Locksley, Players on Maryland Football's Next Step, Potential on Offense
- Ahmed Ghafir
- Jul 26, 2022
- 14 min read
Head coach Mike Locksley kicked off Maryland’s portion of Big Ten Media Day with cornerback Jakorian Bennett, wide receiver Rakim Jarrett and quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa wrapping up the day on the Big Ten Network set. Maryland will look to get back to consecutive bowl games for the first time in nearly ten years but if you ask Locksley, the concept of building on seven wins isn’t the mindset he’s instilled in his team this offseason.
“That’s the big misconception is that you build on it as if the seven wins are guaranteed, let's build on it,” Locksley said on the BTN set. “And so we've gotta squash the build on it but hopefully learn from what it took to get to that point and then do it a little better because you know, we're a developmental program. Obviously, 7-6 is not our standard, but we do embrace the fact that from when we got here to where we were, we've made progress and so we do acknowledge that.”
With pieces like Dontay Demus, Spencer Anderson, Jaelyn Duncan and Johari Branch among the key returnees for the 2022 season, all the talk this offense has been centered around what the offense can do but it all starts with veteran quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa.
“At one point Maryland was Quarterback U. Boomer Esiason and Frank Reich, Stan Gelbaugh, Neil O'Donnell all played in the league and these guys had records that Lia broke,” Locksley added. “The Iowa game to me is obviously an anomaly for him. And if you take that out, I think that's what people remember was a nationally televised game, but the kid played great football for us a year ago. And it's really in my crawl when you talk about top quarterbacks in the country and his name doesn't come up.”
Locksley has been vocal that the next step for Tagovailoa is managing his emotions through the course of the season, but after tabbing him as one of the “underrated players in the country,” Jarrett credited Taulia’s poise for reason why he can make the jump in 2022. “He never gets too high on his ups and never gets too low on his downs. And I think that's what you need in a guy that's leading your team. So I think his poise and his resiliency is probably the biggest things.” Taulia has a deep receiver room to work with again this season with news that Dontay Demus is expected to be available week one. Locksley added that both Demus and Jeshaun Jones, who also returns from season-ending injury suffered against Ohio State last year, were full participants through July’s player-run practices. With both easing themselves back on the field, Jarrett knows the potential with the weapons at Taulia’s disposal.
“It's almost to pick your poison type of group. I mean, you can pick one to stop but the other three are gonna be there. I think it's gonna be very hard for the defenses to hone in on one person, even though they seen what they seen on film. So I think it would be fun and we got the right guy throwing the ball to us.”
Aside from the emotional aspect, Taulia sees the biggest area of improvement centered around efficiency as Maryland’s offense looks to find the endzone more consistently in 2022. “I think if you look at last year, the biggest number that pops out is the turnovers and just taking care of the football. I think we could have put a lot of more points on the board if we had the ball in our hands and also converting third downs, stuff like that. In the red area, gotta come away with touchdowns instead of depending on field goals.”
With all the buzz on the potentially lethal passing attack this fall, the stacked receiver room gives the Terps’ secondary multiple weapons that they face each day in practice. That’s helped elevate the competition if you ask Jakorian Bennett. “It’s great, honestly, because if you're going against arguably know best receiver core in the country, that's only gonna make you better. So, and all of 'em have their own unique skill set, like gotta shifty fast physical type of receiving, or you got your Dontay Demuses. 6’3”, big physical, so you're getting a little bit of everything going against those guys.”
While Jarrett believes the next step is “ten games now and beating the top tier teams in the Big Ten, Maryland enters year four under Locksley and is nearly three months removed from a contract extension that could keep him at the helm of the program through the 2028 season. In Jarrett’s mind, he knows why Locksley is the right man for the job.
“He's from the area. He's a Maryland guy, DC guy. He knows how to recruit the area. He knows who's who and what to do and he's a down-to-earth guy. I mean, he's a guy you want to play for. He can relate, he's from the DMV so he knows what players go through and what players need. So I think those are the biggest things. Being able to relate to your players and knowing what they need are the biggest things.”
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More from Locksley & the players
Taulia on having momentum: “Coming off the Pinstripe Bowl, I think it gave us a lot of confidence and a lot of motivation to go into the next offseason, working hard and I think it was really the process that we went through before the Pinstripe Bowl and during fall camp practices and coach making it hard on us. And I think us as a team, we understood that, you know, if we continue to work hard, great things like that could happen for us and we kind of took that mindset and going into spring and as well as summer.”
Rakim on next step: “I think the standard is now getting to a bowl game, not just winning six games. And I think it's much more to do instead of well going 7-6. I think next step is ten games now and beating the top tier teams in the Big Ten.
Jakorian on how to take next step: “It all starts with the details. Last year we kind of beat ourself a lot just with penalties, not doing our assignment, but now we're just focused on details, focus on doing the little things and everything else will handle itself.”
Jakorian on example of detail: “I say just read your keys. So if you need to, if you have to read the tight end or in man line of scrimmage and you're not doing that and you're trying to go to your pads dropping and they run the ball, the gaps wide open. So that's what ten yards a pop so yeah that can hurt us.”
