Aug. 10, 2009
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
The Maryland football team held its annual Media Day Monday at the Gossett Team House.
Head coach Ralph Friedgen and the rest of the Terps met with the media prior to hitting the practice field for their first workout of the season.
See what the coaches had to say about the upcoming season.
Opening Statement:
"We're excited about the season. Our players are very excited and they're glad to be back. They've had a great summer and are looking forward to having a very good season.
Don Brown and
Charles Bankins are our new coaches. Don's our defensive coordinator and Charles is our special teams coordinator. I think they're really excited about being here. I sat in their meetings last night and I think everybody's pretty excited with the season going on."
"We have a great home schedule. We have a big first game against Cal. Going across the country and playing a top-ranked team, I think is exciting for our players. Then, we come home and we play four games at home against James Madison, Middle Tennessee State, Rutgers and Clemson. Along with the rest of our home schedule, I think it's pretty attractive to our fans."
On the offensive line:
"I'm very encouraged with how we played in the spring. I thought Phil Costa really was exceptional and I think his leadership has really been a very, very positive thing with our young players. Bruce Campbell, you know we withheld him some in the spring, he did a great job in school in the spring and also this summer. He managed to participate in most of our scrimmages. I think he's in tremendous condition and I'm looking for him to have a very big year. We're going to be young at the other spots. I think the kids have worked extremely hard. I'm anxious to see if we've improved since the spring. I think they're hungry, I think they're energized. I'm going to be patient. They're the key; if they can come along and play well for us, I think we'll be pretty good on offense."
On being patient with a younger team:
"I kind of mentioned this back at the ACC Media Day. I had our coaches rank our players on a scale of one to five on character. About 85 percent of our guys were fours and fives with five being the highest. My point in doing that was to tell the type of kids we have here and the fact that we have 58 out of our 84 scholarship kids that have three or four years eligibility. I think we have to be patient, we have to be positive. I think that's what we did this spring and I saw our kids get better. I thought we had an excellent spring. I am very high on our players as people. I think they've put the work in this winter, this spring, this summer and I think they're ready to go this fall. I think they're excited about it. You'd have to ask them, but I think they are pretty confident in their abilities."
On Don Brown and the new defense:
"The things I've been impressed with in Don is first of all, his knowledge of football. He's a real student of the game. When I interviewed him, what really caught my eye was that he was so much different than everybody else. I know when people play us, it's not going to be regular, week-in, week-out form of defense that you're going to see. I think it's going to take some preparation. The other thing I've been very pleased with is his leadership qualities. I think he's come in and has fit in very well with our staff and with our players. He has the ability to be intense and yet, patient and encouraging. He's the right fit for our guys. I've had players come in and say that to me, as well as other coaches. I think the other thing I value is he's been a head coach. He's another reference for me. That's worked well with me in the past. I think he's been a real good hire. I know we haven't played a down yet, but I've been impressed with what he's done to this point so far."
On quarterback Chris Turner as a senior starter:
"I think it's critical that Chris has a good year for us. I think that's one of the things I'm counting on as far as helping the offensive line because this is his second year with the offense. His decisions are hopefully going to be faster and more accurate. He's got receivers that he's thrown to now, running backs that he's handed the ball off to, so I'm anticipating him having a very good season."
On maintaining consistency throughout the season:
"It's one of the things that we have to get better at. I think if we were more consistent last year, we would have had a phenomenal season. We won some really big games and we lost some that were disappointing. I think the key to that is to try to take every game one at a time. I know that's a cliché, but they all count in the end. That's what our kids have to understand. It'll be one of the things that when we have our team meeting today, I'm going to talk about. I'm going to keep reiterating that to them that every day you have to be ready to play. I think these guys, just in talking to some of them last night, kind of feel like they didn't get a lot of respect because they're young. I think they're very anxious to prove people wrong about who the media perceives them to be. I'm going to use that as a motivating force and after talking to them last night, I don't think I'm going to have to work real hard at that."
On preseason question marks surrounding the team:
"Every year, I think we get ranked fifth (in the Atlantic Division). This year, some people ranked us even lower. I always kind of tell everybody it's not where you start, it's where you finish. It's been that way my whole life, so it's nothing new to me. I just keep working and hopefully everything will fall into place."
