Maryland football is set for its third consecutive bowl appearance under head coach Mike Locksley as they're set to face Auburn in the TransPerfect Music City Bowl on Dec. 30. Head coach Mike Locksley took the podium and announced that quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa has opted out of the bowl game, ending his four-year career in College Park, as he previews Auburn, roster expectations, Maryland's new-look quarterback room and more. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPDrsWno8Yk Opening statement “Obviously it's been a really busy December. Team awards banquet, transfer portal, meeting with players, official visits, big signing day . A lot of things moving, a lot of moving parts and so as a program we've been fairly busy but I'm excited to get back into game prep, which we started . The previous two weeks, we had a bunch of modified practices where we kind of use those practices as spring football. As you guys know, I always talk about the last game of the year, which was this year was Rutgers being the end of the ‘23 season and we transition to the ‘24 season with our bowl game. And you can see why we took on this philosophy because the team that played in the Rutgers game isn't necessarily the team that will play in the bowl game. And I think what you'll see over the course of the last couple of bowl games we went to, you saw a lot of freshmen and players that maybe didn't have an impact on this season kind of have coming out party. I mean, think back to the Pinstripe Bowl when Roman Hemby, Antwain Littleton showed up on the scene for us and I expect that to be the norm now, especially with the landscape of college football and where we’re going. I know when you transition from the end of the season to the bowl game, the energy that these players that haven't maybe played a lot of snaps or impact on the games, you see quite a bit of fight and you see a quite a bit of energy out of the group. And so I think that as we get into game prep here the next couple of weeks, you'll see a bunch of the veteran guys that are finishing up their careers, but you'll also see the implementation of some of the younger players that we've seen over the course of this season that maybe didn't have as big an impact on our season, but you'll see a precursor to what hopefully our future looks like. On bowl practice schedule this week “I want to once again thanks Scott Ramsey there and everybody affiliated with the TransPerfect Music City bowl. We're really looking forward to getting down to Nashville on the 26th. Off , practice Thursday, Friday and have a Saturday morning practice. We're into our normal week practice meaning today is a Tuesday practice for us which is a big workday. But we're excited to be able to go down to Nashville and play in our third straight bowl game.” Locksley on facing Auburn “With Auburn obviously like us, there's a lot of moving parts and so to get up and talk personnel, I have no idea. I’ve followed and tracked it a little bit to know that they do have some players that are opting out. I do know that there'll be a well-coached team. I actually had a chance to talk to Coach Freeze on the phone a couple of weeks ago as we have agreed to utilize technology in our bowl game with the player-to-coach thing that they use in the NFL communication as well as the tablets on the sidelines. We have a waiver to be able to do that. And we both have agreed to utilize some of this stuff as I think we’ll transition maybe next season and so it gives us an opportunity. We used it for first time in practice and I think it's a good thing but this was year one for him at Auburn and to just think they're about a 4th-and-21 away from being a playoff team in Alabama. It'll be a big challenge for us. It’s a great challenge, a great opportunity. The two premier leagues, conferences in the country have the opportunity to play down in SEC territory in Nashville, which is a great football city. I know our players and we are all really excited about this opportunity." On game captains vs. Auburn “We had our banquet and our permanent team captains, so they'll serve as our game captains for this. Ruben Hyppolite, Beau Brade and Jeshaun Jones were our permanent captains voted along with Taulia Tagovailoa who's opted out but really excited about being able to go down and put our best foot forward as we transition to our <2024> Maryland football family.” On what’s worked well the last two years in bowl prep “I think the biggest thing and I kind of talked about in my opening statement is how we transition. A lot of people see the bowl game as the end of the year for us but when we take our, I call it our family picture at the end of the last game there on the field, I know that players have to make decisions and sometimes coaches make decisions in terms of staying, going. And so, we use the bowl game as a precursor for the upcoming season. And to me that's where, when you transition and it’s kind of out with the old, in with the new, there's an influx of energy that comes about with some of these players that haven't necessarily had the type of impact during the course of the year. But our practices have been very spirited. These young guys are excited about these opportunities they have and we've recruited well and we've developed our team well so I think it's a great opportunity for us in our program to kind of get a glimpse into what next season will look like.” On QB Taulia Tagovailoa’s status “Address the elephant in the room, Taulia Tagovailoa has opted out of the game. He