2-0 Maryland will face Randy Edsall's former UConn (1-1) this coming Saturday.
The Huskies beat UMass 37-0 in Week 1, and lost to NCST 10-7 at home yesterday.
It is another important game for the Terps. The opportunity exits to build off yesterday, and grab a 2nd consecutive win over a Big East team.
With a trip to Morgantown looming the following week, Maryland wants to be 3-0 heading into that game.
UConn 9/15 12:30
Started by
BSLChrisStoner
, Sep 09 2012 08:06 AM
31 replies to this topic
#1
BSLChrisStoner
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#2
BSLChrisStoner
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Posted 09 September 2012 - 08:26 AM
Against NCST:
QB Chandler Whitmer (a Soph JC transfer), was 15 of 27 for 204 yards, and 3 picks. He was sacked 3 times.
RB Lyle McCombs had 20 carries for 60 yards, and a TD. He also had 2 catches for 51 yards.
This was the 2nd straight week he had 20+ carries. Last year he had 1,151 yards rushing and 19 receptions.
The Sophomore is 5'8, 166 lbs.
Beyond McCombs, 3 other Huskies caught at-least 2 passes:
WR Nick Williams, 3 catches for 59 yards including a long of 30. The 5'10 Senior also returns Punts and Kicks.
Last yr he had 11 catches for 236 yards.
TE John Delahunt, 3 catches for 33 yards, including a long of 19. The 6'3 Canadian Senior had only 6 grabs last yr.
WR Geremy Davis, 2 catches for 27 yards. The 6'1, 214 lb Sophomore had 5 catches for 79 yards in Week 1.
Don Brown's pressure defense sacked NCST's Mike Glennon 6 times. NCST was just 6 for 19 on 3rd down, and was able to do very little in the rushing game. That was with UConn missing several key player on their Defensive Line.
It is not clear if they used it yesterday, but in Week 1, UConn was using the 'Wildcat' offense.
After Week 1, LB Yamin Smallwood was the Big East Defensive Player of the Week. He had seven tackles, 3.5 of which came behind the line of scrimmage, and also broke up a pass in the 37-0 victory over UMass.
Maryland Natives on the UConn Roster:
Alex Kantor 5-9/185 Defensive Back JR Potomac, Md. (Winston Churchill)
Adam Masters 6-4/298 Offensive Tackle SR Bethesda, Md. (Walt Whitman)
Elijah Norris 6-3/231 Defensive End FR Upper Marlboro, Md. (Archbishop Carroll)
QB Chandler Whitmer (a Soph JC transfer), was 15 of 27 for 204 yards, and 3 picks. He was sacked 3 times.
RB Lyle McCombs had 20 carries for 60 yards, and a TD. He also had 2 catches for 51 yards.
This was the 2nd straight week he had 20+ carries. Last year he had 1,151 yards rushing and 19 receptions.
The Sophomore is 5'8, 166 lbs.
Beyond McCombs, 3 other Huskies caught at-least 2 passes:
WR Nick Williams, 3 catches for 59 yards including a long of 30. The 5'10 Senior also returns Punts and Kicks.
Last yr he had 11 catches for 236 yards.
TE John Delahunt, 3 catches for 33 yards, including a long of 19. The 6'3 Canadian Senior had only 6 grabs last yr.
WR Geremy Davis, 2 catches for 27 yards. The 6'1, 214 lb Sophomore had 5 catches for 79 yards in Week 1.
Don Brown's pressure defense sacked NCST's Mike Glennon 6 times. NCST was just 6 for 19 on 3rd down, and was able to do very little in the rushing game. That was with UConn missing several key player on their Defensive Line.
It is not clear if they used it yesterday, but in Week 1, UConn was using the 'Wildcat' offense.
After Week 1, LB Yamin Smallwood was the Big East Defensive Player of the Week. He had seven tackles, 3.5 of which came behind the line of scrimmage, and also broke up a pass in the 37-0 victory over UMass.
Maryland Natives on the UConn Roster:
Alex Kantor 5-9/185 Defensive Back JR Potomac, Md. (Winston Churchill)
Adam Masters 6-4/298 Offensive Tackle SR Bethesda, Md. (Walt Whitman)
Elijah Norris 6-3/231 Defensive End FR Upper Marlboro, Md. (Archbishop Carroll)
#4
BSLMikeLowe
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Posted 09 September 2012 - 03:55 PM
Terps open as a 3-point favorite. Given that home field is generally worth 3 points, Vegas sees this as an even matchup.
#5
BSLChrisStoner
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Posted 09 September 2012 - 07:23 PM
Glad Robinson and Goins are getting back this week. Wish Tate would get back as well, and have some time prior to going to West Virginia.
#6
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Posted 10 September 2012 - 12:33 AM
Nice two MoCo guysMaryland Natives on the UConn Roster:
Alex Kantor 5-9/185 Defensive Back JR Potomac, Md. (Winston Churchill)
Adam Masters 6-4/298 Offensive Tackle SR Bethesda, Md. (Walt Whitman)
Elijah Norris 6-3/231 Defensive End FR Upper Marlboro, Md. (Archbishop Carroll)
@levineps
#7
Oriole85
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Posted 10 September 2012 - 12:37 AM
I said preseason they had to win 1 of 2 between Temple/UConn with W&M a given (well didn't turn out that way). So why not let's get this one, WVU will be pretty tough. Then they need to win 3 to make a bowl game in ACC play.
