Maryland Football On-Campus Media Day: Head Coach Mike Locksley Preseason Press Conference

Mar yeah first of all I'll start by uh thanking as as always man thanking you guys uh for the job you do covering us I know we we had the cookout the other day and we had a chance to again Express just how important you guys are and you know when you look at the week leading up to Camp one of the things I try to do is I try to meet with everybody in our program uh we had an all staff meeting where Jose our cleaning guy to Chef Michael the guy that cooks for our guys we we we met and and what I told him is that number one I want to thank them for the job they've done in helping us build the foundation that we've built for Maryland football uh but the second thing is to to challenge them that uh to take this next step that we always talk about will be the hardest step to take and everybody has to do a little bit more and everything you do matters whether it's the cleaning guy and how they prepare our building for recruits when they come in whether it's Chef Michael and finding ways to to get our kids to want to eat the right way and and do things so everything uh matters and and that includes our fans and our fans have been a major major part of this build and and I can tell you that you know when I met with the whole team and talking to our fans what you do matters it matters for us as we take this next step and we all have a a role to play um secondly you know I want to wish Francis TIAA I heard he called me out at his press conference so I'm going to call him out let's go win it Francis and if you can get a good a good time I may try to sneak out there but we got some work to do here um it's the start of year six for for me here as the head coach and I'm proud of what we've accomplished on the field the last three years um three straight Bowl wins I'm even more proud though that this thing has been built as a player driven culture uh the players in the in the locker room those guys have uh led the charge and and and they've done it the right way I think our players understand that everything we get around here that you either got to earn or take and they've embraced that um you heard me talk at the uh the the the Big 10 media day and one of the things I talked about were the three pillars in how we've been able to do it we've done it by expanding the room having new voices different ways of doing things seeing things whether it's bringing in coaches that have been head coaches whether it's adding new teams to the league whether it's how we're set up here at this University uh anytime you expand a room you give yourself an opportunity to learn new ways to do things and here at Maryland that's what we do the next thing is being a service to the community you know I talked about the 700 hours of community service our players have done and that's really really important to me I know it's important to my bosses Damon and Colleen who I work with on a daily basis that if we're going to challenge and ask our fans to come support us game in and game out Win Lose or Draw uh then we've got to also invest back into the community I can tell you that each each and every player that's been a part of our program understands uh giving back um and then last but not least is the the development of a player driven culture where you know as I told our team the other day I mean we work for them you know somehow I think sometimes we get it backwards that they come to work for me but actually if they ever walked in Damon's offense and said we're not playing for locks we ain't going to show up he's going to have a decision to make and it's hard to say we're not going to play the game so we all work for these guys and I can tell you that each and every one of those guys ex understands what we're uh what we're trying to get accomplished this year and taking the next step um as I said in Indie I want us to dream big you guys can make fun of me you can talk trash when if if things don't go well but I can tell you I've built my career and we've built this team and understanding that you know what setbacks failures adversity is part of the deal that shouldn't limit you how you dream and and the desire for me is to win a National Championship and it starts by competing for Big 10 championships and we have the resources here to do it uh we have the players here to do it we just need to create the environment and the culture outside of just Jones Hill House where everybody has that dream and understands that it's not going to happen just because we talk about it's going to happen because of the work we do and you know what when we fail along the way we learned the lesson from that failure and we bounce back and we show the resilience that that we do so I want my players to dram big I want them to think about championships that's where we are now I couldn't say that 5 years ago but I can tell you now I'm really excited um you know our mindset in 2024 is to shake sh up status quo I've heard Damon say it over and over to our staff what an opportunity it is for us I mean some people look at it we're bringing we finished fifth the last two years we're bringing in four new teams that are well resourced some of them are blue blood programs but you know what we're here to break up status quo and that's what the University of Maryland has done