00:00University of Maryland head football coach, Mr. Mike Loxley.
00:03Lox, what's up, man? Thank you for making time. I know you're busy.
00:06All good. What's going on, JP? What's going on, B-Mitch?
00:08What's up, Mike? What's happening with you, brother?
00:11I'm just over here trying to make a dollar out of 15 cents.
00:15When you figure that out, let me know.
00:18There is a lot for us to discuss, Lox.
00:21I want to talk about, I know you guys opened camp yesterday,
00:24getting ready for week one, going to host Hampton.
00:27But yesterday, you also had a pretty special guest at practice
00:31with Stephon Diggs there, and he posted that little video saying,
00:35Go, Commanders. You grew up in D.C.
00:38I know what the Burgundy and Gold means to you.
00:40I know how long you've known Stephon Diggs.
00:42How happy are you that this has happened, Diggs to the Commanders?
00:47I'm really excited about it.
00:49And, you know, Steph, every summer he's here training in his offseason.
00:53If you follow him on Instagram, you know he's one of those guys
00:56that stays in shape.
00:57And his longtime personal trainer that we connected him with
01:00back in high school, Myron Flowers, he's been here training
01:05at Myron's Gym up there, Domain up there in the Montgomery County area.
01:10But to have him back here, he's been here working with our receivers
01:13a couple of times this summer.
01:15Really have tried to integrate him back into Terpsville
01:19because he's been gone a long time, and it's great to have him back here.
01:22But even better with my favorite NFL team.
01:25Coach, I know people will have their sometimes question things about Steph.
01:30Him coming back, how big is that for you to have him to come back
01:34and give some of your guys, you know, that knowledge he has?
01:38You know what?
01:38That was the sweet sauce that I learned being down at Alabama.
01:41You know, I've coached at Florida, Bama, Illinois.
01:44And, you know, at Bama, those guys like Julio would always come back
01:47and train there and A.J. and, you know, all their former greats come back.
01:52And it really helps you with your current players
01:55because they can share the wisdom of what it's like.
01:57And so it's great.
01:58We had Ty Felton back here working with Steph
02:01and working with our new young receivers.
02:03And, you know, anytime you can get the former players to come back.
02:06And for us here, it's been a little tough because, you know,
02:09a lot of these guys have had a different head coach, you know,
02:12as Maryland has had a few head coaches over the course of the last 20 years.
02:16So the coach that recruited him isn't always here.
02:19And, you know, the good thing is I've been here since 1997.
02:22This is year 18 on Maryland's campus.
02:25And so I know quite a bit of the guys.
02:27And it's great when a guy like Steph comes back and, you know, he brought Trayvon.
02:30Maybe the scans have some interest in it.
02:34And do a little package deal.
02:36Coach, I want to get to everything you're doing with the Terps, you know,
02:40getting ready right now.
02:41But I'm curious where you think Diggs is as a player,
02:44how he can work with Terry McLaurin, how he can help Jaden Daniels.
02:48You know, Steph has always been one of those guys that's been really an unselfish player.
02:54As I said before, he's always in great shape.
02:56But as a guy that knows how to fit into a locker room,
03:00the problem with Steph sometimes is because of his competitiveness,
03:05he still had 1,000 yards receiving a year ago with the Pats.
03:09So I think he still thinks there's some tread on that tire.
03:13And he stays in great shape, so he's able to always produce.
03:17And I think he'll work great with Terry McLaurin, complimenting him.
03:21He'll be a great kind of security blanket for an up-and-coming quarterback like Jaden Daniels.
03:28It's going to be fun to watch.
03:30I'm curious, what was – I feel like just based on the timing yesterday
03:35and when that video got posted from the Terps football account,
03:38were you with him as that kind of got finalized?
03:41And was there a real sense of, like, excitement, relief?
03:45Like, kind of what was that like?
03:46Well, it's funny because, you know,
03:48he and I have been in communication quite a bit over the last, you know,
03:51two, three months because I've been trying to integrate him back into Maryland
03:55as he's on the back nine of his NFL career.
03:58You know, when you recruit guys like him,
04:00for them to benefit from making a decision like he made
04:04because he was a guy like Zion Ely, like a bunch of the guys I've recruited,
04:08that could have went anywhere in the country and he decided to stay here at home.
04:11And for some reason when former Terp football players leave,
04:15they get a little more disconnected from the program.
04:17And I've been really trying to recruit these guys back.
04:20We had Vernon Davis up for one of our fundraisers.
04:23I think Vernon's coming to practice today.
04:25We've had Sean Merriman, a bunch of these guys that I had a chance to recruit.
04:28And, you know, having a guy like Randy Starks back on the staff and Kyle Schmidt
04:32really has kind of helped get some of the former players
04:35to maybe integrate themselves back into the program.
04:38How important is that to make sure you have that?
04:40Because, you know, every time I get a chance,
04:43I just stop into my school's campus and I'm like,
04:45hey, they're not going to know who the hell I am.
04:47They all know who you are because the coach is going to make sure they know.
04:50Yeah, it's paying it for, B, Mitch, and you understand that.
04:54And, again, the tradition of some of these players and what they do,
04:58I always say third-party validation is what rules recruiting.
05:02And I can tell you that Stephon has helped me over the years recruit all the
05:06different receivers, whether it's here or Bama.