Rakim on why Locksley is the right guy: “Coach Locks. He's from the area. He's a Maryland guy, DC guy. He knows how to recruit the area. He knows who's who and what to do and he's a down to earth guy. I mean, he's a guy you want to play for. He can relate, he's from the DMV so he knows what players go through and what players need. So I think those are the biggest things. Being able to relate to your players and knowing what they need are the biggest things.”
Taulia on where he can improve: “I think if you look at last year, the biggest number that pops out is the turnovers and just taking care of the football. I think we could have put a lot of more points on the board if we had the ball in our hands and also converting third downs, stuff like that. In the red area, gotta come away with touchdowns instead of depending on field goals and stuff like that and just helping the defense. When they get to stop, we gotta play complementary football and I think if we can do those things, we can, we can be up there.”
Rakim on how he’s seen Rakim develop: “His poise. I mean, he never gets too high on his ups and never gets too low on his downs. And I think that's what you need in a guy that's leading your team. So I think his poise and his resiliency is probably the biggest things.”
Jakorian on defensive perspective on Taulia: “He's always the first person in and these two are the last ones out. They watch film together at the end of practice at the end of every practice. And so just seeing that it kind of made me wanna, you know, pull a more preparation there to kind of elevate my game.”
Jakorian on his story: “A lot of perseverance, just kind of keeping the main thing the main thing. I was counted out a lot of times, when I was coming up and I only starting one year in high school and so when I thought, you know, I was gonna come up, I went to junior college. So I had to start a new journey, but it all kind of transformed me to the player and person I am today. So I'm very grateful to go through all that and I'm ready to just keep on going.”
Jakorian on what he learned from journey: “Confidence. Confidence is the biggest thing especially for me at this level, like everybody has all the ability. Now it's just about trying to separate yourself. So just really my confidence and just trusting the process.”
Rakim on Jakorian’s story: “It's just a testament to who he is. I see him in the locker room and how he works and it just, it just shows that he wants it and what he came from isn’t where he wants tobe.”
Taulia on Jakorian’s story: “I think it's very inspirational. I mean, JB, he's the type of guy to come in the locker room, smile on his face. And you wouldn't think he has any problems and for us to hear his story and the things that he been through, him taking care of his, his mom and you know, his family and stuff like that. I mean, that's inspirational right there.”
Jarrett on WR room: “It's almost to pick your poison type of group. I mean, you can pick one to stop but the other three are gonna be there. I think it's gonna be very hard for the defenses to hone in on one person, even though they seen what they seen on film. So I think it would be fun and we got the right guy throwing the ball to us.”
Taulia on WR room: “It’s a big blessing. And, having guys like that who want the ball in their hands and who want to work and it's very, it is been very motivating for me. It does take a lot of pressure off me knowing that I have a lot of playmakers. I can just get the ball in their hands and I feel like that's where they're best at, with the ball in their hands. So, that's gonna be good for us and good for our offense and hopefully, we can take this thing all the way as a defensive back.”
Jakorian on facing WR room in practice: “It’s great, honestly, because if you're going against arguably know best receiver core in the country, that's only gonna make you better. So, and all of 'em have their own unique skill set, like gotta shifty fast physical type of receiving, or you got your Dontay Demuses. 6’3”, big physical, so you're getting a little bit of everything going against those guys.”
Jakorian on Brian Williams: “Schematically things really didn't change that much, but just us being able to communicate more and just being very sound. And like I said earlier, just kind of trusting what the players next year is doing and just focus on details.”
Rakim on defense: “They’re kind of hard to figure out early on. I mean, safeties rotating. Corners changing from the man look to a zone look. I mean, it's complex but I mean, it helps you for the Iowas and the Penn States and the big name defenses that we're gonna play.”
Taulia on defense: “From this defense, we got a new coach. I think he's done a really great job with really changing up the defenses and really putting our DBs and O- linemen and our whole defense in the right position that fits them best to make plays and stuff and I think with coach doing that on that side, it helps us see things differently, you know, maybe adding in new plays to stop those defenses. Now we get to see it during the summer, instead of on film and the first time actually getting a live rep at it is in the game.”
Taulia on what he’s learned from Tua: “I learned a lot. I always talk to my brother about anything that's heavy on my heart and he's a good ear to me as well as my parents, my mom and dad. They try to help me with how I should handle things and how they feel is right. And I listen and try to put those things into action.”
Locksley BTN Set
On building on 2021 season: “That’s the big misconception is that you build on it as if the seven wins are guaranteed, let's build on it. And so we've gotta squash the build on it but hopefully learn from what it took to get to that point and then do it a little better because you know, we're a developmental program. Obviously 7-6 is not our standard, but we do embrace the fact that from when we got here to where we were, we've made progress and so we do acknowledge that, but we can't build on it. What we've gotta do is make that our standard in terms of the preparation, the journey, and not necessarily the result like we saw there up in New York.”