uh if you look at the history of this University we've always been Trailblazers we've always figured it out and we'll continue to do that um we'll be a little bit different team than we've been around here uh we lost to Leah Tong of Alo and I've talked about the impact he has had in our program I can also tell you that the impact he's left is how you prepare to win in the quarterback room is the challenge as we try to figure out who the quarterback will be that leads us out against Yukon but what Leah and and what he's done for his legacy of not just being the all-time leading Pastor in the big tenant and when you think of that let that sit sink in a little bit the alltime leading p in the history of big 10 and that's hard to do I mean this this League's been around a long time with had some great quarterbacks come through it but what he also was able to do is leave a legacy on what the preparation and what the standard is for the room and we'll be forever grateful um I'm putting my defensive hat on you know I spent the first eight nine years of my career as a defensive assistant and uh this year will be a defensive Leed team we've got seven returning starters you all know the job that Brian Williams has done with the defensive staff and the the cohesion there and and and Lance Thompson and James Thomas and Zack spit all and and and all those guys our coaches are all those guys have really done a great job of aligning themselves so that our defense is aligned the right way and we got leaders on defense uh we've returned seven starters and then obviously like I said the opportunity with defense we played a bunch of players over the last two three years that maybe have failed in some critical situations where they didn't make the plays well these guys now have that tool in the toolbox so that when we face that this year I think you'll see a different uh a result you know on offense I've moved back into the quarterback room uh really important decision but it also gives me a chance to have a front seat view on what these guys know you know for the last four years when Leah was here we met every night at 10:00 anytime we had football during the spring or during the fall 10:00 at night until the work was done and and now I'll have a chance to be in that room on an everyday basis and see the development while also working with Josh to figure out which guy gives us the best chance to win uh developing The Playmakers on in our system as we've lost a lot of guys that have made some plays uh I think we've got some of the best skill in the Big 10 um when you look at our receivers not a lot of the household names that people have come to know when we have one or two Marquee guys but I think by the end of this season you'll see why there's so much excitement about our football program because there'll be some really uh talented players and on the offensive sides guys like Kaden Prather and Ty Felton uh shelik punch knots who who you you guys haven't heard a lot about but I can tell you probably one of the more talented guys uh Kobe McDonald has had a couple of big Seasons here for us alone with obviously Roman heni a guy I'm excited about Nolan Ray really young player that has shown us he has the propensity to hit the big one and then our tight end room uh with Preston Howard and Dylan Wade gives us some flexibility because of the skill set they bring the o line is one of the areas uh where we've really used the portal to plug in play and I think think as you guys have watched some of the guys that we've brought in from the portal uh the last couple of years uh some of them coming up from smaller programs and all developed and make it to NFL camps and we've lost four linemen to the draft the last few years um that's been an area where we've brought in some guys that help us grow I mean we signed 10 high school linemen and when you when you see these guys the length the size when we come out of the tunnel we look like a big 10 team but it takes about three years for high school linemen to develop and what I've tried to do is expedite their growth by how I've hired the staff with Coach Robo coming in gives us two full-time coaches all right the rule passed where the analyst can coach now you throw Brian fence into the mix in developing some of the younger players in our uh on our offensive line and so we've really invested in that group uh with with how we've added the resources uh with our coaching staff but also we've done a great job of the evaluation process and I really feel good about how we do that um and then we got the quarterback situation I can't say enough about how hard all those guys have worked this summer uh we'll let the battle play out throughout Camp I can tell you the GU it will play for us will be the guy that gives us the best chance to win it's not a a popularity deal uh if it takes two it takes two if we've got one we'll figure it out but I feel good about the guys in the room and how they've prepared to compete um the one thing I I'll finish with and I'll open up with questions is that you know I'm really proud about being from here I think it shows whenever I have an opportunity to talk about what this place means to me and I can tell you that everything that we do each and every day is working towards figuring out how to win a big 10 Championship I mean what a what how great