won’t be playing. We certainly thank him and his family for all he's given this program over the last four years. But like all positions, it’s next man up and this provides Billy Edwards, Cam Edge, Champ Long, Jayden Sauray, some of the quarterbacks in our program an opportunity here as we head into the bowl game and I'm excited to see what Billy is able to do. You kind of look at this game almost like a preseason game leading into next year, gives us an opportunity to evaluate our quarterback situation going into the next year. We’ve got a lot of faith in Billy. We’ve got a lot of faith in Cam that both those guys have the ability, the skill sets to operate our system.” On how the scheme changes with Taulia not available “You do what your quarterback allows you to do. We kind of know who Billy is. I think sometimes because of how we use Billy that maybe you guys think that oh Billy is just a runner, but Billy throws the ball really well. He’s a traditional pocket quarterback but he also has some sneaky athleticism that I think catches people off guard so I've got all the confidence in the world in Billy but I also don’t want to leave Cam Edge out of there. Cam’s been practicing as the third. I think you’ll see both of them in the game as an opportunity for us to, like I said, evaluate our quarterback situation heading into next season.” On the conversation on opting out with Taulia “I hate getting into personal conversations. He handled it the right way. For some reason, I think our fans and sometimes our supporters have this misconception that we're the only person that has to deal with players not playing, going in the portal, losing top players. Get used to it people. It's the landscape of college football. If you have attachment issues, you better get over it quick. And I used to be one of those guys that had attachment issues. I hated leaving. I hate people leaving me but this is the world we live in, this generation…is so used to swiping left and starting over and going to the next page that, you know what, maybe coach Locks needs to not be as relationship based and just become more transactional, which that’s the landscape of it. He handled the right way. Great family, great people. He’s got some decisions to make and I'm excited for him but this is, you look across the country man it's happening everybody so Maryland fans, understand this happens to everyone not just coach Locks. We're good. We’ll be fine.” On the impact of Taulia Tagovailoa’s arrival at Maryland “I have to remove the attachment because I love hard, I’ve got a big heart for the guys that I have a chance to coach and recruit. They’re not easy conversations. I’m sure it wasn’t easy for him to say, ‘coach I’m not going to play in the game.’ He still has, like I said, other decisions to kind of make…I’ve got to get over it, the attachment piece. I love them to death, great kid, did tremendous amount for our program. The relationship goes back to 2016 when I was at Alabama and we started recruiting Tua and the family migrated to Alabama so I have nothing but utmost respect and very thankful for what they've been able to do as a family for my career, to be honest with you. Very supportive of whatever his future looks like.” “I think if you look at the quarterbacks that have played in this system from Tua to Jalen to Mac , , CJ Brown and some of these other guys that have had great success in it, that the system is foolproof and proven that it's a quarterback-driven system, a quarterback friendly system. I think he was perfectly made for this system for us. Quick release, accuracy, competitive drive. I know for maybe some people around here, I don't think you'll understand the impact of what coming to Maryland will have probably for about ten, 15 years and then people understand that, man. Because I've been around here a long time where we’ve struggled at quarterback. We had a guy that played for four years here and had great success and some people still, he leaves here a little bit kind of an enigma. People love him or hate him and I sure love the kid because of what he's been able to do to elevate Maryland football. Didn't do it by himself and I know he gets a lot of credit and because of the relationship, but pretty special kid.” On what gives Locksley confidence in Billy Edwards Jr. “You just think back to two years ago. Billy came in, we were down against Indiana when went down with injury and all he did was bring us back and help us win a very important game on the road against Indiana a couple years ago. And then to get us both eligible against Northwestern as a starter, his first year in our program. We see him every day of practice. Usually, he takes about 40% of the reps as the backup with the starter, at the time taking 60% so he's got a lot of bank reps, a lot of bank experience that has shown us that he's capable of operating our stuff. He still has a bunch of the weapons available to him on the outside with Prather, Tai Felton, Jeshaun Jones, the run game. The line is pretty much intact. He has enough weapons I think that will allow him to operate our stuff.” On how implementing NFL technology has gone “I’m a little nervous, man. I’m a dinosaur when it comes to emails, iPhones and all that stuff. Guess I'm in the boomer category with it. Tried to use it a little bit yesterday and get it too close to your mouth. It's kind of like the Nextel, I’m old enough to remember what the old Nextel phone used to be like, the chirps where you don't want to so close to your mouth that they can't hear you so it's taking some