Head Coach
Press Conference
Maryland 54, Virginia Tech 10
MICHAEL LOCKSLEY: Thanks, Dustin. Number one, I can't even put into words just how proud I am of this team. As I told the seniors before the game, we'll forever be indebted for those guys because they really have put this thing on a really solid foundation that I think shows the trajectory of what our program can be. We've come a long way as a program since 2019. It's been a lot of hard work. Hasn't been easy. These guys have bought into what you have to do to have winning football. The culture, the way you have to work, the habits and behaviors you got to create. To send the seniors out with a significant bowl win, a winning season means the world to me, and to me these guys, like I said, I will forever be indebted for the leadership that they've shown.
This season was a huge step for our program, but I still believe, again, that the best is ahead, and what today shows, as you saw young players making plays for us, you saw our quarterback, again, continue to show the consistency, our defense stepped up, but it really leads me to believe that the best is ahead for our program. I'm looking forward to continuing to lead us as we take that next step. With that I'll open it up to questions.
Q. You mentioned a great way to send the seniors out. Darryl Jones in particular had a very strong game and was scoring his first two touchdowns of his career. What has his presence meant to this team, and what has his leadership meant the last few years? What do you have to say about his big performance today?
MICHAEL LOCKSLEY: One, I'm happy he was able to leave here -- every Friday I do bed check and always stop in and see Darryl. We've been waiting a long time for a game like this, and it's only fitting that he would get it in his last game as a Terp and score two touchdowns after not scoring for four years. I think it just shows, again, the resiliency that this senior group has shown. He is kind of a byproduct of a group of guys that maybe have been through a lot, but just have kept their heads down, continued to work. Really happy for Darryl that he was able to finish on such a strong note, and I know he played a major role in getting this thing started, so proud of Darryl. Proud of him, again, like the rest of the seniors that we're sending out of here. Just have shown tremendous leadership through adversity, through tough times. Kind of just have kept their head down, chin up, and today we talked about just keep punching, and he made some plays.
Q. The third quarter, it was a two-score game coming out of intermission. I think you guys out-gamed them 187 yards to 8 in that third quarter. What did you feel from the sidelines? What did you feel start to turn in that third quarter, the play of your team?
MICHAEL LOCKSLEY: I really think it started at the end of the first half. We only had 19 plays on offense, and they had some drives where they used up the clock. I think their goal was to try to shrink the game and limit the opportunities we had, and so right before the half we made the decision even when we were backed up was to try to steal some points since we knew we would get the ball in the second half. It really paid dividends to walk off the field with the field goal and then to get the second half, get the ball, but, again, our team did a great job on offense of just sticking to what we wanted to get done. Our quarterback stayed really consistent with his execution, and the guys up front gave him time to make the throws, and also we were able to run the ball, and I think that played a major part in it. Wore them down a little bit.
Q. It also took a while for you guys to get in gear on both sides of the ball, but you had those two big plays in the first half. The punt return for a touchdown; the 70-yard strike. How huge were those plays? You have talked early and often the season about getting explosive plays. You had one on special teams and one on offense in that first half.
MICHAEL LOCKSLEY: We talked in our pregame deal with meeting with the coaches how during bowl games special teams become really important. It's a way to possibly steal points, and we felt that Tarheeb has been really close, and we just hadn't held guys up enough to get it started. Today we did a really good job, and we talked about going back to the fundamentals. We did that with the special teams, and I think it paid off with the punt return.
Obviously, the winning formula for winning games is pretty simple. It's limit turnovers on offense and generate explosive plays, and then on the defensive side, limit their explosive plays, which I thought we did today, and then also do a really good job of trying to create some turnovers. We scored on defense today. We created a couple of turnovers, and that's where you saw us really take the next step.
Q. My question for you is, we saw a lot of young guys get some action today, like Roman Hemby, C.J. Dippre in the fourth quarter. What did you see of those guys, and what was it like to get those guys some experience in the bowl game today?
MICHAEL LOCKSLEY: I think you saw them way before the fourth quarter. Roman Hemby was back there returning kicks from the start. Antwaine Littleton played in the first half. Devyn King, C.J. Dippre. The way we took advantage of these however many practices prior to the bowl game, we talked about this wasn't necessarily the finish of the '21 season, but actually the start of the '22 season, and I think what you saw today was Roman and Antwaine Littleton and even Colby McDonald, who has played a lot for us, the Devyn Kings of the world, is that we've got some really talented young players. Our coaches did a really good job with the 15 practices -- 14, however many it was -- of really developing these guys, and I think it really paid off. You saw kind of what I talk about when I say our future is bright, that we've got some talented young players, and it was a great way to start off the '22 season.