@levineps
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BSLChrisStoner
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Posted 10 September 2012 - 09:14 AM
Maryland's defensive front 7 might be the difference.
#11
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Posted 11 September 2012 - 05:40 PM
The Middletown Press: Date with Edsall, Maryland awaits Huskies
http://middletownpre...e5499197006.txt
http://middletownpre...e5499197006.txt
#12
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Posted 12 September 2012 - 07:52 AM
WNST: Edsall doesn't expect "weird" atmosphere against former team Saturday
http://wnst.net/top-...-team-saturday/
Head Coach Randy Edsall
Opening statement:
“One thing we need to do is just continue to make strides with our young guys. I thought we made quite a bit of strides from week one to week two and now what we have to do is continue to do that. I think one of the things you take a look at is – using Perry (Hills) as an example – the first week he had a tough week and the next week he bounced back and was ACC Rookie of the Week. With all of our guys, what we are striving for is to make improvements from week to week and work to get better. That’s what we’re going to do. We need to have a good week of practice. We’re playing a very tough opponent. When you take a look at their defense, they have seven seniors who start on defense and five of those guys are fifth-year seniors. They’re third in the country in scoring defense and total defense and first in the country in running defense. Offensively, they’re starting to hit their stride a little bit. Lyle McCombs is a very good running back: shifty, quick. Nick Williams is a receiver who can make plays. Geremy Davis is making plays for them. They have two very good specialists in Chad Christen and Cole Wagner and a dangerous return man in Nick Williams. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us. We’re a work in progress. What we want to do is progress this week and get better. The way you do that is you go out and prepare the right way each and every week. I’m sure our guys will be ready today to do that. We just look forward to the opportunity on Saturday.”
On playing Connecticut Saturday:
“It was a game that was on the schedule [before I got here]. I just got off the phone with the Connecticut media. I’ll tell you exactly what I told them. Connecticut, the state of Connecticut and the University of Connecticut, is a really special place for me and my family from the standpoint that my daughter graduated from UConn and my son got all of his schooling in the state of Connecticut. I was fortunate that [former UConn athletic director] Lew Perkins and Phil Austin who was the president, gave me the opportunity to be a head coach. I’ll always be indebted to the people from the state of Connecticut and the people of the University and most especially Lew and Phil for the opportunity that they gave me. And then you throw in Governor John Rowland and Tom Ritter who was the speaker of the house who came up with the funds to have Rentschler Field, to be able to build the Burton Family Football Complex and the Mark R. Shenkman Training Center and to give us the opportunity to do what we did there. As I said, I’ll be forever thankful.
“I was very proud of what we accomplished at UConn. When I say we, I mean the assistant coaches and all the players and the fans and everyone who played a part in it. It’s one of those things when I came here – this is where I grew up. Watching games here, going to basketball camps here, and being a Baltimore fan my whole life with all those sports teams. The one thing, if I had a do-over and this is something I have to live with, I wish I could have talked to those players in person. But the circumstances in our profession is one that didn’t allow that. As I said, that’s something that I have to live with.”
Oh having Matt Robinson and Isaac Goins back:
“It’ll be great to have those two guys back out there. As I’ve said, experience is a great teacher. Having Matt out there and the experience that he has is only going to benefit us. Issac came here in the spring but he has some experience under his belt as well. He’s going to aid us in our defense and benefit us.”
On the challenges with teaching young players:
“You always have to remember not to get ahead of yourself, and that’s the challenge that we have as coaches. We have to take the blend of experience that we have and mesh it with the youth that we have. But we have to be smart because some of those young guys aren’t as experienced. It’s all about repetition and teaching the young guys and helping them progress.”
On his relationship with current Connecticut players:
“You really can’t have a relationship with them because of NCAA rules. Once they graduate I’ll talk to them, but as far as the current players go, you really can’t have a relationship with them.”
On if he expects Saturday to be “weird” in any way with seeing his former players:
“This week is really no different to me than any other week. It’s just game three on our schedule. I haven’t done anything different up until this point and I’m not going to do anything different from here on in. There are some people that I’d like to see after the game to say hello to and wish them well, but I am going to continue to focus on my players, the University of Maryland players all week.”
On Connecticut’s defense:
“They’re playing really well on defense, but again what I think you have to do is be very sound and fundamental in terms of what you have to get done; your players have to go out and execute. We are going to just put a plan together that we think will make us most successful against that defense.”
On his involvement in the scheduling of this game when he was at Connecticut:
“It gave me a chance to come back home and play a game down here. When I was at UConn, I thought that it would be a good game for us from a standpoint of recruiting down here, but also the standpoint of just getting down to this area.”
On what he learned at Connecticut that he will bring to Maryland in terms of building a program:
“Whenever you’re involved with building a program, you have to be who you are and you have to stick to a philosophy, a philosophy in terms of what you want to do and how you want to do it. And then you implement it to be successful in, what I consider, all three phases of a program: academics, football, and developing maturity as a person.”
