Maryland head coach Mike Locksley was able to enjoy a brief press conference at Big Ten Media Day on Thursday, but sat down with the Big Ten Network crew to preview his 2021 team as Taulia Tagovailoa returns as the expected starting quarterback, where the former four-star prospect had a full offseason to develop with his wideouts. Tagovailoa leaned on his limited game reps at Alabama as he transitioned into his first season as a full-time starter in 2020 which led to growing pains, including the loss to Indiana where Locksley admitted that game is “the one that really sits in my craw.” With a deep receiver room and a dynamic tight end returning this fall in Chigoziem Okonkwo, Locksley sung the praises of the talent at Tagovailoa’s disposal. “Comparisons are the kiss of death but I will tell you, this room from top to bottom is as talented a room as I've been a part of.” The skill outside provides credence to the potential of Maryland’s passing attack, but all eyes will now turn to the offensive line as first year assistant Brian Braswell is tasked with replacing a pair of starters.
“I thought after last season, when we did our quality control, I thought our offensive line and our DBs were the most improved units. Now the difference is we only got five opportunities and that's the tough part because we're still in the growth phase of our program and we needed all those games and to develop our roster, to develop our team. And if you look at the way we recruited two years ago, we put an emphasis on offensive linemen. Well, it takes three years to grow offensive lineman, and especially in this league, where you can put a skilled guy on the field as a freshman and he usually can make plays in those trenches. It's dirty, it’s ugly, it's maturity. It's big man against little man. So for us, I think we'll take the next step on the offensive line, which I saw us do. You know, Jaelyn Duncan, our left tackle, his improvement from my first year here to last year was phenomenal. And then just the continuity of what we do.”
But another key aspect of the offense is the depth behind Tagovailoa, where Locksley and offensive coordinator Dan Enos will have just two scholarship quarterbacks on the roster. Maryland signed VMI quarterback Reece Udinski earlier this summer after the former North Penn standout threw for over 1,000 yards and seven touchdowns to just two interceptions during his spring season. But Udinski tore his ACL in late March, leading to uncertainty as to whether the veteran would be available this fall. While the buzz behind the scenes has indicated Udinski will be available for fall camp, Locksley admitted the expectation is Udinski is cleared by August 1. “Here's a guy that had an NFL grade on him where he could have went, came out and been between a fifth and seventh round draft pick and he is very talented,” Locksley said. “I see him coming in and competing, he's not coming, in in his mind, to be a backup which I love that piece of it. I think anytime you can create competition at every position like that, that it brings out the best in everybody. And he's a talented thrower, a guy that our players are starting to get really comfortable with. And it's good for that quarterback room.”
Another position where the Terps will welcome competition this fall is at running back, where veteran Tayon Fleet-Davis leads a revamped rushing attack hoping to replace what Jake Funk accomplished in 2020. Tabbed as the “Swiss army knife” by Locksley, Fleet-Davis was named a Doak Walker Award candidate on Wednesday to become the second Maryland running back in three years selected to the preseason list. In Locksley’s eyes, Maryland has a versatile weapon that can do more than just run the football. “I love his ability as a pass catcher out of the backfield. He can be a third down pass protector. He can get the tough yards, a short yardage and he's a guy that has his skill set to make plays on first and second down.”
Maryland will kick off their season on September 4 when West Virginia comes to town, marking the first matchup since 2015 and first home game against the Mountaineers since 2014. Fans remember the emotions that is attached with the regional rivalry, an emotion not lost on Locksley. “Well it's a huge rivalry one because of the geographical location of both of us. They’re a border state up there to the northwest corner of Maryland. For me growing up a Terp fan, you know, I've seen many of those games and having coached there, even when we were part of the ACC, you know, you didn't want to go to Morgantown at night and giving them a full day there to get juiced up. It is a tough place to play but for us, we have them at home and it's a great barometer right off the bat for us to get an idea of what type of team we are. We're looking forward to competing, got a lot of work to do from now on until that kickoff on September 4, but I'm encouraged. I feel like our culture is where it needs to be. Now it's just time for us to go out and just do it. No BCEs, just go do it.”
More from Locksley:
Locksley on coordinators: “But what I learned was, the system shouldn't change. And I can't say that that was the case, when I was a head coach at a younger age where I would let a guy come in with his own playbook and teach 50 kids something different. And so 50 people had to learn what he knew instead of one guy learning with 50 people know. And so what I did was, who we are on offense is who we're going to be as long as I'm the head coach here at Maryland, who we are on defense is who we’re going to be and who we are on special teams. And so when you bring new people in, they learn what we do the Maryland way, but then they can add to it. And that's kind of what I was able to do when I took over at Alabama as the play caller is to be able to add to the package. But the base of it, the terminology…there's not a lot of new learning for our players, Brian [Stewart] had to come in and kind of learn some of the things and how we called it, which a veteran coach, he's coached at the NFL level as a coordinator, easy transition for him. Had Ron Zook do the same things with special teams, which he was already in place, that was an easy transition. And then Dan [Enos], because of the time we spent together at Alabama and working together with another Tagovailoa, that familiarity, my confidence in him because he understood the system, he's heard me call this offense. So it was an easy transition for us and mainly because they all came in and now they're gonna add their personality to what we do.”
