Mike Locksley on the progress he's seen from Maryland football, five-game losing streak, Illinois

Ahmed Ghafir
2 days ago
10 min read

Everything that head coach Mike Locksley said after Maryland football’s loss vs. Rutgers, ahead of the road game vs. Rutgers and about the outside noise about the program.

Opening statement

“As always, thanks for joining us and your interest in our program. I would be remiss if I obviously didn't recognize it's Veterans Day, and having spent time on a couple of different service academies campuses, including the Naval Academy, which was one of my first coaching jobs, really thankful for the job that veterans have done for us to have the life we have.

On Illinois

“Heading to the fourth quarter of our season, as I always talk about, the fourth quarter is a big, big deal around here. It's important for us to do everything we can with this opportunity against a really good Illinois team, to take advantage of this opportunity as we start the fourth quarter. Obviously, I spent time at Illinois as a young coach, first place that I got a chance to call plays. And so for my family, outside of this area, it's the one area if you were to ask my two younger kids where they're from, they say they're from Champaign, Illinois. So obviously, a place that is near and dear to my family. They’re top five Big Ten in scoring, scoring defense be a tremendous challenge on the road, but one that we're excited to have the opportunity.

On the state of the team

“Despite a few challenging weeks here the last four or five weeks, our team keeps showing up and giving them the type of effort that we need to have. They're coming in, and they're putting in the work. There's nothing changed in that building and the attitude, the way they've approached it. And I really, really can tell you that this team is trending in the right direction. I'll continue to pour into this team and its development as we do each and every week. Illinois obviously will be a tough task on the road, but one that I know that our team is excited about, opportunity and again, being able to put the last four or five weeks behind us and get back on the right side of the ledger. By Saturday, our guys are going to be prepared, physically, mentally, emotionally, to go play well.

On game captains

“Game captains leading into the game are Dontay Joyner, Jalil Farooq and Eli Mason.”

On bowl eligibility being a focus during final three games

“I mean, it's to take advantage of the next opportunity. And obviously the things that we can control is the ability to extend our season, which is something that you would want. Those practices, as I've said, are invaluable. And so yeah, priority number one is to get back on the right side of the ledger this week. And priority number two is, how do we build on that?”

On keeping players engaged during a losing streak

“It hasn't been a challenge with this team, and that's I think a lot because of the work that was done on the front end. Maybe for you guys it's new, but for us, understanding that we've got 64 guys that weren't Terps a year ago. We created an expectation, which I admire and I'm excited about that expectation. And now what we've got to do is just continue to work and develop these players and they've continued to show up. They're bought in. We've put a lot of work into making sure that the foundation of it is strong for tough times and we'll keep doing that.”

Where the team has progressed from Locksley’s perspective

“I think the big thing is that from an overall, when you coach inexperienced group, you find yourself plugging holes because the experience and the time is what is not in your favor. And everything that we go in and emphasize, I could tell you a week ago, I said for us to get the run game going, we needed who to run the ball? Malik. And Malik ran the ball, and then the normal run game got going. And so we've plugged that hole, and then we throw for 98 and we actually throw an interception before the half. And so we're going to constantly be coaching, teaching, plugging holes with an inexperienced team until they kind of can do it on their own. And so to me, I've seen the growth in that when we emphasize something, they get it. Now we have to emphasize everything, and with an inexperienced team, it's hard to do that.”

On Illinois’ passing attack

“[QB Luke] Altmeyer is a veteran guy, man. He's played a lot of football. You look at his toolbox, he's got a lot of mileage and a lot of he's faced a lot of fronts and a lot of coverages and a lot of things that he can lean on the experience that comes with being a veteran quarterback in the Big Ten. And I can tell you that his ability with his arm, but also he made some plays with his feet two weeks ago as they come off their bye against Rutgers.”

Sticking to his vision while also trying to win now

“There's no balance. The goal is to win the game. We prepare one week seasons. I know it sounds cliches, but for me, that's what it's been about. We have processes that allow us to put ourselves in a position to win that one game. And it's been trying, but with the inexperienced team that continues to bring the energy. That's the part where, if there's anything that, when you want to ask about this team, the energy of it is different. And so that's where I see the progress made from a connectivity standpoint.”

Whether Locksley believes he’s coaching for his job the rest of the season

“No.”

Whether Locksley believes he deserves to keep the job and why

“Yes.”

“I'm the Head Coach of the University of Maryland.”

On addressing missed tackles

“The missed tackles have been a byproduct, because they've gone up and down if you track them, I know we do, and the knowledge is, if you track when we have a lot of missed tackles, they usually rush for a lot of yards. And a lot of that happens in the attrition battle, which is keeping guys healthy, keeping guys - bigger bodies inside. The things we're doing is we're doing every single thing we can to make sure that the players we need to win on Saturday are able to help us win on Saturday. And that means we've had to adjust practices. It's one of the first times I've been in spiders for two straight days. Normally, Tuesday is the day you got a bang - you're not going to bite your nose off to spite your face. And so we're going to continue, and that's been the chess match for me, is putting together a plan to make sure that we can get the healthy bodies to the game for us to have success on Saturday.”