On if he sees a lot of similarities between this year’s Connecticut and Maryland teams:
“Both team’s defenses are the strong suit and both team’s offenses are working on getting better. And both teams have had some turnovers. That’s the biggest thing for our team, to eliminate the turnovers. But we also have some things to work on defensively. We can’t give up big plays.”
On Connecticut being able to rack up sacks:
“They do it in a couple of different ways. Trevardo Williams is their defensive end and he’s fast — very, very fast. They’ll try to get pressure with four or five men. They’ll do a straight rush, they’ll use secondary guys and linebackers — they get their sacks in a lot of different ways. When you take a look at their front four, they have a lot of experience. They really have some athletes with some quickness. They’ve also got two fifth-year seniors in the corners. So they feel pretty good with their cover ability and their speed, so they are taking advantage of what they can do best.”
On if he thinks Maryland has turned the corner as a program:
“I think that we’ve turned the corner a little bit from the standpoint that we are out there competing for 60 minutes — we’ve won two games in the fourth quarter, basically. We still have a long way to go, but the energy and attitude has been good. Hopefully we won’t have any other injuries, but as of now we are moving in the right direction. The more that these young kids play and the more that the older guys continue to make plays and mentor the young guys, the better we will do. If the team keeps the mentality that ‘as long as I do my job there will be times that I will make plays, or what I do will free somebody else up to make a play,’ then we are really going to progress quickly.”
On Matt Robinson and how big it was to lose him for most of last year:
“Matt is a really smart football player. He is a guy who grasps things very easily and he is also a leader out there for us. He is somebody who has the physical capabilities to play in the passing game but also play in the running game. He is a hard worker, he is conscientious, he wants to do things right all the time, and he wants to win. When you take all of that off the field, you have a void. I was sitting there the other day and I was watching the film from the Temple game and I saw the play where they threw the flag on Eric [Franklin] for the personal foul, you can just see the enthusiasm that he and Kenny [Tate] had when that play took place. That is what you need. We missed that when Matt went out. He’s eager, he’s hungry, and he’s ready to go, so let’s just hope that he is healthy through the rest of the season.”
On what led him to take Matt Robinson to Temple, since injured guys don’t usually go:
“Well he practiced last week, and I needed a babysitter [laughs]. I needed someone to babysit Sean Davis, and he would mentor Sean on the bus ride up and room with Sean. I needed to have that “big brother” effect, so that’s why I took him. I knew he would be back this week and ready to go, so I just wanted him to be up there on the sidelines.”
On his feelings leaving Connecticut and if this game validates his decision to come to Maryland:
“I follow them, because I got to know them, but you wish them well and everything except if you are going to play them. Everyone has their reasons for doing what they want to do in life and to me this is the third game on the schedule and it just happens to be against Connecticut. They are from the Big East, so this one is going to count just as much as the William & Mary game and the Temple game. That is what all of the focus and attention is on: to just get another win.”
On ball security and if he expects Wes Brown to bounce back:
“Each individual coach works on different things in terms of the fundamentals and techniques of their position. We might do some more ball security drills this week than we did last week, but we haven’t gotten to the point where we made Wes carry the football around campus and go to bed with it and sleep with it. But I do expect Wes to bounce back. He got a chance to watch some things on film and see why it occurred, and Wes, from what I know of him, will do his best to make sure those things don’t happen again.”
http://wnst.net/top-...-team-saturday/
Head Coach Randy Edsall
Opening statement:
“One thing we need to do is just continue to make strides with our young guys. I thought we made quite a bit of strides from week one to week two and now what we have to do is continue to do that. I think one of the things you take a look at is – using Perry (Hills) as an example – the first week he had a tough week and the next week he bounced back and was ACC Rookie of the Week. With all of our guys, what we are striving for is to make improvements from week to week and work to get better. That’s what we’re going to do. We need to have a good week of practice. We’re playing a very tough opponent. When you take a look at their defense, they have seven seniors who start on defense and five of those guys are fifth-year seniors. They’re third in the country in scoring defense and total defense and first in the country in running defense. Offensively, they’re starting to hit their stride a little bit. Lyle McCombs is a very good running back: shifty, quick. Nick Williams is a receiver who can make plays. Geremy Davis is making plays for them. They have two very good specialists in Chad Christen and Cole Wagner and a dangerous return man in Nick Williams. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us. We’re a work in progress. What we want to do is progress this week and get better. The way you do that is you go out and prepare the right way each and every week. I’m sure our guys will be ready today to do that. We just look forward to the opportunity on Saturday.”
On playing Connecticut Saturday:
“It was a game that was on the schedule [before I got here]. I just got off the phone with the Connecticut media. I’ll tell you exactly what I told them. Connecticut, the state of Connecticut and the University of Connecticut, is a really special place for me and my family from the standpoint that my daughter graduated from UConn and my son got all of his schooling in the state of Connecticut. I was fortunate that [former UConn athletic director] Lew Perkins and Phil Austin who was the president, gave me the opportunity to be a head coach. I’ll always be indebted to the people from the state of Connecticut and the people of the University and most especially Lew and Phil for the opportunity that they gave me. And then you throw in Governor John Rowland and Tom Ritter who was the speaker of the house who came up with the funds to have Rentschler Field, to be able to build the Burton Family Football Complex and the Mark R. Shenkman Training Center and to give us the opportunity to do what we did there. As I said, I’ll be forever thankful.
