Mike Locksley on Rutgers, measuring success in 2025, fan criticism, improving kickoffs

Ahmed Ghafir
Nov 4, 2025
14 min read

Everything that head coach Mike Locksley said during his weekly press conference, following the Indiana loss and ahead of Rutgers:

Opening statement

“First of all, let's start by congratulating Buzz [Williams] and Brenda [Frese] on the start of their season. I got my basketball varsity shootaround shirt on today in honor to start a basketball and again, congrats to Buzz, who has become a great supporter of mine and Brenda as well for the consistency that they continue to show and she has shown over the years. Thanks for joining us, as you guys usually do.”

On the ‘police report’ following the Indiana loss

“As we get ready for the final third of our season, I'll give you the police report. Typically, I always tell you that if you have the ability to read, you can obtain knowledge, and so if you look at the Indiana stat sheet, anybody that can read will have the knowledge. I'll read the police report from the game. Offense didn't take advantage of opportunities in the first half when defense gave us advantageous positions. Defense start of the second half when [the] offense scored a touchdown to give us some momentum, defense didn't get a necessary stop there in the middle eight which would have allowed us to maybe maintain some momentum. The defensive drive where they matched our score started with a terrible kick. The kick line, I think their drive start was at the 38 yard line. So all three phases didn't play in sync and that typically happens. I think our margin of error was 22%, I always come in here, talk about playing clean football on offense. Margin of error is 22%. That means 22% of the plays we ran on offense had a self-inflicted wound. We had five turnovers. We led the nation in turnovers. So I chalked that up to, again, one of those games that we didn't protect the ball the way we traditionally had shown we could. And then defense, we gave up 400 yards rushing. That's the police report. That's knowledge.

Here's wisdom. Knowledge is when you can break it down and say, hey, here's what went wrong. Here's the wisdom that we've gained from it. I get asked a lot like what kind of team you're gonna have? You remember in August, everybody kept saying, hey, what kind of team you got? What kind of team you got? I kept saying I don't know. And I said at that point, I didn't really need to know and that when we found out, it would be how we faced adversity, that's when I would know. And we were on a four-game losing streak. We lost three games by ten points or less and then we lost to the number two team in the country, a really good team, a veteran team. A veteran team has a bunch of redshirts seniors, juniors, talented players that have played a lot of football. And I think if you look at the way the game played out, we have little margin of error for how we win with the inexperienced team because we're not young anymore. We're just inexperienced. And when you look at the things that showed up, it's easy for me to say, let's dismiss it.

So here's who we are as a team. We are one relentless team. And when I always use this word relentless, sometimes I think of a physical chase where you literally are chasing something down. Well, I was taught and always say, leadership is having a positive impact on others. And I was taught by my young quarterback the other day because he had a positive impact on me by something he said to you guys that, at the end of his press conference, where he basically told a story about Job and patience and that he's going to relentlessly and this team - if you look at the way this team is built, and it was built intentionally for this time. And so when you ask me what type of team we have, we have a relentless team and not the physical kind, but the relentless one in our faith in that we got so much belief in each other because of the work we've done. A win this weekend against Rutgers will give us five wins. Five wins is one more than we had a year ago. That's called progress, a little slow progress. A win this week against Rutgers gives us a second conference win. That would be progress because we won one a year ago. It's easy to say that same old Maryland, I’ll sit here and tell you because what I see every day is not - we have deep rooted foundation to this team that I'm just going to tell y'all, you can write what you want, but the team is writing its story as we go. So I put Indiana behind us. I've kind of given you what Rutgers is all about. It's a well-coached team. I got a lot of respect for Greg [Schiano] and what he does, very similar projects. I think I'm a year ahead of him in terms I've been here - this is year seven. I think this is year six for him back in the saddle. They got a team that they played well early there. They've had some close games. They've had some things not go their way, but the areas where you can see the character of his team is on the special teams. And they play special teams really well around there for a long period of time. They have a veteran quarterback who's played a lot of football, transferred from Minnesota, did a great job there, but for PJ, and I expect him to again how he goes, they'll go. And then on the defensive side of the ball, they have enough players on that side. Their linebackers and their front seven, their boundary defensive end is their best player, in my opinion, create some issues for a lot of teams. And I can tell you that this team, because of the faith that they have in each other and how deep rooted we are, you're gonna get their best. I’ll coach better this week, obviously didn't do a great job last week coaching. We'll play better this week, and obviously we didn't play very well.

On game captains

“Our captains this week, going into this game, Alan Herron will lead us on offense. Eyan Thomas will be our defensive captain. And we got Darius Grimes, a walk on local player who has really made an impact on our special teams. He'll serve as our special teams captain.”

