March 8, 2011
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
With the Maryland football staff now complete, head coach Randy Edsall introduced the assistant coaches to the media on Friday at the Gossett Team House.
Edsall addressed the assembled group prior to the assistant coaches' interview session which lasted about an hour.
The first-year head coach announced that Jeremiah Wilson and Devin Burns, both redshirt freshmen in the fall, have switched positions. Wilson has moved from defensive back to running back and Burns has gone from quarterback to wide receiver.
In addition, John Dillon, a walk-on reserve center, has decided not to return to the team in the fall.
The team is currently preparing for spring practice which gets underway on Tuesday, March 29. The Terps will practice each Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday culminating in the Red-White Spring Game on April 30 (3:30 p.m.).
The team is currently in its off-season program which includes weight lifting and conditioning drills each Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. That process continues for two more weeks leading up to spring break (March 21-25).
Coaching Staff Quotes
On recruiting:
"We have another junior day (last weekend) and we expect quite a few young men to get here. We are happy with how recruiting is going so far for 2012. We have been very productive and are getting a lot of work done so far."
On his choice to promote Todd Bradford to defensive coordinator:
"Todd was someone that I had in mind right from the beginning. I received a phone call from a person who was interested. I took that phone call and looked into that. But Todd was someone that I had in mind from the beginning. Like anything else I took a look at my other options but the best option was to hire Todd Bradford."
On Don Brown's decision to leave the program:
"It caught me off guard but with his family situation I understood. I knew that Don (Brown) wanted to be a head coach but with his family situation he did what he thought was best for him. We are focusing on what we have going on here. I am excited about it and our kids are excited about it. We are anxious to get out on the field and start working."
On the position changes:
"When I sat down and I talked to all of the young men I let them express themselves and some of the things that they wanted to do. Devin (Burns) expressed an interest to go to wide receiver. I think he saw that with quarterback it was a numbers game so he switched over. At running back there was a situation where we did need some numbers for the spring. Something that I did not inherit a very good situation here for the spring was the academics in terms of where the players were. Some people have to do some things this semester to make sure that they are eligible. That was something that I had to correct. We had some people who were under where I wanted them to be from an academic standpoint. But (Jeremiah) Wilson's switch was something that had to do with his ability as well as an academic situation. The same thing goes for Devin over at receiver. We have some young men who didn't play into the bowl game because of academic issues. I have been addressing that very hard. I was a little bit shocked at what I saw from an academic standpoint when I got here."
On if he plans to hold players out of spring practice because of academics:
"We have a couple more weeks to see if anyone is going to hold themselves out, but I am not going to hold anyone out. That's not my feeling. I'm not going to dismiss anyone from the team, people dismiss themselves from the team or from practice but that's not me."
On any sets being taken to help the academic problem:
"I think that we are in the process of hiring someone right now but I am the academic liaison. I have always been the academic liaison when I was at Connecticut and I see things beginning to go in the right direction. The young men understand how important that is to me in terms of what I want to see done in the classroom. Kevin (Anderson) is in the process of hiring someone to replace someone who left in the fall to help assist with this."
On creating a new image:
"I have a meeting on that this afternoon in terms of some marketing strategies. I would think that somewhere around the spring game. I think they are great and the uniforms we will be displaying are outstanding. The young men who are recruits who are coming in are very impressed with the design and the options. I think that everybody will be please once they see the new uniforms as well as some other new things that we will be doing as well."
On Todd Bradford:
"Todd is someone who has been a coordinator before and he is a defensive guy. His principles and the things that we are going to do here are good. It is a collective effort though with everyone who is involved. Organizationally though and teaching wise and his success previously is exactly what I was looking for."
On the defensive changes:
"We are going to play a lot more of a four-man front rather than a three-man front. It will be different but the kids are going to be very fundamentally sound from a technique standpoint. We are going to be able to do the things that we want to do. We are going to pressure, play man coverage, play zone coverage and play with different people at different spots."
On Gary Crowton and Edsall's offensive and defensive philosophy:
"Well, Gary (Crowton) and I go back to our days at Boston College. He was a quarterbacks coach and I was a defensive backs coach. When I was Connecticut I brought him in to talk to our staff. He is very good in terms of what he has done as an offensive coordinator. We are going to be multiple on offense and defense. We are going to put our guys into position so that guys who can make plays are going to be in position to make those plays. To me that's what coaching is all about. We are going to do that on offense and Gary has been very successful in those situations. So again it's an offense that's going to be multiple and a defense that will be multiple. We are going to be very sound in what we do. On offense we want to be able to put the pressure on opposing defenses and the same thing from a defensive standpoint we want to put pressure on the offense. We want to other team to dictate what they do to us."