“I was very proud of what we accomplished at UConn. When I say we, I mean the assistant coaches and all the players and the fans and everyone who played a part in it. It’s one of those things when I came here – this is where I grew up. Watching games here, going to basketball camps here, and being a Baltimore fan my whole life with all those sports teams. The one thing, if I had a do-over and this is something I have to live with, I wish I could have talked to those players in person. But the circumstances in our profession is one that didn’t allow that. As I said, that’s something that I have to live with.”
Oh having Matt Robinson and Isaac Goins back:
“It’ll be great to have those two guys back out there. As I’ve said, experience is a great teacher. Having Matt out there and the experience that he has is only going to benefit us. Issac came here in the spring but he has some experience under his belt as well. He’s going to aid us in our defense and benefit us.”
On the challenges with teaching young players:
“You always have to remember not to get ahead of yourself, and that’s the challenge that we have as coaches. We have to take the blend of experience that we have and mesh it with the youth that we have. But we have to be smart because some of those young guys aren’t as experienced. It’s all about repetition and teaching the young guys and helping them progress.”
On his relationship with current Connecticut players:
“You really can’t have a relationship with them because of NCAA rules. Once they graduate I’ll talk to them, but as far as the current players go, you really can’t have a relationship with them.”
On if he expects Saturday to be “weird” in any way with seeing his former players:
“This week is really no different to me than any other week. It’s just game three on our schedule. I haven’t done anything different up until this point and I’m not going to do anything different from here on in. There are some people that I’d like to see after the game to say hello to and wish them well, but I am going to continue to focus on my players, the University of Maryland players all week.”
On Connecticut’s defense:
“They’re playing really well on defense, but again what I think you have to do is be very sound and fundamental in terms of what you have to get done; your players have to go out and execute. We are going to just put a plan together that we think will make us most successful against that defense.”
On his involvement in the scheduling of this game when he was at Connecticut:
“It gave me a chance to come back home and play a game down here. When I was at UConn, I thought that it would be a good game for us from a standpoint of recruiting down here, but also the standpoint of just getting down to this area.”
On what he learned at Connecticut that he will bring to Maryland in terms of building a program:
“Whenever you’re involved with building a program, you have to be who you are and you have to stick to a philosophy, a philosophy in terms of what you want to do and how you want to do it. And then you implement it to be successful in, what I consider, all three phases of a program: academics, football, and developing maturity as a person.”
On if he sees a lot of similarities between this year’s Connecticut and Maryland teams:
“Both team’s defenses are the strong suit and both team’s offenses are working on getting better. And both teams have had some turnovers. That’s the biggest thing for our team, to eliminate the turnovers. But we also have some things to work on defensively. We can’t give up big plays.”
On Connecticut being able to rack up sacks:
“They do it in a couple of different ways. Trevardo Williams is their defensive end and he’s fast — very, very fast. They’ll try to get pressure with four or five men. They’ll do a straight rush, they’ll use secondary guys and linebackers — they get their sacks in a lot of different ways. When you take a look at their front four, they have a lot of experience. They really have some athletes with some quickness. They’ve also got two fifth-year seniors in the corners. So they feel pretty good with their cover ability and their speed, so they are taking advantage of what they can do best.”
On if he thinks Maryland has turned the corner as a program:
“I think that we’ve turned the corner a little bit from the standpoint that we are out there competing for 60 minutes — we’ve won two games in the fourth quarter, basically. We still have a long way to go, but the energy and attitude has been good. Hopefully we won’t have any other injuries, but as of now we are moving in the right direction. The more that these young kids play and the more that the older guys continue to make plays and mentor the young guys, the better we will do. If the team keeps the mentality that ‘as long as I do my job there will be times that I will make plays, or what I do will free somebody else up to make a play,’ then we are really going to progress quickly.”
On Matt Robinson and how big it was to lose him for most of last year:
“Matt is a really smart football player. He is a guy who grasps things very easily and he is also a leader out there for us. He is somebody who has the physical capabilities to play in the passing game but also play in the running game. He is a hard worker, he is conscientious, he wants to do things right all the time, and he wants to win. When you take all of that off the field, you have a void. I was sitting there the other day and I was watching the film from the Temple game and I saw the play where they threw the flag on Eric [Franklin] for the personal foul, you can just see the enthusiasm that he and Kenny [Tate] had when that play took place. That is what you need. We missed that when Matt went out. He’s eager, he’s hungry, and he’s ready to go, so let’s just hope that he is healthy through the rest of the season.”
On what led him to take Matt Robinson to Temple, since injured guys don’t usually go:
“Well he practiced last week, and I needed a babysitter [laughs]. I needed someone to babysit Sean Davis, and he would mentor Sean on the bus ride up and room with Sean. I needed to have that “big brother” effect, so that’s why I took him. I knew he would be back this week and ready to go, so I just wanted him to be up there on the sidelines.”
On his feelings leaving Connecticut and if this game validates his decision to come to Maryland:
“I follow them, because I got to know them, but you wish them well and everything except if you are going to play them. Everyone has their reasons for doing what they want to do in life and to me this is the third game on the schedule and it just happens to be against Connecticut. They are from the Big East, so this one is going to count just as much as the William & Mary game and the Temple game. That is what all of the focus and attention is on: to just get another win.”