getting used to but I do think, obviously with us and how we operate. We've been a signal team and we know through what's happened this year in college football that signals sometimes can give advantages. And so for us it's important to see how this works because if we're moving toward it, I want to make sure we've had an opportunity to practice it, to use it and have a feel so I can make an educated decision when it comes time to when my opinion is asked of what I think about using technology in games. But I think it helps the game. It’ll speed it up for us. I think it’s good.” On other opt-outs vs. Auburn “If I wasn’t a boomer, I’d be able to buzz them off…I can’t keep up with them whether it’s the portal, the opt outs. I really couldn’t sit up here and tell you, but I know we have quite a bit of our starters. I'd say at least 80% of our starters practicing, doing all the things necessary to prepare for the bowl game.” “I don't keep up with names. You could do the research on it.” On how the QB competition will unfold heading into 2024 “It’s definitely an open competition. Be really clear—nobody is promised a starting position that plays for me. I mean, everybody has to earn what they get around here. I talk about that a lot. So yeah, nobody's been promised the starting position. It's going to be a competitive position. The competition probably will go all the way in through the summer once people are here on campus, and you know, we will be signing a high school guy as well. But yeah, it'll be open competition that I expect to see a bunch of guys competing for, because we've got some talented people around them coming back. It’s a position that the guy that does the best job of taking care of the football and driving it and scoring it will be the guy that leads us out there first game of next year.” On how the bowl game can impact the QB battle in 2024 “Speaking general there will be guys from the portal that have signed their scholarship tender, Big Ten tender that will be able to practice with us here for the next two weeks, even down at the bowl game. They won’t be able to participate in the game, but as I said, it gives us a nice precursor to what it looks like. And so, we'll have quite a few guys that will be practicing and participating in these bowl ramp up practices. They'll travel to the game, just will not be eligible to play in the game.” On whether opt-outs impact motivation tactics for the rest of the team “No, our players are pumped up about it because again, coach Locks kind of finds a way to transition because now again, the older guys who are winding down, that's where the energy level worried about getting injured because of NFL opportunities. Well, these young guys, man, we got some young corners and receivers and linemen and linemen that have not played. And as again, you look over the last couple of years, guys like Octavian Smith and Roman Hemby. You saw a bunch of guys that were young players that played in our bowl game. I had no problem motivating guys that haven't played a lot. They're motivated to get out, show what they're capable of. We've had great modified practices. We’re now into game plan mode so we're getting a good idea as a staff, kind of what the future looks like, what guys can do certain things. No, motivating them isn't an issue. We're preparing to go to win a game. We're not just looking at it as a, we want to figure some things out, but ultimately, we're going down there to try to win the game.” Locksley’s stance on the early signing period “I like the early signing period. It saves me a lot of time and money. I said this before, when you're at a place like Maryland, the early signing window is great because I don't have to sweat it out till February about people coming in and poaching and trying to flip guys. It gets them locked in. But at other places I've worked, I kind of didn't like it early because I'd like to go in and if I don't get a certain guy, go flip a guy from somewhere else. So depends on where you're at. I kind of like where we are with this signing window. We're still probably one of the only schools that focuses in on high school recruiting. I know you see us in the portal for needs, but we plan on signing a bunch of high school kids here tomorrow that will be the core of our future of our program and I'm excited about that.” On what Locksley wants to see from Billy Edwards Jr. and Cam Edge “Protect the football and score points.” On how the secondary fares following attrition via NFL & transfer portal “It’s all of them. I mean, I've been excited. The young corners, we signed, I think three corners. Kevis and and Morman. These are all three dudes that can run. We were running Chantz Harley this past season. He's got great length and size. Those guys have, Kevis played some, obviously Lionell’s back. He's played a bunch for us. Ja’Quan Shepard's playing in the game. I don't see this as, Perry Fisher, who's been kind of a nickel in the corner. We've got a lot of experienced guys. That's why when you said a bunch of guys going in the portal that we're playing, but like is about the one guy that kind of leaving that has a lot of game experience. And then obviously Corey Coley leaving as well. But we've recruited well. Those three young corners as well as Chantz Harley and Lionell, I think, give us a tremendous chance going into the game. They all can run. They all got length. This will be a great opportunity for us to see just what they are capable of doing. That's how we want to utilize this game.” On potential breakout candidates