"Haven't Scratched The Surface"

As Mike Locksley addressed the media on the day Maryland Football kicked off its spring practices, and by extension, its 2023 season, he made one thing clear early on: he doesn't believe teams can automatically add to what they did the year prior, especially not in this day and age where player and coach movement is the norm.

"We have to be very cautious about approaching this season with the mentality of building on what we were able to do a year ago," Locksley said. "I'm a strong believer that there is no building on last year. Each team is its own entity and when we lose players like some of the players we will be losing from last year's team, it's a restart."

But while this year's restart of Maryland football will look substantially different in a number of facets, there are two essential things Locksley is confident will carry over from last year's team to this year's: culture and development.

And it's those two elements that are what the program will rely on to move from a good team to a championship-level one.

"What I do feel is that the culture is what will allow us, in this restart, to hopefully maintain some of the characteristics that it takes to build a winning program, to build a championship program," Locksley said. "For me, the locker room is where it starts. And if there's anything that really jumps out to me, it's the locker room. The players that have left have left a huge imprint on the way we need to do things, the Terp way, the right way. I think the players in the locker room now see the dividends of when you do things the right way. I think that that gives us a great start into the 2023 version of the Maryland Football family."

Strong culture has been a critical part of Locksley's coaching philosophy since he took over in December of 2018. And now, heading into his fifth season at the helm, the years of recruiting high-character guys have begun to really show in the locker room.

"Where we are now is a reflection of the type of individuals we've gone out and coveted in recruiting," said defensive coordinator Brian Williams, who has been on Locksley's staff from the beginning. "We've really focused on not just good players, but good people with good backgrounds. Those are the things that bleed into your program when the going gets tough and adversity sets in and it's not cool or fun to do the right things. We're at the point now where some of our best players are leading that challenge and that always reflects well on the field."

In the same vein, Locksley and his staff have hung their hat on their ability to develop talent, especially in cases where many other people might not have seen that talent in the first place.

In his press conference ahead of the first spring practice, Locksley pointed to the seven Terps who participated and shined in the recent NFL combine, noting that some of them, such as Jakorian Bennett and Deonte Banks, weren't highly touted as recruits but went on to star at Maryland and are set to officially be NFL players soon. 

"I think it shows the trajectory of what our program can be because a lot of those guys weren't the names you heard about on signing day when they came out of high school," Locksley said. "It's a testament to the type of program we're building here with the development of our players. You can come here and be developed by great coaches, great facilities and strong academics and have an opportunity to live out your dreams."

Similarly, Locksley pointed to the program's history of development when answering questions specifically about the receiver room after losing three massive contributors in Dontay Demus Jr., Rakim Jarrett, and Jacob Copeland. 

"(Development) is one of the things we do best around here. We've developed some really talented young receivers," Locksley said before pointing to the big flashes shown by Tai Felton and Octavian Smith Jr. last season, as well as the impressive bowl practices from Shaleak Knotts. Locksley went as far as to say that Knotts "could be one of the best receivers to ever play here." 

Additionally, Locksley and wide receiver coach Gunter Brewer expressed the utmost confidence that the two transfer receivers, Tyrese Chambers and Kaden Prather, are poised to have prominent roles in the fall.

"On the field, we haven't had a ton of time to work with them because of the limitations, but from what we've seen, it's been very impressive. Their skillets, their willingness to work, their professional attitudes, it's pretty special. I have no doubt they;re going to step into the roles we need them to."

Just as nothing will change about the culture that's been set in place even with all the changing faces, the Maryland system isn't changing either—even on offense, where Josh Gattis enters as the new offensive coordinator, reuniting with Locksley after a year together at the University of Alabama. 

"It's really the same system," Gattis said. "And it's that same system that I was taught by him at Alabama. It makes it very simple. The system that I've run for the past four years is really a replication of the system I was taught when I went to Alabama.

"It's funny; a couple of my questions as I've been here have started with, 'Coach, Remember when you taught me this?' It all comes back to the origin of this system. That makes my job a lot easier, just to keep a system in place that I was taught a while ago from my mentor, Coach Locksley."

After the first day of spring practice concluded on Tuesday, and the players took the field for the first time with the new faces, they had similar takeaways. 

"The style and mentality is the exact same," defensive back Tarheeb Still said. "The coaches drill it into our minds, the foundation of those guys before us set a very good example for us to follow. I feel like we're doing a really good job so far so we just need to keep it up."

"Everybody's getting used to seeing new faces and stuff like that, but football is football," Roman Hemby added. "We do a great job coming out here and just working together."

For everyone inside the Maryland football program, the time to make the jump to a championship-level team is now. 

As Locksley's press conference started to wind down, he offered a powerful metaphor that perfectly summed up the program's direction. 

"Our mantra is 'The Best Is Ahead.' As the boat moves forward, the waves behind us have no bearing on us moving forward. It's very important that that's the mentality we have as a program. Each and every day should be like 4th and 1 at the minus-37 yard-line and we have to get a first down. That's the approach, that's the sense of urgency…We still haven't scratched the surface of what our football program can be and where we want it to go."