Terps Hold Gator Bowl Media Day
12/8/2003 7:00:00 AM | Football
Dec. 8, 2003
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The Terrapin football team met with members of the media to discuss the 2004 Gator Bowl where they will face West Virginia on New Year's Day. Here are excerpts from today's press conference.
Head coach Ralph Friedgen
On what senior linebacker Leroy Ambush brings to the team
"What he's brought is consistency. Leroy plays very, very consistently. He's a very steady player. That might be the biggest compliment I can pay anybody. He'll play well each and every week, he's a guy you can count on, and at the end of the year he really come up big and made some spectacular plays. We're going to miss Leroy, and finding somebody to try and replace him is a big concern for us."
On his team's play since the Georgia Tech game
"I put the team in the seniors' hands. I tried to tell the rest of the players to go out there and play relaxed and play with confidence. The North Carolina game was a big game in our program - we put a whole game together and played very well. We did well the rest of the way, so I really credit our seniors and the rest of the team. I'm very pleased with how we've played as a team from that time on. We wouldn't have won those last two games if we didn't play as a team and didn't play together, and it really took some character for us to overcome two very difficult situations on the road."
On coming back from 0-2 in the beginning of the season
"It means an awful lot to me. It's a tribute to our players and our assistant coaches the way we hung in there and didn't give up. As long as we can look ourselves in the mirror, that's the most important thing."
On how West Virginia has played since meeting Maryland in September
"They're a much improved team; almost a dominating team. They run well and play very aggressively. I haven't gotten the chance to look at them much on offense yet, but Coach Brattan tells me they're running the ball very well and are throwing it up to those big wide receivers and making plays out there."
On the team's ability to win the tough games
"It's never been more evident than what it was at the NC State game. Everything was pointing to we shouldn't win that game, and that's the way the play was supposed to play out. We just didn't cooperate. That speaks volumes for our resilience - for them to go in and play...three emotional games. That's why we're 9-3, because we can handle those situations."
On the school's developing rivalry with West Virginia
"It's a rivalry game. You ask West Virginia and Maryland kids, and they know it's going to be a hard-hitting football game. We have tremendous respect for their program, and after the Gator Bowl, we're going to play them next year up in Morgantown. We could play this game 11 times a year and it would still be a tough football game."
On recruiting solid players to join the Maryland program
"I always ask kids why they chose Maryland and what I'm hearing is 'We know you win, and we know we have a chance to graduate.' We put three very good seasons together, and the recruits come in and see our kids, and our kids are very genuine. They make them feel comfortable, because we have good kids. It sells our program. I emphasize how hard you're going to have to work in order to get a degree, and that's very important to me - that we've done it on and off the field."
Scott McBrien
On facing his former team, West Virginia
"I've been through it twice before so nothing should be any different. The way I look at it, not just that we're playing West Virginia, but that we're in another New Year's Day bowl and that's a tremendous accomplishment. It is a nice way to end, I have a lot of friends on that team and being on the field with them again will be something special. I never could have imagined the kind of success I've experience with this football team. Other than that, playing West Virginia in my last college game is weird but I'm not really focusing on the fact that it is West Virginia. I'm thinking of it as just another opponent."
On what he is most proud of from his career at Maryland
"Personally, I'm most proud of being part of the senior class that has won 30 games in three years. We've come a long way and this program has come a long way. To be in a third consecutive New Year's Day bowl is tremendous and something that we're very proud of."
On the program's accomplishments over the years
"We're right where we need to be and right where we want to be. Coach Friedgen has done such a tremendous job on and off the field with recruiting. We have a lot of talent here with a ton of potential, and I'm excited for them. This program is on the rise and will continue to win."
Shawne Merriman
On playing West Virginia for the second time this season
"We know we're going to have to adjust during the game to what they're doing. Coach Blackney has a lot of schemes and we work on a lot of different options. We really try to change it up and keep the offense off balance."
Steve Suter
On playing West Virginia in the Gator Bowl
"It is more like an NFL type series. I think it is more heavily on the shoulders of the coaches to come up with answers. Hopefully we'll get a good strategy. We came out with a win before, so hopefully we can come up with new things that will keep them guessing. They are a different team than when we played them. They're on a roll and they're peaking now, but we are too. Its not going to be near like the game we played before. It's going to be a dogfight."
Leon Joe
On the team's resilience
"We had a lot of chances this year to get down on ourselves, or fall apart, but we never did that. We came out each week and focused on getting better. We knew our potential."