On the defensive changes for the upcoming season:
"There will probably be some changes. I don't know exactly what they will be. We have to see where everyone fits and make sure guys are in the right spot but and those kinds of things. But I couldn't tell you what those will be until we get to practice.
"I think when you put in a new system there will be a learning curve for players. From a technique standpoint there will be some techniques that we play the same and some techniques that are different."
On the new program and the opportunity to become defensive coordinator:
"I'm very excited. I'm very appreciative that Coach Edsall has given me the opportunity. I was excited to come to Maryland and work for the vision he has for the Maryland program. When he gave me the opportunity to be the defensive coordinator, obviously I jumped at it."
On fitting players into his system:
"Obviously, as we look at guys that we are recruiting now we are looking for people who will be able to be multiple up front. The one thing that I think you have to do now in college football is that the system has to fit the players you have now. We have a way to play multiple fronts and as we complete spring and start to get ready for the Miami game we'll get into the fronts that we think we can get players to be more successful."
On recruiting players that fit what you have planned:
"I think for any defensive front now in college football now there are a couple of things you have to be able to do. You have to be able to put pressure on the quarterback, so you have to recruit players that can get back to the quarterback and get him moving, and then you have to recruit guys in the backend who can tackle. It has changed from a gang tackle, nine guys, everybody is smashing the guy three yards from the line of scrimmage, to guys have to be able to make tackles one-on-one out in space. So you have to recruit players that are athletic enough that when the bubble (screen) gets thrown out there, the quick toss gets out there that guys are able to make a play in one-on-one space. Those are two things you are looking for, guys that can get back to the quarterback and guys that can make tackles in space."
On how much pressure he likes to put on the quarterback:
"We will have a large amount of pressure, but again you have to be able to put pressure on the quarterback and change the tempo of the game. You can't let the offensive coordinators call the whole game from the press box and making all the decisions when he has air conditioning and a hotdog. We need to try to put pressure back on the quarterback to have to make a decision after the offensive coordinator told him what to do. We'll have a variety of ways to do that to keep him managing the game rather than the guys up in the press box."
On the personnel of the returning team:
"Well you've got guys who have played a lot like (cornerbacks) Cameron Chism and Trenton Hughes and you have some other young safeties that have played quite a bit. You have an experienced crew but when you bring in a new head coach, new offense, new defense, new special team, everyone is going to be in a learning curve. All of us coaches are in a learning curve as we get to know each other better. It is hard to say where anyone fits yet until you have had the chance to get a chance to coach them and really get to know them."
On schemes affecting the secondary:
"I think every scheme now affects the secondary because the field is so spread out. If you are playing in the secondary, you have to have a lot of confidence, you have to have poise, you have to have a short memory because bad things are going to happen once in a while and you can't worry about them. You have to move to the next play. You have to have poise because there is so much that you are asked to do. That is what we will find out about our guys."
On Kenny Tate:
"Kenny is a very productive player. He is a player who is productive when he is close to the line of scrimmage and a player who is productive when he is in the back end. The one thing that offensive coaches have tried to do for years is create mismatches with their players against your players. With Kenny and some of the other players we have, we are going to try to create mismatches where he will continue to excel."
On how he began coaching:
"When I was playing I just loved the guys who were coaching me. They made a huge impact on the person I became. I was planning on going to medical school but I had coaches in my ear about where I should go to graduate school and coach, so I stepped my toe in the water and I never left."
On what attracted him to coach at Maryland:
"Number one is Coach Edsall. The success he's had and the reputation he's built. I knew him a little bit when he was an assistant at Syracuse. I just thought Maryland is a place that you could really win a lot of games. It is a place where they could get guys from north of Maryland and south of Maryland, so they can get the good players. But it's just a great opportunity."
On his core philosophy:
"Our core philosophy is going to be multiple, be aggressive and be fundamentally sound so that we can make tackles in space and eliminate big plays. We're going to work very hard at creating turnovers. We're going to create all different scenarios in practice. Any way we can make turnovers and then put pressure on the quarterback."
