Football Media Day Quotes
8/4/2003 8:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 4, 2003
Photo Gallery | Terps Hold Annual Football Media Day
Head Coach Ralph Friedgen and the Terps addressed the press at this year's Football Media Day, held Monday at Gossett Team House. Weighing in on the team's status, the upcoming season and beyond, the 2003 Terps seem ready for the challenges that lie ahead.
"We're very excited for the upcoming season. When we got here two years ago, there wasn't the expectation level, there wasn't the excitement, there was a lot of pessimism going on. I'm excited that people are excited about the football program. I'm excited about the way our players worked this summer-we worked very hard-I think they're ready to practice. I'm excited about our academic progress as a team: In spring we had 27 football players have a 3.0 or better. We graduated 23 out of 24 seniors. I'm excited about the progress of our facilities: We have two turf practice fields back-to-back which we can turn the lights on, we're also wired with speakers and I think without a doubt we probably have one of the best practice fields in the country."
"Bruce is at 205 lbs. right now, I think he's the strongest he's ever been. He worked very hard most of the summer. I think Bruce is very focused, he knows how important this season is for his future. He's also very excited because he's going to graduate in December. I've been very pleased. Hopefully he can have a good preseason practice, stay healthy and get back to the form he had in 2001."
"Scott [McBrien] progressed as the season went on last year-I think even further with spring practice. I'm very pleased with Scott. I think the main thing he has to do is stay focused. But there's a dilemma here because we have two quarterbacks behind him, and they're kind of where he was last year. I'm concerned about who our backup quarterback's going to be-I don't know that yet. Right now Orlando Evans is ahead. I thought he had a good spring. If the other two don't catch him, I think he'll be the backup quarterback. The dilemma that brings me is I'll have two senior quarterbacks, and I'd at least like get somebody some experience for next year. So we'll have to see. But it is good to have Scott back."
"Chris had a very good spring game, I thought he progressed very well. He's a better blitzer and deep-cover guy than he is getting matched up, but that's not unusual for a guy that just moved over. The thing that is unusual is that he's very aggressive for a quarterback. He's in the hunt for a very competitive position: you've got Dennard Wilson, Andrew Smith and Chris Kelley. Chris can help us a lot in special teams, and in the nickel and dime situations also, which we play a lot of. The program's getting to where like it, where you have competition. Everybody has to give effort and enthusiasm, and play their best-otherwise the other guy's going to move ahead of him."
"He's doing very well. He had a very good spring. We gave him a shot at playing "Mike," and he realized it wasn't just a position, it was a guy playing Mike. But what Leon does best is he can run. At "Will" we can protect him and let him use his feet. He ran a 4-second 40 yard dash, he's 230 pounds and just missed benching 500 pounds. He worked very hard, and I think the biggest thing for Leon is consistency. If he would get the consistency to play every day like E.J. [Henderson] did, he would be a high draft choice just like E.J. was."
"It's very strong football, regardless of expansion. NC State, Florida State, Virginia, Wake Forest-I have the utmost respect for them. I think North Carolina had a down year, but they'll get their quarterback back, and I think they'll be a much better football team than they were last year. It's a very competitive league, I think there's some very, very good coaches in the league, and it's enjoyable. I think that's the way it should be. I look forward to Miami and Virginia Tech coming in and making it even more competitive."
"Josh got injured about midway through the spring season-he pulled a groin muscle. I spoke to him the other day, he says it's still bothering him. I think when Josh is right, he can compete with Bruce [Perry] for the starting job. When he's not right, he's going to get tested by Mario Merrills and Sam Maldonado. There's competition at that position, too. I'm going to play the best guy-it doesn't matter if it's Bruce, Sammy or whoever. The guy that produces will play."
"He has very good instincts as a linebacker. Quarterbacks are coached how to find receivers. There are things you can tell them to do, but a guy either has vision or he doesn't. Same thing with middle linebacker: if a guy can find where the football is and make a play, he has good instincts. D'Qwell has that. He's not as big as E.J. [Henderson]-he's about 225 pounds-but runs very well, is a very solid kid and has played really well this spring."
"Every game is going to be a dog fight. Every team has the potential knocking off each. It will be interesting when week one kicks off."
"[The team] is a lot more comfortable. Not only this team but myself. My guys have a lot more confidence in me knowing that I'm the returning starter and that feels good when the guys are behind you and they know who to turn to. It will be interesting and I know they are behind me and we're going to stick together this year."
"[We] just [need] to get better week in and week out. We want to come out and shoot quick and that's important for us but there's always room to improve. No matter how fast we come out of the chutes there's always room to improve and I think that's what the team needs to improve on, getting better week in and week out."
"I watched film from the games I wasn't in. Over the spring I was watching a lot of everything. Guys have become students of the game and as I get older, that's needed and that's something I felt like I needed to do."
"Right now, I am more focused on doing whatever I have to do to make sure we win games. Whatever Coach asks me to do, whatever I have to do, I'm going to do. That's my goal for the year."
"We have to worry about Northern Illinois first but it's (the Florida State game) going to be a big game. Every game is going to be big. We are just going to go down there and take care of business.
"A lot of people may have forgotten [what I can do] and that's understandable. Last year, a lot of guys stepped up and had great years, but now we are starting with a clean slate and I just have to go out there and play my game."
"We have a lot of experience and a lot of guys returning so hopefully we will carry the momentum and set the tone and that's basically what we're going on. But we are going to need the offense to come ready too."
"In past years, we had a lot of younger guys and they had to learn on the run. Now we have a veteran group throughout the team - the offense, defense, special teams. Now we are not at that stage where we have to learn it. Now we're ready to go so, hopefully, we go out and start strong."
"This year is really strong and next year it will be even stronger. A lot of people are going to realize that the ACC is a conference, this year, that has a lot of strength throughout. Northern Illinois is going to be really great. They are one of the top teams in their conference. They expect to win their conference. So we have a tough schedule. We are just going to come out focused on what our strengths are and, hopefully, things will work out for the best."
"One thing about that was so good about Maryland last year is that everyone is a team. No one is an individual. We are a group of individuals that come together. We're always hungry and always working towards the same goal every year. We have so much talent this year and he doesn't want one person to shine above the rest. He wants everyone to stay level-headed and stay focused on one goal and great things can happen."
"This season should be our best since Coach Friedgen has been here. We have a lot of experience coming back and a lot of talent that is coming to fruition. Defensively, we have a really good defense coming back. It should be exciting to watch."
"I think we have to tackle [the schedule] one game at a time. Every opponent we have this year is potentially a good opponent. We just have to come into each game to win, one game at a time and then count up all the wins at the end of the season."
"The toughest challenge is going to be, coming out after two successful seasons, I think a lot of teams are going to be gunning for us. We have to handle that and coming back hungry after having success will be a challenge for us. But I think everybody is coming out like their hungry."