How Maryland can recalibrate the season with four games left

“Yeah, our goal didn't have a number on it. We said our goal was to elevate the program. I think I've displayed and showed that there's still room for us to have the type of elevation now. We created some expectations, man, because we got a good foundation, a talented team that's inexperienced - not young - inexperienced. That shows that there's a pretty solid foundation that if and when we keep this thing together, because of how deep rooted is, because of some of the lessons that we've had to learn here the last four games, that you'll start to see the dividends of it. Those extra practices, I can't tell you how important they are when you become bowl eligible, especially for a team with 64 players that have never suited up until this year together. Those are invaluable. And so for us, the ability to still elevate every goal that we have in our program, besides being able to probably compete for a Big Ten Championship, are still there to reach. And that's where, when I talk about how deep rooted we are and our relentless faith that we have in each other, that there's no doubt we'll get those jobs accomplished there.”

On Rutgers RB Antwan Raymond, Maryland’s run defense

“The first one for us on defense is always about the gap soundness of our defense. And there's been times when, if you look at the game a week ago where I think they had 180 yards of explosive runs and they usually happen from not being in the right gap or a missed tackle. We had 17 missed tackles again last week after cleaning it up the week before. I told you each week we're going to be plugging holes and fixing things with an inexperienced team that doesn't - consistency is always the toughest part to show up with a young team, an inexperienced team, as I should say. And so the goal is to get it more consistent. And that's where, for me as the leader of this thing, I got to continue to push buttons, figure out how I can get the more consistent play out of out of us on the run side of it and we got to run the ball better on offense. So maybe it's a byproduct of us not being very good when we face each other in practice of being able to run the ball on offense. So we're [a] work in progress in both those areas but we'll get them done. We'll get them accomplished.”

On facing Rutgers on the road where Maryland has had success

“Yeah, I think again, when you start doing that comparison, you find yourself in a little trouble, because we'll be defined by what we do this week. This team with 64 new players, has nothing to do with the four of the last five or five of the last six. We’ll be defined by the present in the present in terms of what we do and how we prepare this next few days. And I expect us - I mean, a week ago, I expected, because of how we prepared to have the success that I thought we would have, didn't happen. But guess what? Because of the relentless faith I have in this team and that they have and what we're doing. We'll get the work in this week. We'll take this team up to compete against the Rutgers team that represents this year's version of their team and then we'll try to play our best.”

On examples in the locker room being relentless

“They'll be coming up here following me. I think they're better served to answer those questions. I think if you look across the board, any of the things that show this team - whether it's our social media team that puts stuff out. I mean, the faith is all around this program and we got strong leadership in the locker room, whether it's a young, new player coming in, having a positive impact. I told you, leadership doesn't have timestamps. Accountability is horizontal. And like I said, I learned a lot from that young quarterback, just in the faith of you can have everything going and then have them taken away, but you just got to remain diligent in the faith that I have in them and they have in us and what we're doing. And then the good thing is you'll be restored and I expect that. That's what - just check this team out, man.”

On improving yardage needed on third down

“That's the key. And you mean, it's a matter of, again, continuing to understand. And when you put the tape on and there's opportunities where there's four yards available and now it's a matter of getting either the right guys in there or getting to the right place to make sure that we take advantage. I mean, there's so many opportunities when you watch the tape, to show where there are opportunities for this team to be able to be successful on P-and-10, first and 10. Those are the down and distances that make you good on third down, and our efficiency has not been what it needs to be. I can tell you it starts with how can we run the ball? Because if you can take pressure off of the young quarterback, the inexperienced quarterback feeling like he has to do everything himself and sometimes that's the extra yardage. We say, hey, the run game is the running back and [offensive] line. Well, maybe sometimes it's the receiver not digging out the safety who's making the hit for five yards, and instead of the RPO being on there, we need to go make the block. So always ask when a thing doesn't work in our offense, is it personnel driven? Is it a fundamental or is it a scheme? And I can tell you that it's been a mixture of all three, which allows us to continue to fix things.”

What shows up as relentless on tape

“I didn't see a lot of physical relentless, but what I saw, and was encouraged by was how they responded in the locker room. When you put the work in, like nobody can question the work we put in - I mean, as coaches, as players, and that's across the country, because nobody prepares to go out and not play their best. And so for them to be able to come back in that locker room and they own it. I mean that to me, is the part, because I'll stand in here, and I'm [going to] own every part of it because that's my responsibility as the leader of the program to do that. And now it's a matter of for those guys, because as I say, accountability is horizontal. I think they feel like, hey, coach, we got some ownership in this, too. So move over a little bit. We got this. And that's the part that's been really encouraging. That's the part you guys don't get to see. The police report tells you, hey, all the things that of being able to break apart why it's not working, but the wisdom is putting it together and those guys have gained a lot of wisdom from what we've gone through the last four weeks.”