On ball security and if he expects Wes Brown to bounce back:
“Each individual coach works on different things in terms of the fundamentals and techniques of their position. We might do some more ball security drills this week than we did last week, but we haven’t gotten to the point where we made Wes carry the football around campus and go to bed with it and sleep with it. But I do expect Wes to bounce back. He got a chance to watch some things on film and see why it occurred, and Wes, from what I know of him, will do his best to make sure those things don’t happen again.”
#13
BSLChrisStoner
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Posted 13 September 2012 - 07:40 AM
WNST: Locksley and Stewart
http://wnst.net/top-...terps-saturday/
Offensive Coordinator Mike Locksley
On Don Brown’s Connecticut defense:
“It’s definitely a headache. They play great, solid defense, statistically and on film you can see why they’re ranked where they are defensively. He outnumbers the box, he disguises well. It’s been a trying week for us offensively just to come up with a scheme for ourselves to have some success. As we get through the week we’re feeling better and better about playing, and we feel we can go out and execute.”
On if he’s talked to the veteran defensive players about Don Brown’s former schemes:
“You know some of the guys like Kenny Tate and Joe [Vellano] have come in and given their two cents as to the background of the defense and what it entails. But you can watch the tape and what you see is pretty consistent with what we’ve heard when you do your research on it. We did a preliminary game plan in the summer so we’ve had some time to evaluate it. As we get into it this week after we’ve seen the two games they’ve played really well.”
On the importance of last week’s tempo for Perry Hills:
“It’s good to see he made the strides that you like to see all of our guys making from week one to week two. I thought Perry improved, and that’s the goal for us. He’s still a guy that got off the yellow school bus last year, and our goal is for each week to give him a plan that he can go out and be comfortable with. It’s not what we want to do, it’s what he can get accomplished and what he’s comfortable with. I think he took some steps, but we have to consistently do it.”
On Hills’ ability to throw the deep ball:
“I thought all camp long he did some nice things, and that’s how he earned the right to be the guy when we had the injuries. So, when you recruit a guy you recruit him to have the skill-set to do what you want to do on offense. I’m very pleased with his skill set and how it fits in to what we do.”
On Tyler Cierski’s injury status and how the depth at tight end allowed that to not be a major limitation:
“Well any time you don’t have Tyler it’s a blow to us offensively. He brings toughness, and his ability to get us to run downhill. As you said, the luxury of having four tight ends going into the season would give us strength at that position. Having that personnel grouping allowed us to have some flexibility to continue to be able to get under center and run some of our downhill, power pro-style run plays. A guy like Devonte Campbell coming in, or a guy like Matt Furstenburg being able to fill those roles.”
On ball security and Wes Brown bouncing back this week:
“Well I think when you look at the turnovers that’s the one thorn in my side from an offensive standpoint. You can’t turn the ball over and be a good team. That’s the one thing we’ve stressed from day one, is not beating ourselves. We’ve been very fortunate here the past couple of weeks to come away with wins when you turn the ball over seven times as an offense. I think the young guys understand the importance of it. We’ve done some things to try and reemphasize ball security. I have no doubt in my mind that a guy like Wes will bounce back, those guys understand he’s been playing that position a long time. He understands the importance of it and I expect him to bounce back and as an offense the goal is to come out of this thing without turning it over and beating ourselves.”
On if he’d be satisfied with a 3-0 start:
“There’s no satisfaction because we have a long season and we’re playing a bunch of young players. It’s been my experience having done this quite a bit in my career that you like to see the consistency out of a young team where you’re able to do it. But every week is a new week with a young ball club and young players. For us, there will be some satisfaction if we can find a way to come away with the win. But it all starts back up on Sunday, when we go out and practice it’s a brand new week.”
On Kevin Dorsey and his status as a mentor to the younger receivers:
“Well I’ve seen the unselfishness, and I know our receivers would love to see the ball a little bit more. With a young quarterback I think they realize and understand it’s more about what our quarterback can execute. I think each week you’ll see us continue to be able to add or improve on what we take in based on how fast Perry [Hills] continues to develop. I’ve been really pleased with Kevin [Dorsey] and Kerry Boykins as senior receivers who’ve sacrificed for the sake of getting wins and helping the development of a young quarterback and offense. Those guys have been just tremendous from a leadership standpoint.”
On if the selflessness is something he pressed upon them or they brought on their own:
“I think communication is the key, and those guys understood when C.J. [Brown] went down, there were maybe going to be some things that would take some time with a young quarterback like Perry. It’s not anything that we had to go and talk about, but I think they understood being around the game as fifth year seniors what it takes.”
On what Brandon Ross brings to the table:
“I think because of his skill set he’s a homerun threat. I’ve been pleased with the running backs in general, minus the turnovers obviously. It gives you another weapon in your arsenal, and gives you a guy that has the ability to make some things happen. Maybe at the second level he can make a guy miss, and take it the distance. He has those types of abilities.”
On Albert Reid’s role:
“That’s the thing we talk about, roles are something that change daily based on performance and situations. Going into last week, the competition at that position has been pretty good. I like that; it’s something I wish we had at every position. Depth wise, we just don’t have it at the offensive line position, even somewhat at the receiver position. The depth isn’t there to have that type of competition, but those roles will be determined by how they practice during the week. We thought Wes practiced well last week, Albert [Reid] didn’t do anything wrong per se, but his role will be determined by how we finish up this week. This is the second day of our two really tough practices, Tuesday and Wednesday, we’ll see what his role will be when we get closer to game time.”