vs. Auburn “I like our young corners. I had a chance to watch them because I'm on the offensive field and I see them competing and. You know, Kevis was one of the young guys that had a chance to kind of he was up with us a lot, traveled a lot. Maybe didn't play as much, but I'm excited to see him. He has a tremendous skill set can run good speed. I think both the young guys that were on scout teams this year, Uzi and Mykel, both excited. Chantz Harley is a guy that's played in some games for us and, and again, transferred in from Villanova. I'd say the secondary, the corners, some of these young receivers, like I think it's time for Punch, Shaleak Knotts to kind of have that breakout. I mean, I've been waiting for this and he'll have an opportunity. I think in this game, even though we've got Tai and Jeshaun and Kaden all playing. He's another one of those guys that I think has the potential to be a star around here. I love both the young tight ends in Preston and as well as Dylan, Dylan Wade, and both those guys contributed quite a bit here. Just quite a bit on the defensive side, Daniel Wingate, Michael Harris, these two young linebackers who they played quite a bit all season long, Jordan Phillips, all season long. So a bunch of guys.” On which players who transferred out will suit up vs. Auburn “So there's two type of portal windows, alright? One, are guys that have COVID years that, some schools have decided to not recruit high school guys, so they bring back their returning players that have a COVID year. Well, some of those guys I've met with and I told them that I plan on signing a high school player. And so they go on the portal, and then you guys write about it, and then our fans say the sky is falling, and that everybody's leaving, but they don't know the background on some guys are leaving because it's a COVID year, they got their degrees from Maryland, and that we want to recruit some high school guys that allow us to continue to develop and build our program, but then you have others that decide that this place isn't the place for them. So the guys that don't get to play in the bowl game are the ones that decide that this isn't the place for them and they don't play. But if it's a guy that we've mutually agreed that you've gotten your degree, Maryland's done their part. You've done your part and you want to go test the waters, you deserve it. I have no problem with it. And as long as they make the practices, I'll let them play in the game.” On the impact of Beau Brade, Taulia Tagovailoa, Tarheeb Still, Jeshaun Jones “100%. Hence the reason we talk about the best being ahead for us. Those four you named and the permanent captains and guys that have been here through the course of this rebuild, we’re forever indebted to the guys that they bought. We sold them a vision that they bought before it came to fruition and they built it, as I said, with their hands. They played a major role, all four of those guys. And as I said before, there's a lot of guys that aren't here that have left the program that played a huge role in where we are today. And so I keep harping on this landscape of college football and where it is. The days of being upset of players leaving, they've left their mark here. I mean, guys that are leaving here for whatever reasons they choose, they've left a mark that have allowed us to get the program to where it is, so I don't know how you can be upset. Like I said, I've dealt with attachment issues my whole life a little bit, and so it used to really bother me when people would leave, but now you know what? Everybody's got to do what's best for them, and that's the part as a boomer I've got to get over, because I'm one of those guys that grew up down southwest D. C. that loyalty is like, hey, man, you give me something. You put me on, you help me. I'm there for you. But this generation, as I was told by some of my younger people, they don't just, hey, whatever, man, I'm moving on. Get over it, old man. So I'm over it.” On whether Locksley will miss mayo from the 2022 bowl game “No, I'm good with that. I'm good on the mayo. I kind of, I like TransPerfect.” On how the QBs change Maryland’s scheme and play calls “It doesn't change a lot for us because, as I said, I don't think Billy and are as more different than what people think. They're different stature and size and terms of their measurables, but both guys throw the RPO stuff really well. Both guys have great movement skills. I think Billy runs and plays with a little more power, obviously, because of his size. He’s smart as a whip. He's been in the system. His brother Kyle played in this system at Alabama. So he’s very familiar with what we do. And like I said, you look at his body of work here. We kind of glance over the fact that we weren't bowl eligible and we were down in that Indiana game when he came in and brought us back. And then the win over Northwestern, which was a dog fight the year before, he found a way to win that game for us. I got a lot of faith in him, just like I said, I do in Cam Edge and been really impressed with Champ Long as well during these bowl modified practices. Natural thrower, has some skill. I'm excited about it.” Related Links Maryland football bowl notebook: QB depth, NFL technology, stay-or-go decisionsTaulia Tagovailoa opts out vs. Auburn in Music City BowlLatest buzz around Maryland football heading into early signing period (+) Maryland vs. Nicholls: TV, radio & game previewMaryland football film breakdown: QB MJ Morris
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