Durkin addresses state of the Terps ahead of first spring practice
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- The Terps kicked off their first spring practice of 2018 by having head coach DJ Durkin address the media to discuss several coaching changes made during the offseason, as well as how several incoming transfers have looked early on at Maryland.
Watch Durkin in the video player below or you can read his full quotes from earlier below that.
Opening statement:
“First day of spring, obviously an exciting day for our coaching staff, our players and our program. Beautiful day, we’ve got the sun out, we’re looking forward to this. As you go through your winter drills, it’s been great. We’ve had a really good offseason so far but obviously you get a little excited to get out here and actually use a football and do all that. Guys are chomping at the bit to get out here today. Just a couple injury updates; we had some postseason surgeries on the offensive line. Derwin Gray and Terrance Davis will both be out for spring, they won’t be practicing. Obviously, the two quarterbacks [Tyrrell Pigrome and Kasim Hill] will both be out for spring, they won’t be practicing. The two quarterbacks are doing a great job recovering. They’re on track – in fact a little bit ahead of schedule – but they won’t be in any of these spring drills right now. We’ll do some stuff with them on the side. On the defensive line; Kieron Howard had postseason surgery, he’ll be out of the spring; so will Brett Kulka. Then Cam Spence is another guy that had surgery during the season but is still recovering, so those guys we’ll hold out for right now. Other than that, we’re pretty much full strength and ready to go and looking forward to it.”
On what he’s seen out of Offensive Coordinator Matt Canada:
“I said it a lot when we hired Matt, now going through it, I think he’s very talented and has been able to adapt to what he does to the personnel and what the strengths are of our team. I think it’s exactly what we need. We have, I believe, a lot of strengths and some unique personnel packages. We have a deep running back group. We have a talented, young receiving corps. I think what he does allows our tight ends to get a little more involved. Then you look at our quarterback situation and I think that when we’re healthy at quarterback, we’re as good as there is. He’s got some great ideas on that and a proven track record of doing things a lot of different ways and being successful.”
On if Canada’s experience coaching in several leagues helps his ability to adjust:
“It certainly helps. Experience always helps. Matt has called [plays] in several different leagues at the highest level and been successful. Those are always good things. When you’re an experienced guy, you have battle scars. You’ve learned. And maybe sometimes when an idea comes up, you can draw back and say, ‘You know what? That sounds good but I’ve tried that before and this is the reason why it wasn’t so great – or why it was really good.’ That’s where experience helps and he certainly has that.”
On how the hiring of Chuck Heater will impact the defense:“Chuck’s tremendous. Just about as good of a football coach as you can find and an even better person. I really mean that; I’ve worked with Chuck before. He’s already made an impact on our guys. He’s got a great way with the players. When you talk about battle scars and experience, he’s got all of those, he’s been there and done that. I think he and I work together really well with the way he thinks and sees things. He’s just been a great guy to have in the room and help us clean some stuff up, we’ve got to get better on that side of the ball for sure.”
On what he’s seen from Auburn transfer DL Byron Cowart:
“High expectations for Byron, and he has high expectations for himself. I’ve known Byron for a long time, I guess since he was a sophomore or junior in high school. Byron’s an adult. He’s a grown man. Maturity-wise as well as build when you see him. He handles his business well. I think the experience he went through will only help him. He’s got a great perspective on things and I think a really good understanding of where he’s at. He’s very hungry, he’s working very hard. I think he’s going to be a tremendous player for us and have a great year.”
On if the offense during the spring will be tailored toward a particular quarterback or toward the group:
“A little bit of both. We’re certainly going to install our offense for what we believe we’re going to be. We’ve got to be able to do that. Spring is about development. We’re not trying to go win a game today, we’re trying to get ready to go win them in September, October, November. It’ll be a combination of that. Every one of those quarterbacks has different strengths and we’re certainly going to help Max [Bortenschlager] and Tyler DeSue as a freshman coming in here, he’s going to be getting a bunch of reps. We’re going to try to put them in the best position possible. We’ve got to develop the whole offense as well though.”
On losing WR DJ Moore and how he expects to replace him:
“Yeah, how about DJ? Went and ran well at the combine. I’m so proud of him. All he did was help himself there. We’re excited for him. He was obviously a tremendous player for us. How do you replace a guy like that? I don’t know. What I do know is that the way we set up our practices are very competitive. Guys are going to have the opportunity to go do that. You take a guy like Taivon Jacobs who I think just got better and better every week as the season went on – he wants to lay claim to being that guy. He’ll have every right to do that. There’s a lot of guys… DJ Turner, Jahrvis Davenport. Then you talk about all the freshmen, incoming freshmen… we have some talented guys. It’s going to be, ‘Go out there and go do it. Put it on the field.’”
On Rayshad Lewis:
“He’s been tremendous for us. He’s got a great competitiveness about him, he’s got a way about him. The place he came from before, he went out there and played as a true freshman and contributed. That just tells you the type of person he is, just the competitive nature about him. He’s playing at receiver right now but he may play some defense as well. He’ll be out there helping us some way.”
On if the philosophy of playing a lot of freshmen remains:
“No, the philosophy hasn’t changed. The philosophy is always to play the best guys we have available. Some of those decisions are made with the big picture in mind. We’re trying to build this program for the long haul and be a contender every year. Some of the reasons we held guys back last year is because of where we are numbers-wise. We’ve come in and are trying to overhaul the roster right now. I like where we’re at. But still, if a true freshman proves to be a guy that can help us go win, we’re going to play him. If not, then we’ll keep developing him until he’s able to do that.”
On transfer LB Tre Watson and the linebacking corps:
“Tre is what we thought we’d be getting in terms of a veteran guy. So when you take a guy that’s played that many snaps in the Big Ten, he handles himself a certain way. He’s been a leader in his own way. Coming into a new situation, that’s a little bit difficult on a guy but he’s worked hard, been a leader. I’m looking forward to seeing him out here on the field. We’re expecting Tre to obviously be a big contributor. That’s why we brought him here.”
On if there will be any position changes or experiments:
“I’m sure there will be as we go. Nothing right now. As we go, we’re always looking to see if we can move guys, even if it’s not to the opposite side of the ball.”
On the young offensive linemen playing more with some veterans not participating in spring practice:
“It helps them for sure. They’re going to get a lot more reps. They’re really good football players and they’re talented. I love our depth on the offensive line, I really do. We’re much closer to where you’d want that to be depth-wise at the line of scrimmage. There will be good competition. I think competition is the greatest motivator there is. At that position, for sure we’ll have that.”
On OL Johnny Jordan:
“Johnny will be right there in the thick of that. You don’t find a more competitive guy than Johnny. He’s been tremendous with our team; he’s a leader. He’ll certainly be in the mix.”