Maryland OL Alan Herron talks offseason development, run game, OC Pep Hamilton

Ahmed Ghafir
Aug 15
3 min read

Heading into his final season of college football and second season with Maryland football, right tackle Alan Herron talks about his unit, his offseason development, what excites him about offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton & more:

On team’s morale midway through fall camp

“Pretty good. We got a good team, young team, inexperienced team, but day by day, you see development.”

On Herron’s offseason development

“My edge rushers, man. I’ve got great edge rushers. Sidney Stewart, freshman, so I feel like I'm getting better day by day, day by day. I can see it. I can see it in the film room.”

What Herron emphasized through offseason workouts

“Last year, I'd say big thing was my punch timing, you know, getting that punch off first touch. I've been working on that. It's been helping me tremendously, bull rush and stuff like that. I struggled with bull rush last year. So, yeah, I got a better feeling.”

On working with Hal Hunter

“Coach Hunter, man, great coach, good dude. He's only getting me better day by day. He’s getting me better.”

On the run game

“I think with Coach Pep coming in, we’ll run the ball a lot. It's downfield running. We pound the ball every practice. We got great running backs, like you said, Nolan Ray, all them guys. So I'm pretty confident with our run game this year.”

On OT Jaylen Gilchrist

“Gilchrist, tough guy, tough player. You don't see [many] freshmen come in and play the way he’s playing right now, you know. So I feel like Gilchrist, he’s gonna be a great addition to the [offensive] line this year.”

On advice to freshmen adjusting to the Big Ten

“Coming from high school to college it’s tough, especially fall camp. I always tell my guys, like the freshmen, I always tell them just remember your why, why you’re here and think about that every day. Write your goals down, stuff like that, and read it every day so you can have that momentum going into practice every day.”

How a talented freshmen class can energize the locker room

“I feel like they’re a big, big role this year. Freshman guys we gotta, like I said before, we got a young team so gonna be a lot of inexperienced players playing this year and I feel like they bring good energy to the locker room, for sure.”

On the chemistry along the OL with two returning starters

“I can say we got way better. We got way better from last year, our [defensive] line and putting in the work, they’re making us better day by day. We’ve got Isaiah Wright, he was injured last year. He had another experienced guy. He didn't play last year, but he’s [an] addition now to the [offensive] line. Michael Hershey, he had snaps last year. So I think, I think we'll be good.”

On IOL Isaiah Wright

“He’s the leader of the whole line. He makes sure the energy is here. We come to practice with the right mindset every day. So I think he'll be good.”

On OC Pep Hamilton

“Run game. Run game. I love that about Pep. He focuses on the run game. He loves running the ball so I think that’s what excites me most.”

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