COLLEGE PARK, Md. –
Interim Head Coach Mike Locksley
Opening Statement:
“This is a big week - we have 13 or 14 seniors that will be playing their last game at Capital One Field at Byrd Stadium. We’re excited about the opportunity to play a really good Indiana team that’s coming off of a tough loss to Michigan in double overtime. They’re still battling for bowl eligibility, so we expect to get their best. We have to find a way on the offensive side of the ball to execute better and take better care of the football. I have really liked the way we have played defensively for the past few weeks. For the kicking team, we have to get that phase going. We’ve had a pretty good practice here today and Sunday, so we have a good start. I’m expecting our guys to give their best for the seniors, to send the guys off with a victorious game for their last one in Byrd. I know the guys are excited about this opportunity. Indiana does a great job on the offensive side of the ball, they’re one of the top offenses in the country. Defensively, they get after you with a lot of pressure. From what we saw last week against Michigan State, we expected them to be very aggressive against us, and we have to have answers for them. They’re well coached and we expect to get a great effort from them as well.”
On progress in the defense:
“That’s something that the day I was named interim head coach, I met with (defensive coordinator) Keith [Dudzinski] and told him I wanted to be aggressive in all three phases: offensively, defensively and special teams. I told him I didn’t want to play conservatively on defense. Our defense loves playing aggressive, they’ve been playing very well. I don’t look at it as much as taking chances, but that we want to play aggressively. We feel like we have good corners and our secondary’s one of our strengths. They’ve been playing pretty well for the past few weeks.
On playing a very challenging schedule this season:
These guys are fighting their tails off and doing everything that we’re asking of them. As a coaching staff, we’ll demand that they give us great effort, and they’ve responded. It’s been a tough schedule. When we joined the Big Ten, we knew there weren’t many easy games on our schedule. The record doesn’t really matter. When you look at it, we’ve had opportunities where we’ve been competitive in games against really good teams, but good teams don’t beat themselves and we’re a team that continues to do that on the offensive side of the ball. We’ve got to get that corrected. I really do believe that we have a really good nucleus. If you look at how we’ve played, it’s been a tough schedule. It hasn’t just been blowouts. Our guys competed and we’ve had opportunities. What we’ve got to do is mature a bit more as a team and take and take advantage of some of the opportunities that we have created and be more effective on the offensive side of the ball and in the kicking game. Our defense will also have to maintain the consistency in which they’ve played.”
On the fifth year players and their experience as veterans and leaders during a tough season:
“I commend those guys for their leadership. We have a leadership council that is the government of our team that carries the message throughout the team. But the seniors, in particular, have done a tremendous job especially will the adversity that we faced midseason, and not having the success that we wanted to have on the field in terms of wins and losses. Those guys have shown up with a blue collar mentality and they’ve come to work every day. I think the young players have learned by their example. Those guys have fought through a tough year and they continue to fight. It motivates me as a coach and I know our coaching staff gets a lot of motivation from seeing those guys not giving in and cashing in it. These guys continue to show up, so we’ll continue to coach them until we finish it up.”
On maintaining discipline within the team:
“I think every coach had his own philosophy on it. I treat these guys like I treat my own kids, so we will have rules. Obviously those rules will be in relation to helping us win and developing them as people. As a program, your rules should develop your players in three areas: academically, athletically and socially. So anything that helps them be better people from a rule standpoint, we’ll encourage… I think these guys know right from wrong. If it helps them down the road with being better people, then we’ll try to enforce things. But I don’t see it being different from any other coach who is trying to develop 18-to-22 year olds.”
– Maryland –