On percent of his job is spent recruiting vs. coaching:
“It’s 50-50, you’re doing both. I’m a big believer that to be a complete coach you have to be a guy that can go out and get the groceries and come home and cook dinner. That’s just been my philosophy, I never wanted to be pegged just as a recruiter or pegged as a guy that just knows X’s and O’s. To the young coaches that I’ve often time spoke with about the business, I think you develop leverage with the ability to do both really well. Right now I have some work to do as a coach.”
On Notre Dame joining the ACC:
“I just heard that maybe an hour ago… Any time you can bring in a product like Notre Dame to our conference it helps. For right now, all my energy and thoughts are on getting ready for UConn and trying to put an offensive plan together.”
On the feelings as a recruiter when someone signs with you:
“Well you move on to the next recruit. You don’t have a lot of time to celebrate small victories, whether it’s recruiting or a game on Saturday. It’s unfortunate, we just talked about it a little as an offensive staff. There’s very little time to enjoy the process because as soon as you get a Stefon Diggs come in, then you’re on to the next guy whether it be for next year or next week. So it’s a short-lived excitement, but I think in the end it’s what you do as a coach.”
Defensive Coordinator Brian Stewart
On the return of defensive backs Isaac Goins and Matt Robinson:
“It’s pretty exciting. It was unfortunate that Matt [Robinson] got hurt so early in training camp, but the experience he brings and the leadership he brings back there is pretty good. He’s tried to be a leader but it’s hard when you’re not on the field. Now with him getting the chance to be on the field and help out the young guys has been awesome. Isaac [Goins] had a great spring for us. We’re excited just to get him on the field to do some things with him.”
On if he thinks the secondary has been an issue:
“Obviously we’re a work in progress. I’d like to play better on the back end, you don’t like to give up touchdown passes or pass interferences. I think they’re getting better. As a group we play a lot of young guys, as we start to stabilize guys on the field the better we’ll get.”
On Sean Davis coming in and playing in his first year:
“I think he’s holding up ok. I think you guys had a chance to talk to him earlier in the week, and you see he’s a very personable kid. He’s going to do the best he can, and it’s just hard because things are a little different and faster than when you’re in high school. It’s a learning process for him, and I think it was a good process. I’d rather him get a chance to learn in a backup role rather than a starter role, but nonetheless it was a good learning process.”
On if he has seen Sean Davis grow rapidly over the past month:
“I think he did a great job. When you’re young as a whole, there’s not a lot of football experience you can go back on especially with the speed of the game at the college level. Those young guys just have to keep seeing it. The more playing time they get, the more motions they see, and the more things that happen to them the better they get.”
On what the offense can expect to see from Don Brown and how familiar he is with Brown:
“You know what, we have some guys like Keith Dudzinski who was on the staff with [Don Brown] for quite a while. He’s talked about his thought process and what he thinks Don does and likes to do. I pretty much focus on our guys and how I’m going to attack [Connecticut]. It should be fun, it sounds like there’s going to be two pretty aggressive, pressure defenses going on. It should be fun.”
On if there’s any frustration that the media is calling this game the “Randy Bowl”:
“This is the first time I’ve heard it called the “Randy Bowl”. The great thing about Coach Edsall is that we do everything the same. We practice the same, do meetings the same, recruit the same, so I haven’t noticed anything different. I just know that we have another football game against the University of Connecticut and we’re going to do everything we can to win that game.”
On why this unit has been able to come together and rank so highly in defensive statistics:
“I’m not a big numbers guy. I’m more about looking at what we need to do to win. I just think the basic foundation of our defense is if we can stop them running the ball, focus on third down, get them off the field, and not let them score, then we have an opportunity to win every game. Those are the things I focus and drive into our guys. I just really want to play our defense and get better at our defense. Winning each down one game at a time, down by down, that’s the main focus. That’s exactly what I want the players to think.”
On how Alex Twine has held up this season:
“I think Twine has played and done everything we’ve asked him to do with that position. A lot of times the coaches don’t get credit. I have to credit Lyndon Johnson, Keith Dudzinski, as well as Greg Gattuso with just coaching their guys and making sure they know the intricacies of each position. They make sure when a guy is called to play, he can play and I can call a total menu of plays. When Twine got thrown in, he knew everything, not to mention he had the opportunity in the spring to be the starter. That helped tremendously. I think Twine, Sean Davis, and all those guys benefit from the way the coaches have taught and making sure everyone knows our scheme defensively.”
http://wnst.net/top-...terps-saturday/
Offensive Coordinator Mike Locksley
On Don Brown’s Connecticut defense:
“It’s definitely a headache. They play great, solid defense, statistically and on film you can see why they’re ranked where they are defensively. He outnumbers the box, he disguises well. It’s been a trying week for us offensively just to come up with a scheme for ourselves to have some success. As we get through the week we’re feeling better and better about playing, and we feel we can go out and execute.”
