Mike Locksley on Thanksgiving practice schedule, 2026 offseason, Quincy Wilson, Malik Washington's growth

Ahmed Ghafir
6 hours ago
9 min read

For the last time this season, everything head coach Mike Locksley said ahead of Maryland football's 2025 regular season finale vs. Michigan State:

Opening statement

“I really do appreciate the way you guys have covered us all year. Obviously, disappointing where we are today, but still really encouraged. I want to wish you all and your families happy Thanksgiving.”

On the season-finale vs. Michigan State

“We've altered our practice plan a little bit in an effort to get a little more rest and recovery on the back end. We've moved practices up to allow us to get a strong week of work as well as the extra needed recovery time. This will be the last time the 2025 version of the Terps will be together. I know that our team is excited to finish the right way. We talked to them yesterday a lot about some of their favorite movies all have great endings and that's what makes you want to watch again. And so for us, we've taken on we need to finish this iteration the right way, as best as we possibly can, to send our seniors out the right way. We have a chance to write our own ending to a really tough year. A chance to send our seniors out with a victory is a plus. And I can tell you that in my 17 years being on campus here as a coach, this has been the most connected and committed team that I've been a part of. And that's not just coach speak. That's a testament to the leadership of the veteran players. It's a testament to how quickly this group of guys have adapted to this new landscape we're in and I'm excited to send them out the right way.”

Game captains

“Isaiah Wright, Jalen Huskey and Cam Rice will serve as our game captains.”

On Michigan State

“Kind of like looking at yourself in the mirror. This is a team that's lost some really close games. They lost a close one a week ago to Iowa, last second field goal. Coach is I think in his second year there, Coach [Jonathan] Smith came from Oregon State, does a really good job with those guys, really solid team. And again, they haven't had a lot of things fall their way this season. But when you look at them on offense, their quarterback, Aidan Chiles, if he's able to play, he's one of those guys that you have to account for in how you game plan. The guy that stepped in a week ago stepped in admirably, threw the ball well, really gave them a chance to win the game. I expect them to come in to this game much like us - wanting to end it the right way. And we're in a controlled environment, great to be up at Ford Field to play indoors and I know our players are excited about it.”

On playing at Ford Field

“Well, not necessarily the NFL stadium, but for me, an opportunity to be in a controlled environment. Typically you go to Detroit this time of year, weather is a factor. Winds a factor. It's ideal conditions for a team like us, which needs all the work we can get to be able to go out and play to the best of our ability in ideal conditions.”

On QB Malik Washington’s growth through his freshman season

“As I've said, and I started the season by saying the one thing that impresses me most about Malik Washington is the maturity that he's shown as a young, inexperienced quarterback and being thrust into a tough situation as a freshman. Coming off of not having a training camp, I think that he's performed well. There's still obviously room and growth for him as a player, that there's no doubt I think he's shown us enough that there's the elite potential there, and it's a matter of him continuing to build that toolbox that we talked about.”

On elite local talent staying at Maryland across different sports

“We're a tight knit group as coaches. I work really closely with Coach [Andrew] Valmon,= and really excited for him to be able to land Quincy [Wilson]. Congrats to him, and I had a chance to FaceTime him last night after his announcement. That's huge for our state. As I told you, from a football standpoint, there has not been anybody more committed to this region, this area over the last 37 years I've been in this business. So for me to see the fruition of a lot of hard work to attract our top players to stay here in state, I mean, we are the flagship university. We should be represented that way with the top players in this state staying home and helping us build a brand and build programs. And I think what you're seeing is a generation of kids from this region now that get it. They understand the importance of brand. They understand the importance of staying here in the region that they're from to try to build their brands. And our fans have obviously gotten behind it and it's been great to see all the different sports that have been able to land some of the top talent to stay right here in the state.”

On Locksley’s role landing Quincy Wilson

“I try to stay in the behind the scenes with all that. It's a relationship thing for us, for me in recruiting. As I said, having been on this campus 17 seasons, I know a lot about the campus so when it comes time, if people want to know, I can probably answer a lot of the questions. Quincy, his family, his mom, Monique, great people. [I] had opportunity to spend quite a bit of time with them over the course of the recruiting process. Coach Valman and his staff did a tremendous job. I mean, all I did was add whatever little things that I could add to talk about the benefits of what staying close to home and staying here and playing for the flagship university, the benefits of it, because I've been here for a while.”