On new DC: “I think BW has already started to do that. We made the decision after the Michigan game a year ago. The most important game of the year was our Rutgers game and we made him the primary play caller in that game and I just saw the way our players responded to him in the front of the room. And then the job he did in the bowl game was phenomenal along with the rest of the defensive staff. And then when you look at the additions that we've been able bring on the defensive staff—Wes Neighbors, Lance Thompson coming on board, [James] Thomas, I feel really good about the alignment in that room and Brian Williams has the respect of our team and our players.”
On Taulia maintaining top level talent: “You know what I said this, if you take the second quarter of the Iowa game out of his resume, a body of work a year ago, he broke records of some of the top quarterbacks in Maryland history. I mean, at one point Maryland was Quarterback U. Boomer Esiason and Frank Reich, Stan Gelbaugh, Neil O'Donnell all played in the league and these guys had records that Lia broke. The Iowa game to me is obviously an anomaly for him. And if you take that out, I think that's what people remember was a nationally televised game, but the kid played great football for us a year ago. And it's really in my crawl when you talk about top quarterbacks in the country and his name doesn't come up. The thing that he needs to continue to do, and I give a lot of credit to Dan Enos and the work that he's done with Lia is that mental maturity that we talked about, where, you know, in the words of the late Trevor Moawad, who I've worked a lot with, getting him to stay at neutral. He has the highs that are really high where he is fist pumping high, five and running up and down the field and then he has some of the lows where things don't go as well and he's his own worst critic. And as I like to tell him, he doesn't talk very nicely to himself. If we can get him to go to neutral and stay there and understand that when that play is over, it dies. And I'm starting to see that from him this spring. It’s year three in the system, the job that Dan Enos continues to do with him and his development. I expect him to continue to get better and better.”
On Taulia’s leadership: “Because they look to you for leadership. You can't, it's almost like myself. I mean, it's usually the pecking orders, head coach offense coordinator, quarterback. Well, you know, if I'm running up and down the sideline like a raging idiot, it doesn't show that the discipline necessary to have success. And so, as the leader on the field, he has to kind of mimic that personality as well as those personality or leadership traits to give that calming influence to our team.”
On changing landscape in CFB and maintaining that in the locker room: “You know what? We continue to just do the things. As a coach, we've had to make that adjustment to where we become more I call it player centric where the things we do in our program are designed to add value to them, to where they don't want to leave. Now the transfer portal giveth and it taketh away. We've seen that, we've benefited from it and we've lost some good players but that's the landscape of college football and the people that adjust and change and, as I talk to our staff, everything we do is about the player and what things can we do to add value to them outside of just name, image, and likeness that affords us the opportunity where they say, you know what? I may stay here for, you know, maybe less NIL money because they're preparing me for life after football.”
On utilizing west coast recruiting: “You know what it, I think it's better for our Midwest friends in the league because you drive a four-hour radius outside of our campus and it's some dense population and I promise you, I'm not driving over a bunch of players in my area to go out west to recruit. Now, if there's some ties, if there's, you know, the quarterbacks, position needs you do that, but I do think it opens up the gateway for the conference as a whole. But I think some of the lessly dense schools that go to places where they have population, but for us, it's gonna start with the DMV, taking care of our own backyard. And we'll still go out to California and if we have needs or if there's a tie to a player.”
On WRs Jeshaun Jones and Dontay Demus: “We held both of them out of spring and they did some limited stuff. Jeshaun [Jones] actually did a few things during spring ball, but both have participated 100% in our, we call PRP, our player run practices this summer. The expectation Dontay’s ahead of schedule which doesn't surprise me because if you know him and the personality trait he has, he wants to get back. And there's no doubt, you know, right now if we can get him through training camp and keep him healthy along with Jeshaun, that we expect both those guys to be able to line up and play for us September 3rd.”
On a player the roster feels they can count on: “It starts with our quarterback. Obviously I think there's a belief in Lia. The other area, our most improved unit on our team has been our offensive line. We've got five returning starters that have gotten their teeth kicked in that as young pups and now their juniors, seniors, have lot of game experience. There's no doubt that position group is going to play a major role in the outcome of what our season looks like.”
On Jones-Hill House: “I feel like George Jefferson, man, moving on up, moving on up, man, you know. Jones-Hill house, a remarkable facility, a great investment made, obviously my boss Damon Evans and Colleen Sorem and all of our boosters that really allowed us to move into such a wonderful building, but it adds to what I talk about, that player-centric coaching that we have to do, where you have the things. I say when I was raising my kids, I always wanted to have all the nice things in my house because that way would come to my house and hang out and it gave me an opportunity to keep my kids around me. So Jones-Hill house affords us so that at least players are always in the building. They're always around and we get to develop some real meaningful relationships.”
On past Big Ten player from the past he wants to coach: “I like to coach the fullback man, but I don't think this version of Howard Griffin is the guy I was talking to. I don't know if he'll put his face on anybody anymore.”
On Big Ten expansion: “It’s exciting times for the Big Ten. I mean, to add two storied programs like UCLA, like USC and I'm talking all of the sports, not just football. I mean, both those are, are very traditional blue blood programs. To be able to add two like-minded schools, very similar in that the strong academics, strong athletics, strong principles, and values, it's right along the lines of what the Big Ten and what makes the Big Ten the best of both worlds.”