Locksley on the OL: “Yeah, I thought after last season, when we did our quality control, I thought our offensive line and our DBs were the most improved units. Now the difference is we only got five opportunities and that's the tough part because we're still in the growth phase of our program and we needed all those games and to develop our roster, to develop our team. And if you look at the way we recruited two years ago, we put an emphasis on offensive linemen. Well, it takes three years to grow offensive lineman, and especially in this league, where you can put a skilled guy on the field as a freshman and he usually can make plays in those trenches. It's dirty, it’s ugly, it's maturity. It's big man against little man. So for us, I think we'll take the next step on the offensive line, which I saw us do. You know, Jaelyn Duncan, our left tackle, his improvement from my first year here to last year was phenomenal. And then just the continuity of what we do.”
Locksley on WR room: “Comparisons are the kiss of death but I will tell you, this room from top to bottom is as talented a room as I've been a part of. Not to take away from, but I just saw one of the rooms I had my hands on the last two seasons, those guys are making a lot of money. And I think this group has that type of opportunity or that type of potential. But like I said, in my 15 minutes up on the podium, I’m tired of the potential part. Now it's time for us to take the next step as a program. And you know, like I said, no BCEs.”
Locksley on what to prove: “Well, it's just beating it in them. It’s like raising kids, man, the more you say it, the more you talk about it, the more you deemphasize the importance of what other people think. Because it’s none of your business what other people think really. If somebody things we suck, you shouldn't even know that because it's none of your business. Well, it's what do we think? And what are we doing and we're, I'm looking at this thing, big picture wise. I knew what I was getting into when I took over the job. I knew it was gonna take some time. We're doing it the right way. We're putting it on a really strong foundation so that we don't have the pockets of success that Maryland has had. You know, the mid 80s things I grew up rooting for, they were pretty good, pretty good. When I was with coach [Ralph] Friedgen in his first three years, pretty good. We just got to keep the consistency and I think, you know, coming in, we've been able to stabilize it, start working on, you know, developing that roster the right way. And now we like I said, we're gonna go out and do we talked about potential.”
Locksley on facility: “it's second to none of the facilities that I've worked with and been a part of, and it gives our players the best opportunity to be the best version of themselves. And the thing I like most about it is, as you all know, when you raise kids, you want your house to be the house that has all the new toys, gadgets, to where the kids in the neighborhood are banging on the door at 6am to come over, because now you can keep them right near you and you know what's going on in their lives. And we've made it very player centric.”
Locksley on Tagovailoa’s growth: “He was a freshman quarterback last year, and he played a little bit at ‘Bama, three or four backup games when the game was out of hand so he was a true freshman last year that had no spring ball, no summer camp, and then we play at Northwestern team that was just really was ready to play and as we saw one of the best teams in the country and in our league, I saw him improve every game. You know, the Indiana game is the one that really sits in my craw because he got blamed for something and it was on us on me as a coach that we didn't give him the best chance to go out and perform against a good Indiana program. But I think the best part about Lia is time. He’s now a second year quarterback in the system. The verbiage and terminology we use is what he's very familiar with because we went back to the terminology that he was used to, that I was used to. The weapons, having the spring under his belt, all summer throwing with these guys, the chemistry with that receiver room. Like I like to say the best is ahead for us and it starts with our quarterback room.”
Locksley on QB depth: “On paper it looks like it is because we got two scholarship quarterbacks. You know, we added Reece Udinski who came in from VMI. And here's a guy that had an NFL grade on him where he could have went, came out and been between a fifth and seventh round draft pick and he is very talented. And you know, he tore his ACL there playing in the spring of VMI, went down Alabama and got fixed and we expect him to be fully cleared to participate starting August 1. I see him coming in and competing, he's not coming, in in his mind, to be a backup which I love that piece of it. I think anytime you can create competition at every position like that, that it brings out the best in everybody. And he's a talented thrower, a guy that our players are starting to get really comfortable with. And it's good for that quarterback room.”
Locksley on RB room: “I think it starts with Tayon Fleet-Davis. Fleet is one of those guys that is a Swiss Army knife. I love his ability as a pass catcher out of the backfield. He can be a third down pass protector. He can get the tough yards, a short yardage and he's a guy that has his skill set to make plays on first and second down. I've been really happy with him. But then you throw in two young players that we threw out there last year, Isaiah Jacobs and Peny Boone and both those guys kind of got a great ‘welcome to the Big Ten” in the five games they got to play. Then you throw in guys like Challen Faamatau as well as Roman Hemby, one of the freshmen that we signed that I've seen that I’m expecting to have a big, big year for us.”
On season opener against WVU: “Well it's a huge rivalry one because of the geographical location of both of us. They’re a border state up there to the northwest corner of Maryland. For me growing up a Terp fan, you know, I've seen many of those games and having coached there, even when we were part of the ACC, you know, you didn't want to go to Morgantown at night and giving them a full day there to get juiced up. It is a tough place to play but for us, we have them at home and it's a great barometer right off the bat for us to get an idea of what type of team we are. We're looking forward to competing, got a lot of work to do from now on until that kickoff on September 4, but I'm encouraged. I feel like our culture is where it needs to be. Now it's just time for us to go out and just do it. No BCEs, just go do it.”