On lessons learned from run struggles, run defense into 2026

“If you look across the country, all the top teams have the ability to run the football. We went into this year saying that that was a point of emphasis for us. I can tell you that the stats don't necessarily show but I can tell you our fastest rising position group on this team is our offensive line. We lose a talented player in Alan Herron, who's playing his last game, but we got guy like Rahtrel Perry coming back, obviously, [Aliou] Bah coming back, Michael Hershey. We have some key pieces, and I've been really most impressed with guys like Ryan Howerton and Amory Hills who have shown that they have the ability to play at a high level in this league. Running the football is really important. If you want to win, you have to run it. On defense, we've struggled to stop the run as of late and a lot of it can be attributed to just not having the healthy bodies that we had the first seven games available. But we're starting to get some guys healthy and we'll finish this thing the right way. It's going to be important, even more so this week, to find a way to stop the run, but even more for us as to try to create some explosives. We still aren't getting enough explosives.”

On Thanksgiving plans this week

“No, we celebrate here. We actually have to practice tonight. We'll have our team Thanksgiving dinner upstairs. We have a normal practice day, and then we go upstairs for our training table and we'll have our Thanksgiving meal. Then tomorrow, we have an early practice, and then Thursday, we have an early practice, and when they walk off the field, they have a Thanksgiving lunch to go. So most of the kids, they're not from this area, they'll be with their coaches or with some of their teammates that are local. Most of our guys will spend time with families because it's really important to us that we don't leave any of these guys that don't have family here alone in the dorm. And so we'll spend it here, do all of our preparation here like we typically do, leave here Friday after our walk through and get up to Detroit for a night game.”

On adjusting tempo under QB Malik Washington

“There’s no doubt, anybody that's watched the offenses that I'm a part of over the years know that we're typically no huddle. We typically play with some pace. We have mixed tempos more than just a fast tempo because I think it affects defenses more when the tempo is a mixed bag, as opposed to just fast all the time. But I can tell you, due to depth and some of the issues we had going into the season, how we practice the things and philosophies we've had, we've had to make adjustments because when you don't have depth to go fast in practice and to get a ton of reps sometimes can be detrimental. And so we've adjusted how we've had to practice with 64 new players. Part of the issue is going into a huddle where we can tell everybody what to do, as opposed to dealing with the struggles of maybe a signal being misinterpreted. So we philosophically adjusted some things, but there's no doubt, when you watch Malik, he plays better in rhythm. He plays better on the line of scrimmage with pace. And it's something that obviously, as the clocks hit zero against Michigan State, our offseason starts immediately. And that's some of the things we'll watch, address, study and make the necessary adjustments as we've always done.”

On what Locksley is thankful for in year seven

“I told this team, and I said it, I think Saturday, the one thing that I take away from it. And as a coach, we always talk about accountability being horizontal, but when I talk about this team, they modeled what a team, what leadership should look like. Some of the older players that have been around here, as we said a year ago, and I hate keep going back to a year ago, but this team feels a little bit different than last year's record at this point. And I can tell you that it's because of the leadership and how these, the group of guys that stayed with us, really enforced the standards of, you know what, we show up, we do the work we're committed to, doing whatever it takes to get a win. Losing games doesn't make you a loser. It means you didn't reach the outcome you wanted at that point. And so we don't have losers in the locker room. We've lost some games but along the line, there's a ton of lessons that we'll take from this season. And as I told our seniors yesterday at our team meeting, their leadership won't go in vain because they've left a legacy of the work ethic that it takes. And if you look at some of the important factors and what winning looks like, we've had some of those all season long and now we have to build on those, retain this roster, go get some guys that can help build the depth and then get back up on a horse and start again once the clocks hit zero against Michigan State.”

On go-to side for Locksley on Thanksgiving

“I think this year I'm going with the tofu, man. I don't deserve any good fattening foods, man. I need to starve because - I'm going with the salad, tofu. I don't even know if my wife will let me eat at the table right now because she's not real happy, so maybe a little tofu.”

“I used to go out in the backyard and eat in the cold, but no, my family's here. My wife's family's here. We usually have everybody over. It's a big deal for us, Thanksgiving, I'm always thankful for the opportunity. Like I said a week ago, there's nobody been more committed to this area, and as a football coach, so thankful for the opportunity to lead the place I grew up as a kid rooting for. Spent time in that parking lot in the late, mid 80s. Really thankful for this opportunity.”

On what the start of the offseason looks like

“Retaining the roster that we have. We've started conversations with guys in our program. A year ago, the church doors open and we saw a lot of people leaving. And the goal now is to make sure that we keep the nucleus of this team together, which I have no doubt in my mind they will. That's what this group has been about, really connected, really bought into everything that we're selling, everything that we've talked about wanting to become. It starts though immediately. There is no offseason. There is no take a rest, two weeks. Signing days next Wednesday, which is new coming off of a game, late Sunday game. We've got 48 hours to make sure that the recruiting part, we talk about retention, we also have to do recruiting. And to me, we're off to a pretty solid start with that. And there'll be some surprises as always that as we try to build this thing for the ‘26 season to be our best.”

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