Q. You've had a lot of success as an assistant coach in your career. Now as a head coach. This was definitely one of your stronger seasons, and so for you in your career, what has this season meant for you, and going into 2022 with this momentum from this bowl game, what does that mean to you as a coach?
MICHAEL LOCKSLEY: The biggest thing for me, it's about those kids in the locker room. As a coach, whether I have success or whether we fail, these kids really did a great job of just keep fighting. It's a lot like what my career has been about as a head coach. Keep my head down, continue to fight, rely on the guys in that locker room. It's really none of our business what people outside the program think about us, but I have a lot of faith, a lot of confidence in myself as a leader. Also, those kids, this is what we recruit them for to Maryland. To develop them not just as great football players, but great men. At the end of the day if I'm doing that, I feel pretty confident about the success that we'll have. Again, it's not about me. It's about them.
Q. Just what did you see out of Taulia today, and what does a performance like this one do for him going into 2022?
MICHAEL LOCKSLEY: I hope it quiets some of the critics and he gets the respect that he deserves as a quarterback. I feel like we've got one of the best quarterbacks in the league, if not the country. As I said before, we wouldn't be in this situation that we're in with the winning season if it wasn't for Taulia. Now, obviously, he is not the finished product, and I think you'll continue to see him get better, as with all aspect of our program. But really proud of him and the way he has responded, the way he has a positive impact on others, his teammates. Very unselfish. Like I said, hopefully as I said, this is the start of the '22 season, and maybe we can get him a little bit of respect in terms of being one of the top quarterbacks in the country, which I really feel and believe he is.
Q. On the defense, they didn't know exactly what they would be facing going into the game today. Just talk about how they adjusted and how they read to Virginia Tech?
MICHAEL LOCKSLEY: Brian Williams did a really good job calling it today and B. Stew did a great job of helping organize it. We tried to keep it simple. It came down to our execution. We did a really good job of controlling the line of scrimmage, which is I think where it started. We did a good job on the back end with our eye control. Gave up a couple of big plays where we were in position to make the play, but didn't make it. To me this is the way we've got to play team defense, and I thought they did a great job running to the ball, playing with energy. We tackled well for the most part, which is usually a concern when you come off such a long layoff, but our defensive staff had them ready to go. They played with great energy, and I really liked the energy and effort that the defense played with. And when we struggled on offense early and had limited plays, they just kept pounding away.
Q. I feel so good for you because this is really a marquee win. The whole nation is watching.
The one thing about the Rutgers game and this game is all of a sudden you're coaching a disciplined team. No pass interference calls. Nobody jumped off sides. Taulia, no groundings. What happened in the past few weeks? Did that extra month really help this team out a lot of practice?
MICHAEL LOCKSLEY: I don't think we were that perfect. I think we did have a couple of unforced noncompetitive penalties, but I think what you see is what happens with a young team. Those penalties disappear with experience, and we've kind of made a decision that we're going to play a bunch of young players because it's not just about just this game and this season. It's about the trajectory of our program as a whole moving forward, and the only way you get better is by playing. It sucks to sit back and see young players make these type of mistakes, but as I have said before, it's part of the maturation process, and I think what you are starting to see is these guys cleaning up some of that stuff. The extra time. Again, our coaches really did a good job of having these guys ready to play, but wasn't perfect, but definitely was a step in the right direction as far as we will be that disciplined team that we talked about at the beginning of the year.
Q. I saw that your defense was very dominant throughout the game. Players like Nick Cross and Ruben were all over the field. How were you able to get the defense to focus or stay focused throughout the game? Especially during that time where you were only up by two scores.
MICHAEL LOCKSLEY: We talked all week about just keep punching. Something good happens, keep punching. Something bad happens, keep punching. Our standard is we don't play to the scoreboard. We just play the next play, and our defense did a really good job of doing that. Even when we didn't have the opportunities on the offensive side, we gave up maybe some yardage on defense, but they kept punching, and they got stops. They got off the field. They held them to field goals, and to me, like I said, Brian Williams and Brian Stewart and that whole defensive staff really did a good job of putting our players in the best position to execute and to play the way we played today, so congrats to our defense and great job to the defensive staff.