would it be for the University of Maryland to be able to do that and to break up status quo and I can tell you that with the talent we have in the DMV area uh with us becoming a National Conference a national brand from coast to coast it opens up the doors for us to just share how great an area of the country this is and uh we're excited uh to start this thing up today it's like Christmas and August and and excited uh to get going so with that I'll open it up to whatever questions you guys may have guys raise your hand we'll get your microphone we have some new faces in here today so you guys your name and Outlet appreciate it we'll start with Jean on your hey Mike Jean Wong The Washington Post what adjustments are there um from previous years if any going into a fall camp where the starting quarterback is to be determined particularly coming off years of stability at the position you know haven't been through it I mean that's the one great thing thing about the experiences I've had over the last 15 years you know we've had quarterback battles at Bama when I was there we've had quarterback battles when I was here as an offensive coordinator we've got a system in place for how we figure it out um a lot of metrics going to it but the biggest one that I can tell you I lean on heavily is what we call our Drive chart where I chart live drives with every quarterback when we whether we do a two-minute period or a live team period And I TR I basically chart how the drive ends and as I've said before here every Drive should end in a kick if you're a good quarterback meaning we should either be punting the ball we should be kicking extra points or we should be kicking field goals if we're ending drives turnovers or ending drives you know with you know penalties or things like that then then that's not playing winning football and so I can tell you the guy that that does the best of putting the team in position to score points and finish drives the right way we'll end up being the guy and you you mentioned the the measurables but how much do intangibles maybe experience factor into and familiar with the offense factor into the decision too I mean uh that helps them show that they can sustain drives that the drive chart will reflect their experiences I mean I've seen a true freshman come in and play in this offensive system jayen Herz was a true freshman right off the yellow school bus uh so the experiences obviously help any anytime you have the opportunity to fail as a player as a coach if you take the lesson from it and so when I always talk about two boxes for quarterbacks it's having been in some third and medium situations and games and maybe not made the right decision and then taking what did I see or what did I do and I can tell you that they've been trained this summer over the last year that I've been back in that room with uh mitigating risk and managing bad plays CU that's what the the good ones do they manage bad plays they win situations Mike Dave what's up suited and booted expanding on thearter situation between MJ billyon what makes any freshman included I was asking are any freshman included in there you never know what if you could expand on the returners what makes each of them special what gives them a case for the starting job and when do you want to have qv1 in your mind in your heart yeah I mean each e each of theirs we recruit to a a skill set and so each of the quarterbacks that we've tried to bring in here number one the first thing they have they've got to be able to do is throw the football all right you have to be a I don't I I can't have just a running quarterback or Kaden Prather Tha Felton those guys they'll go you know receivers all right they're divas and so I got to make sure I have a guy that can throw it first and then have the athleticism to extend plays everybody in that room has those two intangible uh skills the ability to throw the ball I know for some of you guys because of how we've used Billy you're like oh Billy's a runner but we've used them in running situations because we wanted to take carries off a Leah but I can tell you that Billy throws the ball as well as anybody in the room you know with Cam Edge cam is one of those guys with a big arm can can make the every throw the when you can throw the comeback to the field all right and college ball that expands the defense that creates bigger Lanes he has that ability he also has the mental it all right MJ MJ is kind of a mixture of both of those guys he throws it well he's athletic he can make the plays he's got game experience you know you think back to to guys like you know Billy and MJ have game experience I mean Billy came into the game against Indiana two years ago we were down Leah got hurt we were down critical third down play he uh finds a way to get it executed made some plays for us and the next week beat a really tough Scrappy Northwestern team to put us then get us Bowl eligible those experiences help because he can lean on those MJ has won and played in big games at NC State all right cam played in the Auburn game and and and did some really good things uh expedited his development by graduating high school early and then I'm tell you we got some freshmen in that room whether it's champ long Christian Martin uh you know Roman Jensen from over morray we got some young guys that have the ability