By: Jake Spitz - Media Relations Student Assistant

One sentence was all it took for offensive lineman Brendan Moore to buy into Head Coach DJ Durkin's message after his first team meeting.

“Coach Durkin said, 'I want to win with numbing repetition.' I was all-in after that.” Moore recalled.

The Austin, Texas native believes that moment proved to him that Durkin wanted to win just as badly as he does.

“I want to win so badly and I know he does too,” Moore explained. “I want to win so often that people get tired of us winning. I think Coach Durkin and I are on the same page with that.”

Moore loves consistency. On and off the field he wants himself, his coaches and all his teammates to be consistent. Durkin has been consistent since his arrival in College Park, which is something that Moore has valued.

“He's had a very consistent message since the day we met him,” Moore said. “He wants us to have great effort, enthusiasm and execution in everything we do, whether that be on the field, in the classroom, or in the community.”

Durkin believes in the old adage 'actions speak louder than words'. In fact, he's put his own twist on the saying.

“It isn't even 'actions speak louder than words' anymore,” Moore said with a grin. “He says, 'I want your actions to be so loud I cannot even hear what you're saying.'”

Durkin has followed the guidelines to his own saying, and his actions have spoke louder than anyone's.

“He has come and checked our classes,” Moore said. “Not the assistants, not the managers, he has come and checked for himself. Coaches don't do that. It shows how much he cares.”

Durkin also has created 'Real Life Wednesday's', which is when a guest speaker talks to the team about something unrelated to football. Moore believes the team has enjoyed the guest speakers and really has bought into their messages.

“I know guys really enjoyed and learned from the speakers as we would all talk about it a lot after they were done,” he explained. “There have been multiple times where guys have been talking about what they learned and brought up what we heard when we were just hanging out. There were some great life lessons.”

Another thing Moore loves about Durkin and this coaching staff is their intensity. A lot of people have talked about it, but Moore lives it.

“The biggest thing I remember from our first meeting is how intense he was compared to any other coach I've had,” Moore recalled. “He said to us, 'I will get the best coaching staff in the entire nation' and I think he did. He was angry we weren't good last year and he was so excited to get going this season. I love that.”

Moore and Durkin have developed a very strong relationship since that first meeting.

“It's a good feeling to have the respect of a man that I respect a lot,” Moore said. “I love what he's doing and I agree with it. It gives me pride to be a leader under him and his coaching staff.”

-Maryland-