On if he’s talked to the veteran defensive players about Don Brown’s former schemes:
“You know some of the guys like Kenny Tate and Joe [Vellano] have come in and given their two cents as to the background of the defense and what it entails. But you can watch the tape and what you see is pretty consistent with what we’ve heard when you do your research on it. We did a preliminary game plan in the summer so we’ve had some time to evaluate it. As we get into it this week after we’ve seen the two games they’ve played really well.”
On the importance of last week’s tempo for Perry Hills:
“It’s good to see he made the strides that you like to see all of our guys making from week one to week two. I thought Perry improved, and that’s the goal for us. He’s still a guy that got off the yellow school bus last year, and our goal is for each week to give him a plan that he can go out and be comfortable with. It’s not what we want to do, it’s what he can get accomplished and what he’s comfortable with. I think he took some steps, but we have to consistently do it.”
On Hills’ ability to throw the deep ball:
“I thought all camp long he did some nice things, and that’s how he earned the right to be the guy when we had the injuries. So, when you recruit a guy you recruit him to have the skill-set to do what you want to do on offense. I’m very pleased with his skill set and how it fits in to what we do.”
On Tyler Cierski’s injury status and how the depth at tight end allowed that to not be a major limitation:
“Well any time you don’t have Tyler it’s a blow to us offensively. He brings toughness, and his ability to get us to run downhill. As you said, the luxury of having four tight ends going into the season would give us strength at that position. Having that personnel grouping allowed us to have some flexibility to continue to be able to get under center and run some of our downhill, power pro-style run plays. A guy like Devonte Campbell coming in, or a guy like Matt Furstenburg being able to fill those roles.”
On ball security and Wes Brown bouncing back this week:
“Well I think when you look at the turnovers that’s the one thorn in my side from an offensive standpoint. You can’t turn the ball over and be a good team. That’s the one thing we’ve stressed from day one, is not beating ourselves. We’ve been very fortunate here the past couple of weeks to come away with wins when you turn the ball over seven times as an offense. I think the young guys understand the importance of it. We’ve done some things to try and reemphasize ball security. I have no doubt in my mind that a guy like Wes will bounce back, those guys understand he’s been playing that position a long time. He understands the importance of it and I expect him to bounce back and as an offense the goal is to come out of this thing without turning it over and beating ourselves.”
On if he’d be satisfied with a 3-0 start:
“There’s no satisfaction because we have a long season and we’re playing a bunch of young players. It’s been my experience having done this quite a bit in my career that you like to see the consistency out of a young team where you’re able to do it. But every week is a new week with a young ball club and young players. For us, there will be some satisfaction if we can find a way to come away with the win. But it all starts back up on Sunday, when we go out and practice it’s a brand new week.”
On Kevin Dorsey and his status as a mentor to the younger receivers:
“Well I’ve seen the unselfishness, and I know our receivers would love to see the ball a little bit more. With a young quarterback I think they realize and understand it’s more about what our quarterback can execute. I think each week you’ll see us continue to be able to add or improve on what we take in based on how fast Perry [Hills] continues to develop. I’ve been really pleased with Kevin [Dorsey] and Kerry Boykins as senior receivers who’ve sacrificed for the sake of getting wins and helping the development of a young quarterback and offense. Those guys have been just tremendous from a leadership standpoint.”
On if the selflessness is something he pressed upon them or they brought on their own:
“I think communication is the key, and those guys understood when C.J. [Brown] went down, there were maybe going to be some things that would take some time with a young quarterback like Perry. It’s not anything that we had to go and talk about, but I think they understood being around the game as fifth year seniors what it takes.”
On what Brandon Ross brings to the table:
“I think because of his skill set he’s a homerun threat. I’ve been pleased with the running backs in general, minus the turnovers obviously. It gives you another weapon in your arsenal, and gives you a guy that has the ability to make some things happen. Maybe at the second level he can make a guy miss, and take it the distance. He has those types of abilities.”
On Albert Reid’s role:
“That’s the thing we talk about, roles are something that change daily based on performance and situations. Going into last week, the competition at that position has been pretty good. I like that; it’s something I wish we had at every position. Depth wise, we just don’t have it at the offensive line position, even somewhat at the receiver position. The depth isn’t there to have that type of competition, but those roles will be determined by how they practice during the week. We thought Wes practiced well last week, Albert [Reid] didn’t do anything wrong per se, but his role will be determined by how we finish up this week. This is the second day of our two really tough practices, Tuesday and Wednesday, we’ll see what his role will be when we get closer to game time.”
On percent of his job is spent recruiting vs. coaching:
“It’s 50-50, you’re doing both. I’m a big believer that to be a complete coach you have to be a guy that can go out and get the groceries and come home and cook dinner. That’s just been my philosophy, I never wanted to be pegged just as a recruiter or pegged as a guy that just knows X’s and O’s. To the young coaches that I’ve often time spoke with about the business, I think you develop leverage with the ability to do both really well. Right now I have some work to do as a coach.”
On Notre Dame joining the ACC:
“I just heard that maybe an hour ago… Any time you can bring in a product like Notre Dame to our conference it helps. For right now, all my energy and thoughts are on getting ready for UConn and trying to put an offensive plan together.”
