Maryland head coach Mike Locksley expands on status of CB Dontay Joyner, WR Josiah Teasley

17 hours ago

3 min read

After kicking off the regular season this past weekend, Maryland football is set for its first road game of the upcoming 2026 season when they take on UConn for the second time in three seasons. While head coach Mike Locksley noted his respect for first year head coach Jason Candle and his revamped roster, the focus on Tuesday was the status of a pair of players who are involved in legal matters: cornerback Dontay Joyner and wide receiver Josiah Teasley.

Joyner was initially sentenced to 18 months probation, a mental health evaluation, enrollment in the abuse intervention program and no contact with the victim after pleading guilty to a telephone misuse charge, one of two misdemeanors he faced after also facing charges for electronic communication harassment. As for Teasley, his status only became public this past week after first battling assault charges dating back to his senior year of high school before violating his probation just eight days after his sentence.

Maryland did not have an update on Teasley's status until last Friday evening when a university spokesperson told IBG that the freshman wide receiver remained with the program, was able to practice but was withheld from games. The news came days after Joyner returned to the program, a reversal that head coach Mike Locksley said stemmed from the cornerback's ability to return to College Park to speak to the team.

"It starts with every summer we have what we call programming, life skill programming where we have sleep therapists, we have drug experts, we have gambling. This was a unique situation because one of the things Dontay asked was [an] opportunity to apologize to his team," Locksley said on Tuesday. "I knew he was still here in the state. I thought it would be a great opportunity for a guy that had just gone through or was going through the storm of what he went through to share a story with a lot of young players in our program that probably had some of the same mindsets. And it turned out to be a great situation where it created value for our team, but it also showed true leadership that showed up when they came to see me the next day.”

Locksley added that nobody within the program contacted the women involved in either cases after reiterating his desire to "let the legal process take its course.” Yet he also explained why Teasley remained with the program while Joyner was initially dismissed, only to return.

“We have a standard for what happens in arrest. His arrest was a felony arrest, and when we have felonies, we have to make decisions. There are different types of arrests, whether it's misdemeanor or felony. We have a standard that if it's a felony arrest, you're no longer able to play until it's resolved. It was resolved and the team made the decision when it came to Dontay."

Locksley also declined to note what Joyner's timeline to return looks like while adding that there is an "Office of Student Conduct issue that comes along with it that also has rules behind it."

"We're following those rules," he added.

Locksley also declined to expand on the timeline of Teasley's status before noting, "we have been aware of the situation."

“He's been disciplined within our program, like it typically happens. But because it's a legal matter, I'll end it with that.”

With now two players involved in legal matters tied to women, Locksley also answered when asked about the program's standard of treating women.

"This is a legal matter, and as I've done for the eight years I've been a head coach, I don't get into the legal matters. I don't get into personnel issues publicly. Josiah will continue to practice as he has and won't play. So I'll kind of let the legal situation take its course.”

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