March 26, 2011
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
Maryland head coach Randy Edsall visited with the media Friday at the Gossett Team House. Edsall and the Terps open spring practice Tuesday.
Opening Statement
"I'm fired up and eager to get out there on Tuesday for spring practice since we have not had the opportunity to be on the field with the players. To have the opportunity to be out there with them on Tuesday and actually start working with them and continuing to install the team concept in terms of what we want to get accomplished, working with the young men to get them better fundamentally, and getting them to learn the techniques we want to use. We are only 164 days away from our opening game. We know we have a lot of work to do in a short period of time. So we are looking forward to Tuesday and getting started.
"Some of the objectives for me and our staff for the spring is continuing to develop that team concept and building that trust while having enthusiasm for being the best we can be in everything we do. Also, making sure we continue along the lines of accountability to themselves and making sure they are going to hold everyone else accountable to the standards in what we want to accomplish. We will also continue to develop mental toughness. You go through life and each day there are always going to be bumps in the road. We want to get these men to understand how to deal with adversity and how you fight through that. It's something in everyday life and something we need to continue to do. If we continue to work the process of what we want to do, I think the better we get and we'll produce the results we are looking for.
"As we go through spring, there are going to be some guys that are out due to injuries. On the offensive side, Justin Lewis will not practice due to injury. Pete DeSouza will not practice due to an injury and Dave Stinebaugh is out with an injured shoulder.
"Justin Gilbert will start out on a limited basis and we hope to get him involved with team things as we move on and that will depend on how he reacts to the work we'll be doing. Offensively, Ryan Schlothauer will be limited at first, but we think he'll be a guy that will end up getting back out there real quickly.
"On the defensive side, we are a little bit better there. Marcus Whitfield will be limited at first. Avery Graham will be out for the spring with his shoulder. But one of the things Avery is going to be doing and one of the things I am excited about is the fact that he is going to run track this spring. Because he can't do things for us on the field, he'll be doing some individual work, but he is already participating with the track team.
"I think it's great we have guys that are multi-talented who have the ability to do other sports and also maintaining the academics that we need. Avery was a very good sprinter in high school. Avery has a chance to work with Olympic track coach (Andrew Valmon). That's all part of my team concept here. I want to utilize all the resources that we have available to make our student-athletes the best they can be. Whatever I can draw upon at this university and athletic department to make our kids better, I'll do. I want other recruits to know that if you are a dual sport guy, that you will have those opportunities to pursue those endeavors at the University of Maryland. I think that's something that is going to be very good for us.
"The big thing for me, with spring practice, in addition to what we have talked about and the objectives, it's also a chance for these men to know that every position is wide open. The bottom line is I am looking to see who the leaders are. I have thoughts in my mind through watching winter conditioning and lifting, who those leaders are, but now who are those guys going to be when we go out on the field. That's something we will continue watch and develop and see how that continues as we move forward.
"I think there's going to be great competition this spring in terms of all the people that we have out there. It's going to be interesting to see how that happens. We've got some changes with guys. The reason we made those changes is because we felt like that would give those individuals the best opportunity to be successful on the field which in turn will make us more successful as a team. As we look at that, I `m excited about the direction we are heading, what we've accomplished thus far since we got this started. Would I like to be farther along? Yes. But as a perfectionist, it doesn't happen overnight. It's a process that we have to continue to go through. But I've been very pleased with the process and these young men in terms of their ability to grasp and understand what this program wants and stands for as we continue to move forward."
On the position switch for Kenny Tate:
"When you watch the tape of Kenny from a year ago, almost 90 percent of the time he was playing down. He wasn't playing back in the deep half, the quarters or a post player. When you take a look at his abilities, he's better suited to being a linebacker. And he's better suited for being a linebacker for his future after playing at the University of Maryland. In terms of my having coached in the NFL and had an opportunity to work with guys at that level - when you watch Kenny, his best position as far as we're concerned, is being a linebacker."
On position switches for David Mackall and Mario Rowson:
"My philosophy is to get the best 11 guys on the field - offensively, defensively and on special teams. When you take a look at the personnel you have on defense, and we've evaluated it, we felt that David was one of the 11 best guys we had on defense. That move got us faster but it also got our best 11 on the field. I really believe that puts him in a position where he can be the most successful player as opposed to being an inside linebacker.
"When you look at Mario, you see a big guy there - when you watch him move and watch him do things in our off-season program - we saw a guy who can do some of the things we want to do at that position that he would fit better there than he would at a corner.
"That's why we made those moves. Because we felt it put them in the best position, but it also makes us a better defense. It gets our best people in the positions we feel as a coaching staff that's best for them and best for us."
On learning things about the team in spring practice:
"You're going to find out who the competitors are. You're going to find out how well they pick up things in the classroom and take things they've learned in the classroom to the field. You'll learn how they react in game-type situations. But you'll also learn who has the ability to go out and execute things we want to execute. It gives us the ability to see exactly what all their strengths and weaknesses are so we end up building an offense and defense around the strengths of what our players have.
"Any good coach I've ever been around says you don't pigeon-hole the players into a scheme. What you do is take a look at the talent you have available and develop the offense and defense that's best suited to bring out the best in those young men.
"Are we going to be the finished product by April 30th? No. But we don't have to be the finished product by then. It's a process we go through. We've had the strength and conditioning throughout the winter, and now we go to spring ball and now we'll learn more about our team. As we go into the fall, here's who we're going to be and here are the things we need to work on, knowing that we're going to add 17 or 18 more players in August."
On the coaching staff's general philosophy:
"It's going to be Maryland's system. It's not Randy Edsall's system, it's not any West-Coast. It's going to be Maryland's system. Our systems will be based on our players, but we're going to be multiple. I think in this day and age, and we have the personnel where we can be multiple on both sides of the ball. That's what we're going to do. We're going to incorporate a lot of things that we want to do. We'll find out - what do we do best? And that's what we'll find out this spring."
On Danny O'Brien:
"I really like Danny. He's a guy who is a student of the game. He's a leader. He's a worker. He's a guy who loves the game of football and the mental part of football. What he's got to do is go out there and work to be better, learn a new system and be a leader on the football team. Everything I've seen from him so far I like, I like the fact that we have C.J. Brown, Tyler Smith and those guys. I think we're in a very good situation at the quarterback position."