On Randy Edsall's influence on the defense:
"I hope he has a lot because he has been a very successful defensive coach. You can never have too much information about anything. I hope he has a big impact, and I'm sure that he will. He will be involved in the day to day operations with offense, defense and special teams. He is a very good coach and I'm sure he will be involved in all three areas."
On how much of the defensive he plans to install by the end of spring:
"It's hard to say. Every team is different. We have a plan to get about three quarters of the play book in and then as you progress if it's going quickly you might get a little bit more, but if they are struggling in any area you might have to slow down. It's hard to say. We have a plan that we want to install and we'll evaluate it daily as we go on whether or not we are being productive or whether or not we are swimming up stream."
On the talent level of the defense:
"Well, obviously they have won a bunch of games this past year...there are several good guys in each position...To me it's still really early where we are talent-wise because we just haven't had the opportunity to coach the players. That process is still on-going. We've watched a lot of film together. We'll continue to do so. I'll know more by the end of spring practice."
On the big picture of Maryland football:
"We didn't have anything to do with what happened in the past. Obviously, Coach Edsall presented the plan that he thinks will give us the chance to win the ACC...I'm sure that is everyone's goal and we will work towards that goal with everything we do."
On inheriting a team with a winning record:
"It is hard to say until we start coaching these players. It is never easy when you are a new staff because there are transitions. There are coaches getting to know each other, coaches getting to know the players, and the learning curve that the players have. There is the transition of how to handle academics, how do we handle recruiting. Those are the same no matter what happened before you got there. Those challenges are always there. I think it is very similar to any other place that I have gone into when I have been on a new staff, but they are things that need to get done to win a championship."
On recruiting in Northern Virginia:
"We're going to try to make the local area our state. It is a local area and we are going to treat recruits in Northern Virginia...football-wise, socially...that Maryland should be their school."
On his philosophy on rotating quarterbacks:
"You want everyone to compete so the way I'm looking at it, as the season finished last year Danny O'Brien was the starter and Jamarr Robinson was the backup and C.J. Brown was right there. So I'm going to start off the same way. They can compete and have an opportunity to show what they can do. If things keep going well and if Danny can hold onto that spot then he will do that and he'll be the guy. We'll get the other ones ready when needed. It seems you will always need a second and third quarterback every season. So right now I'm going to start off the way we finished and let them compete and see how it ends up after spring ball."
On whether Jamarr Robinson will be a wildcat quarterback:
"When you are already a quarterback you are not the wildcat. Now, can he do some things as a quarterback and as a runner, yes he can do those kind of things. I think that Danny is very mobile so he will be able to do some quarterback runs. Jamarr is quicker and a little more known as a runner and then C.J. is very athletic also. We will have the ability to use the quarterback without going to a wildcat and still bring in the receiver or running back and do a lot of things with quarterback runs."
On utilizing trick plays:
"I think you have to bring in two or three trick plays every game. I think you'll use at least one every game and maybe use all three of them. But if you're going to be bringing in a trick play then I want it to be that you see a reason to use the trick play and not just to have it because if the other team defends it then it doesn't look very good. You have to have a reason to use it and look for the opportunity to use the trick play...and it is not just the quarterback, other players are involved. Whether you do a reverse or whichever there are at least two people involved."
On his offensive philosophy:
"I want to be balanced. I want to be able to run in and pass. I believe that you have to run the ball well to win but I believe if you throw the ball well it helps to open up the run and you can run late in the game. And I think we are going to be balanced. We could be 60-40 run one game and the next game be 60-40 pass and it could be 70-30 one game and 70-30 the other way but at the end of the year I'm hoping it's pretty close to 50-50 one pass because I think when you do that it involves everybody and it keeps the defenses off balance. I like to mix it up so you are running and screening in the same play and not as separate plays so based on what the defense does you have an opportunity to take advantage of what they are giving you."
On having the quarterback under center or in the shotgun:
"We'll mix it up, I like to use a lot of shotgun. I think we can have a lot of good shotgun runs but I think that in the past they've been under center. Also, even with one back under the center is better than two back under the center. And I think it will have to be a sort of comfort-thing with the quarterbacks. We'll mix it up, it could go more to shot gun or under center, depending on how things are progressing."