uh to we're going to give everybody a chance to win the job I want the best guy and I'm not just taking the guy that I feel safest with because you know what you want to get over the eight you can't just keep doing the same things you got to be willing to take some chances so excited about the the room and excited that this competition when do I plan on making a decision um you guys will find out when we run out uh you know the first play of the game now the quarterbacks will know sometime you know if I were to go back to Grandma's chocolate chip cookie recipe it usually happens about 5:00 p.m. on Sunday the 25th you meet with all of them together you tell them all the information together at one time you talk about keeping it in house for the week so we don't give Yukon any added Advantage as to who our starters are who our starter will be or players will be and and then you guys will figure it out when we run out with the first drive unless we got snitches in our uh facility which I think I've managed to get rid some of those uh leakage we've gotten rid of some of that on your right there hey Mike um can you talk a little bit about building the offensive line like for yeah it's a lot like what we've done with this defensive line I mean I don't know if you guys when you look at the D line and the Jordan Phillips of the world the tommia king botes uh the Taz Johnson's and a year ago the Dylan fontas leavon Johnson uh you'll see do down in the mix Daniel Owens uh it takes two to three years in the Big 10 to develop the that's where the grown men play because it's like being in a car accident every single play when you're up front and you know I call it grown man strength you know you play around with your son every now and then they get a little muscles on them they think they're ready to you know compete and and battle dad and then that grown man strength puts hands on them and it's like whoa well it takes about three years to develop the grown man strength but what we try to do as I said here at Mar I got to figure out how to do it quicker I got to figure out so what did I do I I go in a quarterback room which opens up the door to hire a second o line coach Josh is unselfish he goes to the wide receiver room which is his expertise and now I've got two guys that can work with these 8 to 10 guys that are going to play football for us and expedite their growth you know the o line Five Guys play at a time and when you got one coach for Five Guys it's hard to get the other guys going and then you throw a third o line guy in the mix and now the young guys those 10 freshman I talked about that we brought in they'll be developing and I think a couple of them may find their themselves in the two deep but the ones that don't when they're down preparing our defense for their game they're not just looking at a card and running it they're actually being coached how to step with the right step how to put the hand where it needs to be so now we're Expediting their growth and and again I'm looking forward to reaping the benefits of of what we've done there and to be able to hire those guys uh helps but it takes two to three years and it's just going through some stuff like getting your getting knocked over getting run through and then learning how to battle George what's up bro G yes uh kind of touched on it with Jean but from your perspective coaching and being in that quarterback room the biggest difference from having an incumbent in position to getting room with guys who were all kind of fighting out the battle Yeah I'm I'm I'm a glutton for punishment because it seems like whenever I was here I mean I I don't know if you guys remember that one year we lost five quarterbacks and I had a scout team linebacker start 10 games sea Petty he sent me a text Sean what's up he sent me a text come on by but my point is is that I'm used to that and it's part I mean I actually like it because again like you know it be nice to walk in and have Leah there for four years but I knew at some point that was going to end and that's why we develop and play The Players the way we do when we had a chance to get Lee out of the game we got him out of the game it gave Billy game reps when we had a chance to play a couple quarterbacks in the bowl game I didn't focus on just hey wi again I focused on how do I start my evaluation process and I was really pleased the way the two young guys uh well not inexperienced guys Billy and cam played against Auburn but I've been even more excited just seeing like Christian Martin be able to come in in June and and pick things up like that I've been really excited champ long has probably some of the best skill set of all the quarterbacks and just doesn't have the experience so we're going to we we we practice a certain way that allows all these guys to get reps so even if they're not the starter they're still being developed then I I don't worry because I do know the process of how we prepare and figure these out have been tested and on player driven culture I know a lot of guys others graduated left Reuben Ruben of course is still around but specifically maybe even on the offensive side who are some of the guys stepping up now you know some of the some of the new guys on the offensive side like Josh Colberg is a new guy that got here in January but I mean there if there's one person that