On Da'Rel Scott, Davin Meggett and the other running backs:
"I think we have three quality tailbacks. Morgan Green showed you what he can do in the bowl game. He broke a 65-yarder. Plus, I'm pretty impressed with a couple of freshmen that came in. D.J. Adams, today I think he jumped 34 inches and bench-pressed 365 or 370 lbs. Caleb Porzel jumped very well and also showed a lot of strength. They are two young guys that also could figure in the mix. To me, you never can have enough running backs. They're always getting nicked up. You keep the guy fresh, get him in there, let him go as hard as he can and then bring the next guy in. I've got some quality kids and I'm going to play all of them. Whoever is hot is going to play more. That's how it's going to be."
Assistant Head Coach/Offensive Coordinator/QB Coach James Franklin
On the offensive line and his perception of this year's team:
"I have great faith in
Tom Brattan. I have great faith in the guys that we have there. They've had a great summer and a really good spring. You could probably argue that that group has as good a summer as anyone on our team, so I feel good about it, I really do. I do know that experience does count, but I do think that those guys have enough talent. What our job is as coaches is to make sure that we make competition at every position a legitimate two-deep so that brings out the best in everybody."
On practicing with offensive depth:
"We have four quarterbacks now, so what we're going to do is split practice up to make sure that we're getting double the reps...so we're going to split the team up into ones, and twos and threes and fours, so every period there will be two groups going all at once to make sure the guys get reps. The other thing I think that's important is, if you had to choose what position on offensive line that you're going to have returning, you'd say center and left tackle...they're the two most important positions arguably."
On competition among the offensive linemen:
"Well I think you have to give the (Andrew) Gonnella kid credit. He worked extremely hard. He's very passionate about the game. His numbers, in terms of testing, were really impressive, and then the battle in general between Paul Pinegar, Tyler Bowen and R.J. Dill at right tackle has been pretty intense. They've done a really good job; it's obvious that they want to play the guard position. The right tackle position is what we have to figure out but Gonnella is probably the guy that stands out in my mind, the guy has really worked hard and made the most out of what he has."
On if there is any added pressure on him after being named the head coach in waiting, and what he'll do if Friedgen decides to continue after his contract is up:
"My job is to be the best offensive coordinator and quarterback coach that I possibly can be at the University of Maryland and assist Ralph in any way I possibly can...I'm just worried and focused on this year and what's going to happen. We'll deal with all of that in the future. Right now I'm worried about Cal."
On the state of the defensive backfield:
"
Jamari McCollough and
Terrell Skinner both played last year, and we have capable back-ups in
Antwine Perez and
Kenny Tate. So what we're doing is we're trying to learn a new scheme on defense that we're trying to master. We're introduced to it in the spring, and they go along with it in the summer...now we're putting the rest of the package together during the preseason, so we're ready to go."
Defensive Line/Recruiting Coordinator Dave Sollazzo
On this year's team:
"I really like the team as far as attitude and their work ethic; they've done very well in off-season workouts preparing for the season. There's been great camaraderie on the team. It's been pretty upbeat and positive; guys have a commitment to having a great season. So we're excited. When you're working with guys like that you're very excited."
On the state of the offense:
"We're pretty optimistic about the upcoming season. We think we have a lot of returning players that are very productive and hopefully can get even better this year. We did lose a dynamic player at wide receiver, but we have a lot of depth there. As far as running back goes, we have everybody back and our guys should be ready to lead by example in practice and games.
On Junior Running Back Da'Rel Scott:
"He's bigger, he weighs more, and he's hopefully going to have a great camp. We haven't spent a lot of time with him here in the summer because we're not allowed to coaching-wise, but everyone is pretty excited in the running back group to get back."
Defensive Coordinator/Cornerbacks Don Brown
On the state of the defense:
"We're trying to tell all 11 players that we want them all to be playmakers. We're trying to put those guys in position to make plays and give them the opportunity to compete. From spring to now, I've been really happy with the attitude, the effort and the energy more than anything. But more importantly, I thought we were able to get in a bunch of concepts today that I wasn't sure we'd be able to."
On how being a head coach in the past impacted his coaching career now:
"Well back 15 years ago, I was a semi-lunatic. Kids have changed; it's all about relationships. It's all about building relationships. When you build relationships and you have organization, then your players have a better chance to be confident."
On being new to the coaching staff:
"To this point, the guys have been very receptive...I'm not really living in the past, I'm coaching in the moment. We've made changes, and Coach (Friedgen) had a vision of where he wanted to go from a concept standpoint, and we're trying to live up to that."
On if being new to the staff affects the team:
"I don't think it hurts them. Does it help us? No. Are we a veteran group? We're not a veteran group so you can't worry about that. But the way the kids have approached that, their attitude, their effort, their energy, that hasn't come into question for me."
