Mike Locksley on fan criticism, meeting with AD Jim Smith, Malik Washington's four INTs, Nebraska

15 minutes ago

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Maryland head coach Mike Locksley addressed the fan criticism, what went so wrong vs. UCLA, looks ahead at Nebraska and more:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOWnLu56pUw

Opening Statement

“Saturday wasn't good enough. Turning the ball over five times at home, you can't win like that. You won't have an opportunity to win that way. We've taken care of the ball all year long on offense so what we've had to do is go back and look at what things we can do to remedy the turnovers that showed up. For us, it goes back to when your quarterback makes decisions, what can we do to limit those decisions? And so what we've tried to do this week is go in, clean up – take some things off his plate, allow the package to be a little tighter, so that we can have everybody on the same page. On defense, I thought we tackled better. We got off the field on third down, which was a point of emphasis a week ago.”

To address the fans, I understand the frustration our fans have. They care and expect to win, just like we do across the street. I know our team is disappointed in the way they've played the last couple of games, but just like I expect, just like I've modeled for them, we know that the only way to get it fixed is to play better. And you do that by practicing the right way, which we've done, and executing the things that we practice.

On Nebraska

“Nebraska is a physical, well-coached team. A great environment to go on the road to play a blue blood program. We've been there before. We faced some of the players that they have, and we're excited about getting on the road.”

Game captains vs. Nebraska

"Our captains are Michael Hershey, Eyan Thomas, and AJ Szymanski."

How to get the team fired back up after a 54-3 loss, Nebraska’s defense

“Welcome to the Big 10. I mean, it's a real league. The way I've talked about the way we get up off the mat is you get up. That's something that we've tried to model around here. The eight years I've been here, what do you do when you face tough losses? You get up. And we talked about that Sunday. Our team came in. We were able to maybe get some things out that we had to get out as a team. I think once we left the meeting room and we went out and practiced to get the corrections in that we needed to get corrected. We've all showed up with the right kind of mindset, and that's what I expect because that's what we're modeling.

You're right, Nebraska is a tough task. They're one of the top defenses in the country but I feel really good about if we put a great week together, if we protect the ball like we've done the first few games, and we play defense the way I thought we played better on Saturday, we'll give ourselves a chance to have success.”

On weekly meeting with AD Jim Smith

“Good question, understand why you ask it. It was a typical weekly meeting where we discussed the program, where it is each and every week. It was a standard meeting. Personnel matters, like we always talk about.”

Whether Smith gave Locksley any assurances

“Understand the question, understand the interest in it. My focus has been on getting us ready to play up at Lincoln. There were no need for assurances. Our Monday meeting went just as usual. Talked about the things that we didn't do well, talked about some things that we need to do well, and we went from there.”

What Locksley saw from his leaders on all three phases

“I think what happened, and it started even right after the game. I saw leadership in the locker room before I came up to address the media, where veteran players like Kaleb Webb step up and talk about the accountability of what they have to do. Obviously, me, I'm the one that prepares us. I'm responsible for how we prepare. I'm responsible for how we play the game and it wasn't good enough. But I think what you're starting to see, at least what we've prepared our team for, is a bunch of the leadership is showing up. When you look and see the leaders that have stepped up here in the last couple of days, they had a leadership council meeting where they talked about what they could do better. I thought that was a positive step for us. We got a lot of football left to be played. I want to make sure that they understand that. The key is they go out and play free, can't play tight, can't play under pressure. And I think our players will show up and do that.”

On the offense struggling with slow starts, getting to quicker starts

“It starts with getting in the rhythm. I think when you notice if we don't get behind the sticks on P-and-10s, which the beginning of a drive where we're productive, where I call it staying on schedule with four or more yards, we tend to have a productive drive. And for us, trying to find the balance of the run game, the efficiency of the run game, and then how much we put on our quarterback. Well we know that we've dealt with not a lot of depth at the running back position and so we put a lot on our quarterback the last couple of weeks, and it kind of showed up on Saturday. And that's what when I talk about the corrections we need to make, we'll take some of those things off his plate and it'll help to have some guys getting back healthy this week in the running game.”