loves living in the DMV I mean this dude is downtown DC museums he's like Josh is just like a kid in the candy store but he's also uh has shown the humility coming in to say hey man I'm you mean the o line right now has been the tightest niit group all summer these dudes are cooking with each other they're barbecuing I've been trying to get a golf simulator in the player Lounge but I've been told no 100 times by my by Colleen because you know they like to sit around and hit golf balls and that's the new way yeah but but also just spend time together like I'm just tell you the the when it comes to spending time together that's so important that's what this this team has done and the leadership on the offensive side guys like Lu ball and and Kyle Kyle long who's now three years later he's a guy that's in the mix as a competing for starting position uh moving Isaac bunan from dline Over the o line and and him at the guard position so there's some some there's some leadership over there Ty Felton is is working really hard Tai's not a guy that is a loud guy but he's trying to come out of his shell Roman HMI a guy that typically kind of leads himself I see all these guys really going out of their comfort zone cuz when you talk about you can't do the same thing and expect a different result I'm starting to see on the offensive side some of these guys not be just internal leaders where they lead by how they do things but they're they're they've taken the next step of being able to you know peer-to-peer pressure hey coach Jacob Steinberg with the Baltimore son you talked earlier about up Jacob how are you I'm good how are you good man you you talked earlier about uh Player Development and I'm curious with having six defensive backs drafted in the past six NFL drafts four in the last three years and a couple other guys in NFL camps right now at that position what are the biggest keys to Player Development and what is your recollection about the competitive spirit in that room between those guys I think the biggest thing is how you recruit to that room when I talked about being comfortable and confident I again comfortable isn't saying we've arrived comfortable is knowing who we are and if you look it's not by chance or happen stance that we've had the success of that room and how the NFL has valued or viewed uh the guys that have come through that room and so I would say it starts in an evaluation and uh process but then we've had some good DB coaches along the way here man guys like you know Henry Baker and and Corey Robinson and and and some of those guys John hul that have been here they've we've we have a system in place that no matter who's there we have an evaluation system of what we're looking for uh and I can tell you that we've got some really talented young ones uh what's developed that culture there I think it's the tradition of the room I mean when you got big shoes to feel I mean first round draft pick like Deontay Banks and you got to feel those shoes like it it puts some some a little bit added pressure on you to understand and the fact that guys like Deontay have been back here and jakorian and some of those former players are able to come back and stay in touch and tell the story of hey man if you want to get here this is how and what I did and being able to do the things earlier in their career and I think that's probably one of the biggest areas where we've got young players that come here with a pro mentality like I know some of y'all get mad when they say oh it's college is about you know the a academics not a well you know what it's my job to make sure the academics are taken serious just like as a parent it's your job to make sure your kids understand what's important but I'm going to let these guys be Pros before they're Pros meaning how they recover and the fact that we have the modalities and the resources to help us stay healthy which is important um how they prepare for games what type of work they got to put in some of this stuff has been passed down and that's what's happened in the quarterback room for these guys but it's also happened in that DB room like you alluded to our last one from is so dramatic when he ask a question y ever noticed that come on let's get it all right you seemed really happy the other night you seem to be extremely happy today comfortable is a good word for it I go to therapy now man you do well I'm just telling you man therapy man but you've looked great what's your journey to slimming down and looking so coach likee well I mean you know I I run five to six miles a day um I I eat less than 500 calories no I'm not going to lie to you like I've had a little help uh Dr Rooks our team physici has worked with me in creating a plan but to go in a quarterback room uh I'm back on the front line and and I need the energy I need the we talked about sacrifice I sacrificed giving up like saying I don't have time because all I wanted to do was ball well I'm being a little selfish I do therapy once a week I I get massages I'm I'm a I'm a complete makeover of who I am and you a y'all ain't going to piss me off you ain't going to see Angry locks no more cuz you know what what's the worst thing can happen I fail publicly I think I've done that a few times or two thank you coach coach thank you very much how about the national media man they didn't know the hell