On this year's potential for the offense and Danny O'Brien:
"Obviously, he's the key guy because he's the returning starting quarterback. It's going to start with that experience he has gained over the past year. I like what I see in [Davin] Meggett, I think he is in shape and at his best he can do a lot of good things. I haven't really looked at receivers because we aren't throwing the ball around. All I've seen from them is running in our conditioning workouts. But, what I've seen of our top five and six receivers are that they are moving well, they are competitive and they are hungry. And I'm envisioning good things in that passing game, I really am. There's a lot of confidence that the quarterbacks have with the receivers and vice-versa, I think that carries over and that's a good thing."
On the quarterback depth chart:
"Right now, like I said earlier, I'm going to start off how they finished up. You're starting off with Danny [O'Brien] as the starter, Jamarr [Robinson] right there and C.J.'s [Brown] close. C.J. [Brown] and Danny [O'Brien] were competing very well before C.J. got hurt and Danny had the chance to make the most out of that opportunity. You start them off that way and you see Tyler [Smith] who is a redshirt freshman as your fourth guy. We've moved Devin Burns to receiver. These players will compete in the spring as well as compete in the fall; it can change around a bit based on competition."
On the size of the offensive playbook:
"You know it's interesting, I'm trying to cut back. I've been coaching for a long time so I've got a lot of playbooks. If you go into my office, you'll see books from the Chicago Bears, Boston College, BYU, Oregon, LSU and others. There's tons of information and what I try and do is I want to compile it, and narrow it down, not build it up. If we narrow it down versus building it up, we can get really good at what we want to do. Once we get good at what we want to do, based on what the defense does, now I've always instill some pages from those books I've made over the years and I've had some experience with, it can add to the playbook. I think the playbook is big enough, I think anymore and it could get too heavy. I'm trimming it down and getting excited heading into spring ball. I'll know where I'll trim it back depending on how people absorb it and based on our personnel to fit it."
On decision making by the receivers:
"I like doing a few things where you have options. When the receiver, based on the defense, has the option or choice, he's going to move around. So one play could look like three different plays or four different plays based on different defenses and that way you don't have to have tons of different plays you just have to work those plays with the choices as much as possible so they're comfortable and everyone is on the same page."
On opportunities for Tony Logan as a receiver:
"Tony Logan, I've looked at him on film a lot, especially in the punt returning game and there's a lot of things he could do with open field opportunities like jet sweeps, screens, and even get in the back field a little bit. We did a little bit of this with Trindon Holliday when I was at LSU. I had the opportunity to do the same with Troy Edwards at Louisiana Tech. I think that those opportunities will come to him. As long as he takes care of the football and continues to work hard like he has been."
On what intrigued Crowton about coming to Maryland:
"LSU is a wonderful place. I enjoyed my four years there but I had the chance to work with Coach Edsall, whom I worked with before at Boston College. We got along very well. I think that the opportunity of installing an offense, which is fast and aggressive, was very intriguing to me. Also, when I came in and talked to Danny [O'Brien] I liked his passion of the game. I thought it was a great opportunity to come and play with such a strong and aggressive young man as well as the other players. Not that I didn't feel that at LSU, but as I looked at it, I thought it would be fun and exciting and that we could do some really neat things here."
On making the switch from the SEC to the ACC:
"If you look at the offense at LSU, it was very conservative. It was the way (LSU head coach Les Miles) wanted it, which is very good because we won 40 games in the four years I was there. But the style of play, be good on defense, be good on special teams and conservative in offense, Basically what I mean when I say be conservative is that you run the ball before you open it up. But if we play a very good opponent where we need to open it up, we'll open it up. This is conservative style, which was good for the four years I was there but my true inner nature is that I want to be exciting, open, fast-paced and aggressive. I did what I did there for four years and enjoyed every minute of it. I appreciate Coach Miles and LSU. Now I want to try and do this here. Have a lot of fun, be aggressive. This is what I want to do now."
On bringing a wide-open offense to Maryland:
"I thought the fit was great here. I looked at (the opportunity) and I had accomplished a lot of my goals at LSU. There are some other things I want to accomplish as a coach and I think I can get a lot of things done here. I'm really excited about it.
"When I first went to Oregon I put in the offense they are running now. Chip Kelly has done a great job of even pushing it to a higher level with his tempo. I like some of the stuff, the fast pace. That's kind of the personality that I like. I like maybe throwing just a little bit more than Chip.
"When I first went to BYU we were wide open. We had a good quarterback and had a lot of fun, won 12 in a row. I feel like we have a chance to come here and be very aggressive. I think it will be fun for the players, coaches and the fans. I have a vision it to be very exciting and it's what I'm looking to go for."