On playing for the seniors, special memories

“I mean, it's early. We got a senior night, I guess, next week. But I can tell you, as I've always said, I came here to do good work, and this senior class is a byproduct of the good work. When I see Shaleak Knotts going across the stage, that's the good works, and seeing him take the brown leather ball and create opportunities for him that coming out of North Carolina, that's good work. When you know Octavian Smith Jr's story and his mom and his grandmom, who was his big why, and to see him be able to become the man that he's become, that's what it's about for me. That's what the good work is, and that's why these kids show up to play.”

“They all got stories. I mean, one of my favorite is Ethan Gough. All right, do half of you guys know who Ethan Gough. Taylor, you know who Ethan Gough is? Yeah, so Ethan Gough was a walk-on who from the day he got on this campus has been a starter. He's got a couple of degrees. He's one of the best leaders [in] our program, but because he plays long snapper, people don't know about him, and Ethan has had more impact on this program. So those are the type of stories when you when you talk about doing good work. That's what it is about all about.”

What playing for the seniors looks like in practice

“Well I think one, most of the seniors are some guys that have a lot of mileage on their bodies. And so this is the time of year, traditionally, where you start to decrease their amount of volume they take in practice, so that their game volume increases, basically. And so what you're seeing now is somewhat of the seniors making sure they're staying sharp with their tools, but some of these younger players that have been thrust in there because of some of the attrition that goes along with being in the Big Ten, are taking more reps and now you're starting to see that I can't say we're young anymore. We're just inexperienced because we're this far in the season where younger players now have game opportunities.”

On grappling with players who won a lot in high school battling through losing streak at Maryland

“You know Trey Reddick? Won 36 straight games. This is a team full of winners.”

Whether it’s frustrating for them, how the players deal with the losing streak

“I think they're dealing with it just great. It creates some toughness in every aspect, not just for football, but as I've said, I've done a little bit harder.”

On Maryland last in the Big Ten in time of possession

“Yeah, it's not something you typically try to improve upon. I mean, it naturally happens. It happens when you're able to run the ball. I think the big thing is now you look at time of possession but our explosive plays went up. So now, when we got more explosive plays, that means that's less time of possession. So we can, again, if you could look at the stat sheet, it'll give you knowledge time of possession is important, but some of it is based on - we had I think the average 10 yards of rush, which is one of the largest in the history of Maryland and time of possession will shrink because of that.”

Whether TOP has a negative impact on the defense

“I think time of possession on defense is part of them too. That's getting off the field on third down. And if you go back and look at how we haven't played good third down defense the last few weeks, some of it's self-inflicted. So again, be careful with how you read those things. And the wisdom is we got to be able to sustain drives on offense. Now, if we take the explosives - I'm taking the explosives - defensively, we got to get off the field on third down so that they don't extend drives, which extends time of possession, three more opportunities. So the math is math, and we got to run the ball better, which we did a week ago. And on defense, we got to get off the field and stop the run, get off the field and stop the run.”

On Maryland’s run defense

“You can choose to sell out to stop the run, which we've been a man team. I mean, you go back and look at how we played the run earlier in the year. I had given tremendous amount of credit. - our defense stood tall when our offense was sputtering, and that is the attrition. Right now, I don't get up here and give the injury report, but if you do your research, which I'm sure you guys are capable of doing, we're banged up up front, in the front seven, and have been for about three or four games. And I stand up here and we mask over that we're banged up because nobody cares. I care because I want to get these guys in position to win, and we've got to develop some of these guys that now are thrust into the role to stop the run. But prior to us being banged up, look at the stats of how we play the run compared to where we are now. My job is to fix it. That's what we're working on doing. We're going to have to do it this week against Illinois.”

On keeping the seniors with NFL aspirations focused

“That's where being a pro has been modeled. Because you look at a guy like Tai Felton a year ago, what he went through, similar to what Octavian Smith is going through and Tai continued to model what a pro looks like. I have a conversation with Jalen Huskey, actually, on the bus on the way back where I said, you know what Jalen now is the time where you need to model for number 33, Messiah Delhomme. This is the time where I need you to model for number 33 what it looks like to be a pro, to finish - all these intrinsic values that this program teaches. So these guys understand that. They learn that, and you'll continue to see that.”

What Locksley is thankful for with Thanksgiving approaching

“For being the head football coach at the University of Maryland.”

On players playing for him

“I don't like that. I'm a big boy. I've been a big boy a long time. I've done a lot harder things in my life than deal with a five-game losing streak and have to answer questions about what I've done. If you could do research, I'd say, if you could read, you could have knowledge, and you'll see why the question you ask, you'll find the answer, but you’re going to have to read. And so when you hear those things, it's encouraging, because that means I've had a positive impact on the lives of those two guys. That's doing good work. I'm here to do good work.”

Whether the noise can be a motivation

“We don't do external motivations in this program, man. It's a bond. I mean, they know I'm coach them up until the day I'm not allowed to and they're going to play hard for me until the day they are done playing for me. And that's - those are the type of bonds I make in this business. And again, I've done the good work throughout 37 years of it.”

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