Q. Two-part question here for you. You mentioned your seniors. What's the biggest thing you're going to remember about this class, and for you -- I meant to talk about this with some of the Tech guys. Not a lot of the people got to play some bowl games. You guys got to play in Yankee Stadium. What is that experience like for you and your staff to play in Yankee Stadium and being in New York?
MICHAEL LOCKSLEY: To start, what does this senior class mean to me? As I have said, this was all about them. We had a winners-take-all game against Rutgers. The seniors did a tremendous job of leading the charge from us and leading from the front. They've had every opportunity maybe with the way some of the games were played out near the end to fold. They never did it, and they just kept coming to work and kept pulling people along with them. And so to me, as I said, this is the group to me is the one that we'll forever be indebted. They've been through a lot as a group. It's been well talked about. We know about the things that they've had to endure, but what they've just shown is the resiliency, and to me that's the Terp way. It's never going to be easy. They understand what hard is. They kept pulling guys along with them.
As far as playing in iconic Yankee Stadium, the New Era Pinstripe Bowl, I've been to a lot of bowl games, and some big ones, and the way they ran this thing all week long was a first-class bowl event. Our players had a tremendous experience here, and the icing on the cake is playing in Yankee Stadium where so many champions have played in. Again, thanks to the New Era Pinstripe Bowl people for putting one hell of a bowl on for our team. It's something, like I said, that sets the trajectory for with where this program could be.
Quarterback
Press Conference
Maryland 54, Virginia Tech 10
Q. Coach talked earlier about how the momentum that you guys had actually began on that last drive in the first half. It gave you guys a nice shot in the arm going into halftime where you guys were able to carry that over. If you could expand, I guess, on what went right on that last drive to get those points and the confidence that it gave you guys going into the locker room to where you were able to take control in the second half?
TAULIA TAGOVAILOA: I think we knew it was going to go two-minute, and I think we had two time-outs left, and we were just trying to get whatever we could. If we could score, that would be great, but we know we have a good kicker Petrino, and I think the whole drive, it was just everyone doing their job and Coach putting us in the best position. There were some pickups that is our running backs and our O-line picked up very well. It gave me a lot of time to throw the ball, and we just executed.
Q. You had those two nice touchdown tosses to Jones there. Was there a point today when you thought that he might have it going on where he would have such a special day?
TAULIA TAGOVAILOA: I think like that every day for all our -- any receiver that's on the field. They work so hard, and I'm happy that Darryl got to experience scoring. This is his first time scoring, and he scored twice. So I think that's a big confidence booster for our whole team just with this whole win going into next season, going into our offseason, and stuff like that.
Q. Coach spoke a lot this past month about viewing this game as much of a beginning of 2022 as the end of 2021. To follow up a little bit on that before, to get the call from him to go out there to end the first half and take the ball and not just take a knee, but to really push down there, how much confidence does that give you to know that your coach wants you doing that kind of stuff, to play with that kind of aggression?
TAULIA TAGOVAILOA: Yeah, it gives me a lot of confidence. In two-minute drill it's like seven-on-seven out there. You know you're going to throw the ball. Depending how much time you've got left and time-outs and stuff like that, you get to run the ball. I think that just comes down to preparation. I think throughout this whole time, we had to prepare. We had a lot of two-minute drills going on in practice. I think that it just showed up right there, and it gives us a lot of confidence. The O-line, receivers, running backs, and myself. It's just throw the rock around, and I feel like we have a lot of confidence in our pass game.
Q. What do you think the winning record can do in the trajectory of a program, and just in the time that you have been at Maryland, how have you seen program improve and the rebuilding effort?
TAULIA TAGOVAILOA: I just think it starts with our leader, the head man, Coach Locks. The way he pushes us and the way he does things around the building. He works hard. A lot of sleepless nights for him just trying to make sure everything is going good. I think that's just the biggest thing, and the famous four words he says, you know, "The Best Is Ahead." I feel like that's what we showed out there. We're only going to get stronger, bigger, faster. We just feel like a family.
Q. My question for you: I think, like you said, the best is ahead. I think what does it mean for you personally to help push this program forward to where they want to go?
TAULIA TAGOVAILOA: I think it's a great feeling. Coming into this game, we knew what was at stake. We are just happy it didn't get canceled. It means a lot for our Maryland family, our fans. They've been waiting a long time for us to have a winning season and make bowl games and win a lot of games. I know it's hard to stay patient and stuff like that, but we feel like the best is ahead, like I said. We're just continuing to get better, and Coach talked about this being the start of our next season, and so I feel like we gave people something to see.