Playing to win vs. keeping it close

“I didn't get to hear what Matt said. As I've always said, we do play to win. I mean, that's the ultimate goal. And as I've said before, the decisions, the schemes, those follow me. And when I make decisions like that, I always make what I feel are the best opportunities or the best chances for us to be successful.”

How Locksley has handled the toll of two-game losing streak, building pressure

“Great question. I'm 56 years old, Michael. I know how to insulate myself. I know how to put my phone down. I know how to not read or indulge with things that aren't going to help prepare the team for the next opponent, which is Nebraska. And so, what I've tried to do is model that for some of our players. I know that they are bombarded by a lot of the things they go on outside of the building because of their daily lifestyles, because of how much they are on social media and the things that they have come across. But we continue to try to model it. Only thing that matters is what we do, the guys in the building, what we think. And if we concentrate on those things, we'll get this thing turned around.”

Whether anything didn’t translate from practice to gameday

“I think the big thing that jumps out against UCLA was the lack of execution for us on offense. We were 1-of-15, and prior to that, we were one of the best third-down teams in the country. And when you find yourself behind the sticks per se, behind the chains, and you end up in a lot of third and longs. When you don't have the balance that you need to have with the ability to run the ball a little more efficiently, [it] puts a lot of pressure on the passing game, and I think that's what showed up Saturday. Again, having some healthy bodies get back here. Again, the condenseness of what we're doing gameplan wise, I think will allow our offense to find the groove that we need to get back into.”

On preventing similar losses during upcoming two-game road trip

“Well, it starts by not clumping them together because we play one game seasons. I continue to try to stand behind the importance of us staying and maintaining our focus on just what's important now. And that's a good Nebraska team, a road game in Lincoln. We've had an opportunity to go on the road before, but we'll face a really tough opponent in Nebraska who's well balanced on offense, defense, and special teams. Just like I told our team, the one thing we do have an opportunity to do is is to get up. When you face tough times, you get up. I think I've modeled that for the last eight years. I think it's part of the DNA of our team. And I expect us to get up.”

What Malik has shown in 2026 that he didn’t do in 2025

“Well, I think it starts with him, and I may be on the record of saying his ability to talk football. The game has slowed down for him. When you look at some of the things that maybe took place a week ago, you'd say I don't see it. But after watching it, it's easy to see why and how we threw four interceptions based on some of the things that we had to get corrected. And so, Malik's ability to communicate the game, communicate coverage, communicate what he's seeing has really gotten better. And that, to me, makes it easier to make the type of corrections you have to make with a guy that's, I think, starting [in] his 15th game.”

When the plan to take things off Malik Washington’s plate materialized

“Prior to Saturday, we hadn't turned the ball over. When you have four turnovers, it's something you better take a look at. And when they're in the passing game, and so taking some of the things off his plates means condensing some of the pre-snap things that he's responsible for, whether it's the routes being signaled to the receivers, whether it's setting the protections. The more things we could take off his plate now to condense the pride, the pre-snap thought process helps him get to making better decisions and that's one of the things we've worked on.”

On Malik Washington’s miscommunications with WRs

“The second pick six to me was goes back to communication. If you watch the tape, the cornerback ran the route for the receiver, which goes back to signaling and maybe we were a little lax in how we signaled things out. When you see those things happen, you get those corrected. And so, for us, some of the miscommunication will get fixed with how we communicate the plays into our guys so that we don't find ourselves in that situation. But I also think when you look at the amount of option concepts where they have the ability to break in or break out, the timing just wasn't where it needed to be and we weren't on the same page.”

On status of DeJuan Williams, Harry Dalton, their importance

“DeJuan will show up on our [injury report] tomorrow. As I said, Saturday he's close. I'm not sure that he's 100% back. We'll know more [Wednesday]. With Harry. We know that he won't be back [Wednesday], and so being able to add a playmaker like a DeJuan back into the system. A week ago, we didn't have Preston Howard available. Being able to add him back gets Malik back a couple of playmakers, a couple of guys that have had the ability to make plays and have made the plays for us, adds more weapons to his arsenal, which I think is something that right now on offense will help us get back in groove.”

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