Maryland Football | Big Ten Media Day | Michael Locksley with Big Ten Network

been a good day for the Maryland tpit jetting out to Indianapolis there you see the crew about to board the flight and looks like a citation 10 they're getting getting on that's a nice jet just saying re that's more your area of expertise than I you're more the private jet Guy Howard I'm with the people you know that and then when they got here well they had a a heck of a good time as evidenced by this look at locks looking good there hey hey hey the DJ was killing it in there bro oh man if had you in the mood it wasn't for football I'd be in the music I promise you hey look at that hey hey Maryland coach Mike Loxley is with us coach first of all you look great I can see while you're dancing Thank you new knees man two new knees thanks Dr sonon man two new knees I'm ready to Groll when the doctor gets a shout out out the air we know it's a job well done by him and you're also dancing because he got this program really playing well three straight Bowl wins the first time that's happened in the history of Maryland football what's next like how do you go from being good and I think you've gotten it to good to go into great yeah we went from a c minus student to a b student to where it's not your same old Mama's Maryland when we show up but this next step and everybody always thinks it's an ambiguous answer like what's The Next Step well the next step is the hardest one when you go from going to bowls to saying I declare I want to compete for Big 10 championships uh I saw this little clip Will Smith had where he talked about bad boys one was 90% done and they were all pumped up and the director was like well if you think it's 90% done that means we're 50% away from 100% so that last step from going from Bold wins to Championship caliber that's the toughest step in what I've learned and what that why I'm comfortable and confident is that our players understand what it takes um and now you got to live different you got to eat different you got to think different you got to approach it differently uh to get over that 50% hump and to to be able to compete for championships and it usually starts with sacrifice and our players believe in that uh we're a player Le culture as well as uh we expanded the room in in in in the Big 10 conference well one thing that has certainly changed is your quarterback and you were mentioning up on the podium all of the accolades for Leah tangoa and just how important he was in getting you to this point right take us into the quarterback room give us a sense of of what's behind Leah and and who might be under center for the chps this year yeah first it starts with you know because of the Legacy that Leah has left in terms of how you need to prepare as a turp quarterback uh the system has been bulletproof with the quarterbacks that have played and it Jaylen Tua M Jones uh CJ you know CJ Brown and some of those other guys that have played in the system juice Williams at Illinois the system showns his bulletproof but what Leah was able to do was leave the legacy of how you prepare and build that room you know part of my trans trans uh transformation of losing weight is I'm back in the quarterback room I got to run from drill to drill and I get a firsthand view every day of what the quarterback room looks like we've got an important decision to make and we've got a really competitive room with you know at least four guys that that will have a chance to compete for the job uh there's no doubt that it'll be a great competition because we've recruited well to the room and but the job that Leah did in terms of leaving the legacy of what it takes to be a Maryland quarterback at a really high level um didn't get us over the hump didn't win a championship but he left a legacy that we can take the experiences when we did fail apply them and maybe take something from them coach you're very intentional so how is it not so much your transp but the way you feel now about this PR the way you move around here today how important is that for your team to see and understand comfortable and confident and I and I I I didn't make this up I know sometimes you get as a coach you get coach itis where you're making up words but when Jordan Phillips when I walked up and I had my shirt I have a tie on and I was kind of he said coach you look different man I like I'm comfortable and confident and it's funny because that's what our our our team is and not comfortable in that we think we've arrived but comfortable in we know who we are we know that there's change in the league and that we've been fifth the last couple of years and we've added four new teams my boss knows it and we know that for us to continue to be uh to try to compete for that fourth spot to try to get in the playoffs we're going to have to take great sacrifice uh we're here to break up status quo man we ain't afraid to dream big I I you know I I said up there that you know I wanted to be the first black head coach to win a National Championship I've kept that a secret a long time because I was afraid that people are going to say you can't even win a big game lock shut your mouth well you know what I said it my give a crap gaug is on the if I fail trying to do that and you want to make fun I'm all right with that and I want my team to know dream big uh the breaking up of the conference uh the the divisions and those are great opportunities for a place like Maryland man it's been amazing to listen to you all day long and specifically around being comfortable and confident you said your team reflects that what's something that you see or hear from the strength and conditioning staff that makes you say yep I I know that is a truth so we we just got finished going through our evaluation from Summer workouts and uh we have an accountability grade where you know whether it's taking shakes post post recovery shakes uh going in the cold tub for extra work doing all