Q. I know you talked about Darryl a little bit earlier, but what has his leadership sort of brought to the team, and this probably being his last game, what has his leadership brought to the team and kind of how good does it feel for you to see him go off like he did?
TAULIA TAGOVAILOA: It's a long time coming. Since I got here, when you see Darryl run routes, it just pops out to you. Very fast. Very quick in and out of his cuts. He is just a hard worker, and I think that's the way leads. Not talking and just working, like a lot of our guys. To see him have the day he had today, I can't be nothing but very happy for him. I'm pretty sure his family was happy. It's just the hard work that he has been putting in his whole time here. Hopefully there's some way that we can continue that because I'm pretty sure that's just the start for him.
Q. You guys essentially had a mini-camp worth of practices leading up to this bowl game. Did that help? You looked fresh out there, almost like it was the beginning of a season. I know Coach Locksley said it was the beginning of the 2022 season. Do those practices help you get in rhythm and come out with the energy that you showed today?
TAULIA TAGOVAILOA: 100%. We had player-ran practices. It was just doing little seven-on-seven, nothing too crazy. Then when Coach got back from recruiting and stuff, it was fall camp all over again. Getting back to the basics. Install one for me with Coach Enos is getting my feet right, two hands on the ball, the basic stuff. I think the way we responded to it was great. I think that really did help us getting back to the basics because it's something you don't really get to focus on when you are in the season because it's more about schemes and watching film and stuff like that. I feel like it was good. It was a good thing for us to go back to fall camp.
Q. What was it like for you and the rest of the offense to see the other phases of the team performing at such a high level, especially in such a big game? How difficult was the defense was making it for the offense? What was that like for you guys?
TAULIA TAGOVAILOA: That was exciting. I think I almost got penalized the second time G. Rose scored. It was just exciting for us to see. Heeb's punt return and our defense getting in. It's just a great feeling when our whole team really dominates the game. We scored if in all phases of the ball, and it's just the hard work. I know we see what goes on in practice and who is working hard and stuff like that, and it's just great to see our defense get one in and our special teams as well.
Q. Just what does a performance like this do for you personally going into next season, and do you feel like you proved anything today?
TAULIA TAGOVAILOA: Obviously, it gives us a lot of confidence going into the offseason and going into next season. For me, myself, I think it was good playing against an ACC team, and I don't know. I think I'm just ready. Going into spring ball and offseason training with confidence, and I think it's more so just our team kind of building off of this and going into our next season.
Press Conference
Maryland 54, Virginia Tech 10
Q. I'll start with Darryl. Do you feel like you had kind of been waiting for a game like this? What led into you having such a career day in this last game of your career?
DARRYL JONES: This is highly anticipated. There was nothing really special about today or this preparation. It's been the same thing for each year, each game. It's just my time has come this last game. It was convenient that it was the last one in the bowl game. Same preparation every week.
Q. This one is for Tarheeb. Special teams has kind of been a bit of a struggle all season, and the first time you get to touch the ball, you get to break one 92 yards for a touchdown. How good did that feel just to get out there, and what did you see out there that allowed you to break that?
TARHEEB STILL: Well, it actually felt real good. Guys have been bugging me about it all year that I haven't really been doing that on punt return, so now that I finally made a play in this type of environment, it felt good. Actually, I just caught the ball. My guys, they blocked it up real good for me, so I would have been a fool not to return it. They did their part, so I just had to do mine.
Q. I have a question for Tarheeb. More on the defensive side, you guys didn't know exactly what you were going to be going up against when you came into the game. Talk about adjustments in game and how it felt seeing Virginia Tech in those moments and how you guys adjusted.
TARHEEB STILL: We just had to prepare as best we could, and then just get ready for all the guys that we possibly could face, so the coaches did a good job of scouting, and then they got all the film of all the players that we could potentially play. They had a real good idea of who would be out there, but come game time you never really know who is going to play, but I feel like we did a good job preparing for the game. We had good preparation. That's what led to the success.
Q. This one for Darryl. I asked Coach Locks about this, about Taulia's performance, and he says he hopes he earns some respect today. What do you think about that? Would you agree with that?
DARRYL JONES: Could you repeat that one more time?
Q. Just I asked Coach Locks about this, about Taulia's performance today, and I asked what he feels like Taulia proved today, and he said he hoped that he earned some respect and proved critics wrong. What do you think about that? Would you agree with that?
