so, at the end of the day, it's a team win."

On Zion Elee

"He's got great, an elite pass rushing ability. He's matured off the field. I'm probably more proud of him more in that fashion because I mean he was arguably one of the number one players in the country at his position. So the on the field stuff is -- you already see that and he could do that anywhere. But the thing I'm more impressed with him is his maturity, him becoming a man. He's still 18, 19 years old. He's still a young, young man, and some of his choices off the field have gotten so much better. I'm more proud about that, how he is and how he is character wise, and his integrity as completely went upward. And I'm more proud about that than him doing on the field. I expect 2.5 [sacks]. We talked this week. Him and myself. We had a bet. I'm not gonna tell you what it is, but I was nervous because he said I'm gonna try to get four sacks, and I was like, okay, if you get four sacks -- I'm not gonna tell y'all what what it was, but I'm glad he got 2.5, not four, because I was not ready to complete that bet."

On the penalties, Dontay Joyner's ejection

"I'm not happy with some of the decisions we made today, and obviously they're going to be addressed. I wasn't happy. A lot of times when it scuffles, it's usually the second person that gets caught, and we know better. We know better. And it really cost us a good player early in the game by making a poor, selfish decision. It's got to be addressed, it's that's not who we are. We understand that. Some penalties, Im fine with [pass interference], we play a lot of press man, and a lot of times it's a referee that sees it may see it one way and we may see it another way and we have to go with the cost. So those, I'm not worried about the holdings on defense or the PIs. They're part of playing the way we play in the secondary. But again, we have to do better with with some of the personal fouls, and we will. We'll fix it."

On what the win means to AAR

"I think more than anything, I was happy that that they listened and it worked. Probably more than than any other feeling is that,, we put a lot of stuff in, we put a lot of process, we're beating their head in the ground about the process. Like, what are you doing? What are you doing on Monday? What is our Tuesday? And I'm telling them, man, practice was great. Tuesday, Wednesday, practice was great. You guys were locked in. And at the end of the day, it's for you to have an opportunity to win, and for them to see it and really do it. Like they're all in. They're all-in in every facet of what we ask them to do. And for them to be rewarded, it's priceless."

On the mindset of the team

"Yeah, I would say just again effort. You've seen that. You've seen the resiliency. You see the effort, and guys just straining, straining in certain plays, and the second component of what we talk about is the brotherhood of not letting down your teammate. And guys made plays, man. Not necessarily for themselves; they made plays for other people, and that's the beauty of team sports. That's the beauty of football in a sense. It's the beauty of why we love the game of football. It's not about dollar signs, not about what you wear, but you get 11 people to do things in the same direction, and we're just happy with the results."

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