COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- Maryland head coach Michael Locksley addressed the media following open practice No. 4 of fall camp.
Read the full transcript of Locksley's post-practice availability below.
Opening Statement
Just finished practice No. 5. Had to go inside, got a little bit of work done outside, got some individual work in. We’re very fortunate to have the indoor facility to continue to get the work in inside.
Just a couple of things outside of today’s practice. One, everyone is wondering about Jeshaun. He tore his ACL and he will have surgery and be out for the year. A huge blow to our team from the standpoint of the production he had as a true freshman, but we understand that is part of the game of football and that injuries occur. We have a great medical staff that will get him fixed and start the rehab process as quickly as we can and we expect him to come back stronger and better than before.
And then we also want to announce that we have hired Ron Zook as a senior analyst that’s going to work with special teams and our defense. Coach Zook comes to us most recently last season from the Green Bay Packers where he spent the past four years, I think, as the special teams coordinator. Also coached out in Salt Lake City in the AAF most recently. But to be able to add the caliber of coach that Ron Zook is that I’ve had the opportunity to work for at Florida, as well as at the University of Illinois to our staff as a senior analyst, it gives us another great set of eyes and advice and all the other things that comes along when you hire someone of his caliber.
Today’s practice, other than practice No. 1, where I thought was a really sloppy practice based off of their nerves, I’ve seen us put together two straight really good high energy practices where we don’t have a lot of mistakes and there’s great competition on both sides of the ball. And then our special teams continue to get our install in and leading up to Saturday, which will be the first opportunity we have to scrimmage and put the ball down and really get the chance to evaluate the players in a game-like environment coming into the stadium and having a chance with coaches off the field to see what these guys know. So we’ll continue to push through to Saturday and I was pleased with today’s practice.
On the injury status of Sean Savoy and Lorenzo Harrison
They both have hamstrings, which are day-to-day injuries. The grind of camp, with receivers and running backs, the way we practice, there is a load that is placed upon them. But they are not injuries that are too serious. Just the wear and tear of going through practices and the load that is placed upon them.
On Saturday's scrimmage
It will be a mix of everything. We really don’t have a first-team just yet. We are mixing and matching personnel and trying to figure out where guys are. But it will be a mix and match deal where we will try to work with different groups and match ups and see how they perform together. Obviously for practice organization somebody will have to go out first, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that that’s our first team. What we like to do is make sure we get the balanced reps so that we have the ability after the scrimmage to evaluate, see where we are, see how guys performed and see how the decision making was at the different positions. And then we will start formulating first team, second team as we go through camp.
On the development of the Gaddy twin
I think as with all of those positions, I’ve been pleased with how we’ve progressed in camp. I see a different maturity level out of both those guys, Breon and Brandon, they both have shown a different type of maturity, which I think is a necessity to play up front for us. As you talk about our defense, you’re looking for tough, smart, reliable players and those guys are continuing to learn and pick up the habits to play that way for us on defense. So I see maturity out of them which is good.
On the value of having a player in Olu Oluwutami who had to earn his way onto scholarship
I think it’s valuable because it shows you that if you work hard and play the game the way it’s supposed to be played, with the effort, the discipline, the habits and behaviors we keep talking about, which I think Olu displays, you get rewarded. And he’s a guy that has the respect of his peers, his teammates for the effort with which he plays and how he carries himself. So he’s earned everything he’s gotten thus far and I’ve been pleased with his leadership, pleased with the way he goes about doing business and I expect him to have a good year for us.
On possible kick and punt returners
They are all wide open right now. We are just teaching a scheme as much as we have been forced to look at the returners. But obviously Javon Leake and the success he had as a kickoff return guy last year, he’ll be a guy. I think DJ Turner is a guy that’s back there, Anthony McFarland will be back there, Rayshad Lewis, I mean, we’ve got a bunch of names, Jake Funk. All of those guys will have opportunities in the scrimmage, it’ll be good to see how they perform under the lights, per se, in a scrimmage-like environment. But for us, the guy that goes back there to return kicks and punts, the first thing they’ve got to be able to do is secure the ball. And then the next thing is to find the guy that gives us the best chance to make plays back there. We’ve got a lot of skill, especially in the running back room and I feel really confident about that. And we also have some experienced guys that have done both punts and kicks.
On where guys are from the spring to now
Well that’s the one positive I think I’ve seen thus far in the first five days. They’ve put in a lot of work this summer, it’s not even just the spring, they have the captain’s practices and the way the NCAA works, we are able to have short meetings with them over the summer, where the installation occurred throughout the course of the summer, so it allowed us to hit the ground running with the start of camp. We’re at Day 5 of an install, and we typically have six really big installs, which are your base offense, defense, special teams installs, which is why it sets up nicely for the scrimmage Saturday to see when we’re not on the field, they are out there getting signals, they gotta go out and execute. We’ll know a lot more Saturday, but I’ve been pleased with practice. We chart missed assignments every day we practice, we watch every rep that we video, so haven’t had and bust assignments, but we need to clean up the fundamental piece and that’s what we practice for.
On the possibility of TJ Bradley being able to play this season
Right now our plan and thoughts are that he will miss all of this season
On losing Jeshaun Jones and spreading the ball around
Obviously the experience Jeshaun received last year was beneficial but they are all learning a new system. So I think losing a player of his caliber, you feel the effects of it, but for me it opens up opportunities for some of these young guys. We’ve got some young receivers we’ve signed that are freshmen just like Jeshaun, coming in to last season, who would have thought Jeshaun would be the guy you guys are talking about today. We’ll be ok. Our team has embraced the next man up mentality. That is the one position we have great depth. Again, I’ve been pleased with the way they are learning. I’d like to see us be a little more productive and create more big plays at that position. Coming from where I came, seeing those guys make those explosive plays, that is the part we’ve got to work on and hopefully we see some of that Saturday.
On true freshmen that have caught his eye
Deonte Banks, Gater, Erwin Byrd, Dino Tomlin has been great, Isaiah Hazel, Marcus Finger, all of those guys. No, in all reality, the fact we’re able to get those guys on campus early helps us. And so, the way we practice, they get a lot of meaningful reps you usually don’t get the way you traditionally practice or I’ve practiced in the past prior to going to Alabama. But by doing the split fields and being able to really develop the whole roster, has enabled those young guys to at least pick it up and they’ve been here all summer, so that part has been good. But again, we won’t really know until Saturday when see how these guys play when the coaches aren’t telling them where to line up and what to do so we’ll see what they really know.