DARRYL JONES: I would definitely agree. You could see from the start of the season to now how Taulia has progressed. People sometimes forget with his name that he is still a young kid learning, and you can see that he can learn, and he has progressed, and I think he has done a fantastic job from coming in, taking over, being the leader, and showing people how he works and how to work, and he is just pushing and pulling guys along every day. I definitely do think that Taulia has proved some critics wrong.
Q. With all the games that had to get canceled because of COVID and things like that, how much work did the team put in to make smart choices over the course of the last few weeks and make sure you were able to get here on to the field and be able to play this game?
TARHEEB STILL: Well, I would say that looking around the country and seeing a lot of games get canceled, it was kind like, dang, I hope our game doesn't get canceled. I feel like guys on the team made the right precautions. We knew it would be a chance that it could happen, but only if we were reckless and didn't really take the proper protocols to keep ourselves and the people around us safe. We took care of business. We wore masks. We stayed away from people. We had our eye on this game because we knew it was important, and it was a game that we needed to play, so I feel like guys just really took it serious off the field.
DARRYL JONES: I would definitely agree with Tarheeb because we haven't been to a bowl since 2016. No one on the roster had been to it. As far as us 25 seniors, we were really pushing guys and keeping and making sure we were on top of the masks because we wanted to play so bad. We felt like we deserved it.
Q. This question for Darryl. What was it like catching two touchdowns at Yankee Stadium? That must be one of those cool moments that you are always going to remember when you get my age.
DARRYL JONES: For it being our first bowl and being my first two touchdowns scoring in Yankee Stadium is -- when it happened, I wasn't really thinking about it. I'm just, like, let's keep going. Let's keep going. Thinking about it, it really is crazy. This is my first time being here, first time scoring, first time bowl game. I'll definitely remember this. I'll tell this story for I don't know how many years, but it's definitely special.
Q. My question is for Darryl. It's the first time in a while that the program has had a winning season, and it's clear there's been a lot of development as a team both on and off the field. In your opinion, how do you think that today not only getting to a bowl game but winning a bowl game is a turning point for this program and shows kind of the potential that there is in the future?
DARRYL JONES: I just want to talk about my 2018 class, how we came in. This was kind of our goal when we came in. We all had our officials, and, yeah, we're going to come in and play and try to turn this program around. We've accomplished what we set out to do. People don't understand how hard it is getting to a bowl game. Getting the six wins was hard, and this was a first step of many, so we helped them get to this step and now next year seven, eight wins, more bowl games. It's just going to build on top of each other. I think the sky is the limit if we keep at the trajectory that we've been at this whole time. I definitely think that they're going to be contenders in the next few years.
Q. You just mentioned seniors. What is the biggest thing that you guys are going to remember about them, and you guys got to play a bowl game through a pandemic. You got to play in Yankee Stadium, go to the 9/11 Memorial, and you got to experience New York. What was that like for you?
DARRYL JONES: New York I think is all that I thought it was. I have never been here, so seeing there were so many people, all the tall buildings. I have never been to a city or anything like that, and I know that's true for a lot of us seniors. Being here and getting to come here was just amazing. And all the staff that helped with the Pinstripe Bowl, they kept everything organized, kept us safe and everything, so it was just a great time all around. We'll definitely remember this as being our first and pushing this program to take the next step and just we had fun with it. We had to practice, but that just comes with it, but we were excited to be here. Everyone had fun. I don't feel like we went out here and messed around too much because we showed it by the scoreboard. We prepped, but we still had fun at the same time. I think that's what it's all about.
Q. If this question is actually for both of you guys. I know throughout the season it's been a little bit of limbo, but you guys were able to complete the task of winning a bowl game. What did you take away from this season as a whole from the struggles to the hard times to the victories that you guys are dealing with now?
TARHEEB STILL: I'll say it just shows that if you just keep grinding and you stay true to what you are trying to do, that the end result can still -- you can still get a good positive end result. It's not what we wanted, but I feel like it is the next step for the program. Taking it to the next step is something this school hasn't done in a long time.
Also, I would say the ups and downs of the season, that's going to happen. It's just how you stick together. It's like a brotherhood. This team, guys just bonded together. Guys knew what they wanted to do and came together to do it one last time.
DARRYL JONES: As far as that I would say it goes back to what Coach Locks has been saying at the beginning. Our season will be dictated by our discipline and how we handled adversity. Even some of the bad games we played where the execution wasn't there, we still played very hard, and I think playing hard through the bad games and losses is what's important and what has been -- like we've taken back and really looked at and evaluated to what we need to get fixed for next time.