On the feelings as a recruiter when someone signs with you:
“Well you move on to the next recruit. You don’t have a lot of time to celebrate small victories, whether it’s recruiting or a game on Saturday. It’s unfortunate, we just talked about it a little as an offensive staff. There’s very little time to enjoy the process because as soon as you get a Stefon Diggs come in, then you’re on to the next guy whether it be for next year or next week. So it’s a short-lived excitement, but I think in the end it’s what you do as a coach.”
Defensive Coordinator Brian Stewart
On the return of defensive backs Isaac Goins and Matt Robinson:
“It’s pretty exciting. It was unfortunate that Matt [Robinson] got hurt so early in training camp, but the experience he brings and the leadership he brings back there is pretty good. He’s tried to be a leader but it’s hard when you’re not on the field. Now with him getting the chance to be on the field and help out the young guys has been awesome. Isaac [Goins] had a great spring for us. We’re excited just to get him on the field to do some things with him.”
On if he thinks the secondary has been an issue:
“Obviously we’re a work in progress. I’d like to play better on the back end, you don’t like to give up touchdown passes or pass interferences. I think they’re getting better. As a group we play a lot of young guys, as we start to stabilize guys on the field the better we’ll get.”
On Sean Davis coming in and playing in his first year:
“I think he’s holding up ok. I think you guys had a chance to talk to him earlier in the week, and you see he’s a very personable kid. He’s going to do the best he can, and it’s just hard because things are a little different and faster than when you’re in high school. It’s a learning process for him, and I think it was a good process. I’d rather him get a chance to learn in a backup role rather than a starter role, but nonetheless it was a good learning process.”
On if he has seen Sean Davis grow rapidly over the past month:
“I think he did a great job. When you’re young as a whole, there’s not a lot of football experience you can go back on especially with the speed of the game at the college level. Those young guys just have to keep seeing it. The more playing time they get, the more motions they see, and the more things that happen to them the better they get.”
On what the offense can expect to see from Don Brown and how familiar he is with Brown:
“You know what, we have some guys like Keith Dudzinski who was on the staff with [Don Brown] for quite a while. He’s talked about his thought process and what he thinks Don does and likes to do. I pretty much focus on our guys and how I’m going to attack [Connecticut]. It should be fun, it sounds like there’s going to be two pretty aggressive, pressure defenses going on. It should be fun.”
On if there’s any frustration that the media is calling this game the “Randy Bowl”:
“This is the first time I’ve heard it called the “Randy Bowl”. The great thing about Coach Edsall is that we do everything the same. We practice the same, do meetings the same, recruit the same, so I haven’t noticed anything different. I just know that we have another football game against the University of Connecticut and we’re going to do everything we can to win that game.”
On why this unit has been able to come together and rank so highly in defensive statistics:
“I’m not a big numbers guy. I’m more about looking at what we need to do to win. I just think the basic foundation of our defense is if we can stop them running the ball, focus on third down, get them off the field, and not let them score, then we have an opportunity to win every game. Those are the things I focus and drive into our guys. I just really want to play our defense and get better at our defense. Winning each down one game at a time, down by down, that’s the main focus. That’s exactly what I want the players to think.”
On how Alex Twine has held up this season:
“I think Twine has played and done everything we’ve asked him to do with that position. A lot of times the coaches don’t get credit. I have to credit Lyndon Johnson, Keith Dudzinski, as well as Greg Gattuso with just coaching their guys and making sure they know the intricacies of each position. They make sure when a guy is called to play, he can play and I can call a total menu of plays. When Twine got thrown in, he knew everything, not to mention he had the opportunity in the spring to be the starter. That helped tremendously. I think Twine, Sean Davis, and all those guys benefit from the way the coaches have taught and making sure everyone knows our scheme defensively.”
#15
BSLChrisStoner
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#16
Oriole85
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Posted 14 September 2012 - 02:38 PM
Terps win and do it ugly, how's that?Predictions?
@levineps
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BSLChrisStoner
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Posted 14 September 2012 - 02:52 PM
Terps win and do it ugly, how's that?
Would be great. They would be 3-0 with 2 wins vs. the Big East, and getting healthier. Win tomorrow, and they will have a very good chance to go Bowling.
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Oriole85
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Posted 14 September 2012 - 03:08 PM
Yeah I was thinking that myself. Although as I previously referenced, I would've taken 2-1 in non-conference play heading into WVU. Now I'm greedy and want 3-0.Would be great. They would be 3-0 with 2 wins vs. the Big East, and getting healthier. Win tomorrow, and they will have a very good chance to go Bowling.
I think they'd have a decent shot to somehow pull out 3 ACC victories in 8 matchups.
Anyone want to guess what the line wll be in the WVU game? If MD was a 10.5 point underdog to Temple, could it be three TDs or am I overdoing this?
@levineps
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BSLChrisStoner
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Posted 14 September 2012 - 03:53 PM
Anyone want to guess what the line wll be in the WVU game? If MD was a 10.5 point underdog to Temple, could it be three TDs or am I overdoing this?
Sounds about right, but you have to see what happens this weekend, and what the health of teams are.
The Mountaineers only beat Maryland by 6 last year. They will be heavy favorites, and should beat the Terps; but Maryland will have a punchers chance. Especially if MD beats UConn tomorrow and goes into the game feeling good about themselves. (Also will help MD that they've already gone on the road, and won.)
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BSLMikeLowe
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