https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hp8qPux6p9s
Maryland wrapped up its first of two scrimmages on Saturday afternoon to give head coach Mike Locksley and the staff the first opportunity to watch the 2022 Terps in action.
“First opportunity for our coaches to be off the field and work on our sideline organization stuff and then for us, it's another opportunity for us to see what our players know,” Locksley added. “During practice oftentimes we do a lot of coaching where today we wanted to see what those guys know and we wanted to let them go out and work on running, blocking, tackling, catching the ball, throwing it.”
Locksley also confirmed that Dontay Demus was available for today’s scrimmage. “Made a couple good plays in there for us. He's still right on track like we talked about in our opening media opportunity. Like I said, having him back is a plus for Maryland because of the leadership he brings and because of the type of player he is and so it was good to see him out in The Shell running, catching, blocking. We'll continue to kind of bring him back the right way, which is limiting kind of his load. But today he was able to get some work and was really pleased with what I saw.”
Locksley noted there weren’t any major injuries coming out of the scrimmage, as well. “There weren't any that they were out and didn't couldn't return,” he added. As for the good and bad, Locksley emphasized that “if there was an Achilles heel” during the scrimmage, that resides with the special teams unit. “We still have some work to do in our special teams, had too many penalties. The execution of some of the techniques weren't where we need them to be and so we've gotta get that stuff cleaned up.” But when asked about who the early standouts and playmakers are during the first week and change of fall camp, the answer pointed back to the special teams.
“If I were to throw out a name, I'd say it starts with Chad Ryland, our kicker. I haven't talked a lot about that, but probably one of the best pickups we've had out of the transfer portal, another weapon, scoring the ball is really important and he came back from his off-season training and has been killing the ball. And I'm really, really excited about having that consistency from that position. So, if I had to give somebody a little love about the guys that really have stood out to me, it's Chad Ryland and his confidence is at all-time highs, kicking the ball out of the end zone on kickoffs. He's been very accurate on his field goals throughout camp, and I really expect him to have a big year for us.”
Still, execution and miscues overwhelmed Maryland during conference play last season as the team’s mantra heading into this fall is ‘Terps vs. Terps.’
“It's us not beating ourselves and having self-inflicted errors like turnovers and penalties and drop balls and missed tackles. Those are all things that we can control. So, when we reference Terps versus Terps, it's us managing and taking care of the things that we can control, which is half the battle to winning.”
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