the little things the sacrifices you got to make to take that next step to close that 50% Gap well a guy had a 90% accountability rate and his rank on our team was 49 and I was like this don't make sense to me uh Rd what how does this work how's he 49th he says because we got 48 other guys that are at either 100 or 99.8 or whatever it is and so to me uh as as we should as we enter year six every player in the program every member of our staff or people I brought in here the alignment is there they understand how we do business but they also understand to take the next step we got to make a a different kind of sacrifice and this team has embodied it with they've worked how's Roman HBY really grown as a leader I can remember being in Camp and you saying he he's the guy how's he grown not only on the field but more importantly in the locker room man I'm going just tell you the number one thing that that Roman does for our program is this kid has so much humility you know that's the word that like for this year humility man being able to be vulnerable and you know what he's a great teammate man and because of that he's going to get drafted he's going to play a long time he'll play a long time in league as we know the running back room is a different room now I mean I had a running back room where I had Naji Josh Damen and Brian Robinson I've had where we had Jake Funk Anthony McFarland Javon leak you have to be unselfish at that position now and understand that when you get your opportunities you take advantage of it Roman is one of those guys that does it but he also brings people along with them man Nolan Ray is gonna be a big player for us and and he's like Roman's little brother and Roman is giving him all the the secret sauce of what it takes to be successful you referenced the system a few times take us into the system and then what tips the scale to say yep new new face in the program on MJ he's the guy or someone who's been there for a while how you going to decide who becomes that quarterback for you yeah it starts and I've been a part of a lot of quarterback battles the jayen tour at Alabama uh you know playing juice Williams early at Illinois you get used to that and and the number one thing for me is protection of the football at the quarterback position I mean our quarterbacks the system you don't have to force things and so the quarterback that protects the ball the best the guy that moves the chains or matriculates the ball that can can gain four yards stay on track and the guy that that has the ability to make the other players around him better will be the guy that lines up when we open up against Yukon and and I'm looking forward to figuring that out uh the next 29 practices as the quarterback coach hands on you know skinny locks his back in the room man it's like C ran tool in Illinois back in the day I'm excited to be in the room again hey I I got to ask cuz I'm new to to this desk with these guys I've heard about the lock Cerita I haven't been to campus yet I want to get there coach me up when I get to campus well grill marks is an establishment that I know a little bit about uh their owners Jackie and and Andy and Doug they do a tremendous job and when you're in College Park and you're looking for a place to go I strongly recommend Grill Mars they they they make a drink for me I like spicy and sweet man I'm kind of confident you know yeah spicy and sweet and and the lerita is a a spicy jalapeno tequila that has a pineapple kind of a base uh and you put the the little what's that Brown Salt around it I don't even know the name of it whatever that uh come on man it's on the tip of your tum whatever that is and it gives it that sweet spicy all the flavors uh I can't say that cuz my players always get on if I say all the flavors in my mouth or whatever I got to make sure I pause or whatever say but it's it's a wonderful Drink Man and it's named after a good guy man I I Le a certain percentage goes to my nil deal you know coach you talked about being back in the room with your quarterback so you get an opportunity obviously as the head coach but seeing those guys the Big Fellas up front and we've talked about how you needed to continue to develop that group up front how have they developed you know what and I know you guys are coming to see us early we look like a big 10 team now I can tell you and it it starts up front the dline and the o line we've got length we got young lengthy players that play Heavy to win a November in the Big 10 man you got to run the ball and stop the run I mean the wind blows it's cold the air comes out of it the throwing it ain't where you're going to have to line up and fight the tough guy in the foone booth and we put a lot of emphasis on this o line this year we got three o line coaches you know Brian brazwell who's developed four NFL players the last two cycles uh I brought in Damen robowski to coach the have two full-time o line coaches which allow Josh to go to receivers and me to go in the quarterback room and then I bring in Brian fence as our analyst who now can coach on the field so imagine the Expediting the growth of the young lineman when you got Brian frence over on the Scout field with these 10 we signed 10 guys from Central PA all over this region to come in and let them grow for three years we signed some portal guys like Lou ball and and Allan Haron and Isaiah Wright to kind of give them time to grow and you know Grandma's chocolate uh cookie recipe taught me some taught me how to build this thing man nice I'm glad you brought up campan tulle cuz we all almost blew away we saw ANM and Toto flying by that year that was uh was a little ugly those were the days last yes uh looking forward to our days at Maryland as you said it's right around the corner getting a chance to to see the turs we even talk about Brian Williams in the defense but we'll save that for our visit because that is a vastly improved group Mike Loxley great to see you