On Locksley’s message to fans frustrated with Saturday’s loss, four-game slide

“My message is thank you, man, how great an opportunity. And they created an environment that this team created the expectation. So we created the expectation. They created the environment. You know what? We're gonna keep showing up so we're gonna ask them to do the same. We're gonna have relentless faith. We're asking our supporters to have the same. The real ones that show up each week and see it weren't happy last week because none of us were. But I can tell you that it's still not your same old Maryland and I'll continue to shout that because I know what's going on inside the building and the supporters and people that really know us get a pretty good understanding. We got a pretty solid foundation to build on.”

Whether five wins in 2025 is a low bar for progress

“That's called slow progress and progress is moving forward. If a year ago - and we can't compare it to seven years ago because this landscape reset college football. So in this landscape, if you reset it, when you have 64 new players and you see the amount of freshmen and sophomores involved with it, I think if you understand football and maybe get out the police report and look at the wisdom of what's happened when you play really talented young players around here the last few years, they end up going to three straight bowls, winning all three. They end up winning a bunch of ball games for you and being really successful.”

Whether Malik Washington is being asked to do too much

“I think we all are enduring it, not just Malik. I mean, when you're one dimensional, it makes it easy to defend and I think that's the piece for us as we embark on trying to be balanced on offense, which allows you to run and pass efficiently and not necessarily the amount of times but to be able to do them both efficiently. And there's been some times where we, as I said, it's a technical thing, sometimes it's schematic, but a lot of the times, I like the way Malik has handled the things we put on him. And to be quite honest, we haven't put a lot on him if you look at how first and second down typically, he's under center, turning around handing the ball off and then what we've had to do is put him in some tough third and long situations where you don't want to see a young quarterback and a bunch of third and seven pluses. And that's where the efficiency on first and second down will be really important to get fixed against Rutgers.”

On the ‘Fire Locksley’ chants during the Indiana loss

“I don't know if you remember me telling you about that give a crap gauge. We're in entertainment, man. We sucked last Saturday. I would have probably chanted it too if I had a few beers and we played the way we played. But that's not gonna move me, man. I've done harder. I've been through worse. As I've said, I don't hope - I didn't hope my way to be the head coach here at Maryland. We're in the entertainment business. I get judged to win games. I like to follow those guys to their jobs that scream fire Locksley, put a camera on them and watch them do their work and see how motivated they are to do theirs. I know I'm motivated, but not because of them, but because of the kids in that locker room, the staff I put together. That's what motivates me.”

Whether it frustrates Locksley to hear the chants

“No, not at all. I actually smiled Absolutely. I thought to myself, yeah, I'd probably be chanting that crap too.”

On K Sean O’Haire

“Sean has been a great addition. One of the better ones, I can tell you. I lost my stuff a couple weeks ago when I walked on the field against UCLA and [Andre Powell] say, hey Coach, Sean, can't kick. And I'm like, What? What are you talking about? And it's a little known fact that, as we had to kick that extra point to tie the game at that time, that we had [Ryan] Capriotti come out, who hadn't I think attempted a kick in a game like that and a crucial moment. But that's one of those behind the scene things that you see and know that we built the right way. And Sean was a great get for us. He's been really consistent. When he's had opportunities, he's shown up. I think both are all three of our specialists, when you think a long snapper, punter and kicker have and have all created tremendous amount of value with winning the vertical field position battles in terms of field goals, punting, and then our long snapper Ethan Gough, who's been a rock star.”

On improving kickoffs

“Yeah, no, that's not the plan. The plan is to kick it out of the end zone. And sometimes the best laid plans don't work out the way you expect it to. And so you know what you do? You figure out how to cover them. Our kickoff has been an issue all year long in terms of being able to get the ball kicked deep enough, far enough. That's a Coach Locks’ issue. It's my job to make sure I have players and people that can execute those things. Dre and Chili [Davis] have done a tremendous job of what - we've even had an all call. I think we had a bunch of some soccer players that have - we've been trying to see if there's anybody that can help us with that kickoff. Instead of complaining about it, we've adjusted how we have to cover it, and I think we've done a decent job at it, but we just have not had a consistent kickoff out of the end zone to give our defense the advantageous drive start, which is really big in terms of scoring efficiency.”

On player development in college football today

“Player development is the only reason I'm here. They won't need head coaches, you won't need assistants if they could develop themselves. And I think that's the important piece for us. Are we a developmental program? We can't be anymore because we have such an expectation. If you look at the landscape of college football and all the things that are happening, the expectations rise. But as I've said, I'm not a victim. I embrace heavy expectations, unlike the question as I don't have low bar for anything I do in my life that would be called hope and I'm into figuring it out and coming up with answers. So development is really, really important. If you look across the country, you see coaches really working to take new players and grow them as fast as they can. And to me, that's been the biggest challenge from a leadership standpoint that I've had to face is how do I grow them up faster than the two, three-year process that it has taken? And you do it by leading from the heart, making sure that you provide the necessary resources, mentally, physically, intelligently and then surround these kids with the type of coaches that can expedite their ability to create value. So long story short, development is still important.”

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