05:09Him being able to talk about how he was able to be developed in this system,
05:14it goes a long way.
05:15And then to come back and share the knowledge that he's gained, you know,
05:19with, what, 12 years?
05:20I don't know how many years he's been in the league.
05:22This will be year 12, yeah.
05:23Year 12 for him.
05:25But to be able to share 12 years of wisdom,
05:27including some of the negative things.
05:29I mean, we know some of the things that have taken place in his life,
05:32but he's always owned up to all of them.
05:35And I think being able to share not just his successes,
05:38but where he's failed and how he's been able to overcome it
05:41are great examples and stories for our players to be able to learn and grow from.
05:46Maryland football coach Mike Loxley joining us right now.
05:49Last one on Diggs.
05:50You've known him a long time.
05:52I mean, you probably connected him with Myron Flowers,
05:54who I talked to on TV yesterday.
05:56I know that relationship stretches back two decades.
05:59How do you think Washington has Terry McLaurin, obviously,
06:03and then they have a lot of younger receivers that are looking to develop
06:05and find their own way.
06:07How does Steph help those young guys?
06:09Yeah, and I think that's where Steph is in his career.
06:12I mean, he understands.
06:13He's 32 years old, 12 years in.
06:16He knows that there's a shelf life.
06:19And much like guys like Odell Beckham and some of these other receivers,
06:23as they start hitting the downhill side of it.
06:26But I think because of how he's kept himself in tip-top shape.
06:30I mean, the guy, that's all he does outside of football is train.
06:35I think he has a little more wear and tear, a little more tread on the tires
06:39than maybe some think.
06:41And I think he'll be great for young receivers because, I mean,
06:44I watch him with our guys here and does a tremendous job of teaching.
06:48You know, for a great player, typically they have a hard time telling people
06:51how they do things or what they do.
06:53But the way he studies the position and the way he plays the position
06:57and the route runner he is, he's been really good for him.
07:01We've got two young receivers or new receivers,
07:03and Chris Durr and Naeem Abdul-Rahim Gladden,
07:06who both have benefited from Steph being around all summer training
07:10and working with these guys.
07:12Coach, I do want to talk a little bit about your team.
07:15I know you guys are grinding now.
07:16I also know you brought back a lot of players,
07:20and it starts with Malik Washington, but it's a lot more than that.
07:23That's hard to do in the transfer portal era, the NIL era.
07:27I mean, guys are leaving all the time.
07:29I think you've got like 70% of your roster, of your production back.
07:33How excited are you for this year?
07:35I know how hard the Big Ten is,
07:37but I feel like you might think people are sleeping on you a bit.
07:40Well, I'm glad they are.
07:42I'm excited about this team.
07:44As I said yesterday, I've been on this campus 17 seasons.
07:47This is year 18, and by far from top to bottom of the roster
07:52is one of the more talented rosters,
07:53if not the most talented roster at Maryland that I've been a part of.
07:58But as I said before, talented rosters win games.
08:02The things that I'm starting to learn with this new landscape,
08:05the quicker you create the connection,
08:08the accountability that comes with it,
08:10as well as really doing the work.
08:13As I've said before, a lot of times a year ago,
08:16I had to do a lot of messaging because when you have a young team,
08:19you have to message a lot.
08:21And to be quite honest, I'm tired of talking.
08:23I really am.
08:24And our team, we've got a good team here in College Park.
08:28If you sit back and watch,
08:30and in December, we'll all figure out whether what we think we are is who we are.
08:35I know you've got Malik.
08:37I've been so impressed getting to know him a little bit.
08:41How has he looked through camp?
08:43Yeah, I want to downplay him, man.
08:45You know, he threw for our pro day a year ago,
08:47and you got, you know, guys like Todd McShay calling him a $7 million man.
08:51And I'd rather just let him continue to grow and keep it under wraps.
08:56But he is a super talented quarterback.
08:58I mean, he's a guy that a year ago,
09:00he came in the right way when we threw him in the deep end.
09:03He didn't come in and try to become the instant leader.
09:06He kind of picked and choose the spots where he implemented himself
09:10into some of the leadership.
09:12But right now, this is Malik Washington's team.
09:14And if you've been around Jones Hill House,
09:17our football operations center here, for any length of time,
09:21anyone here will tell you he is as advertised,
09:23and this is his team.
09:25I did want to flip it over to the defensive side of the football.
09:28Sidney Stewart, that's a player, man.
09:32That's a guy that's going to play on Sundays.
09:34Retaining him at Maryland, really impressive.
09:37What do things look like for a real pass rusher, I would say, this fall?
09:42Yeah, I'll tell you what's interesting.
09:44Sid has a partner as well as Iyer Mathis,
09:47who was one of those guys who was also on a bunch of lists as a freshman,
09:51a big-time freshman All-American.
09:53And when you put those two together, you add guys like Zion Ely out of high school.
09:58I was going to ask about him, too.
09:59You add D.D. Holmes.
10:01You add Nasir Taylor.
10:03Ted Monachino, our D coordinator,
10:05who is known as one of the best pass rushing coaches up there with the Ravens,
10:09doing the heyday of the Ravens' defensive dominance.
10:13He has a room full of pass rushers.
10:15And right now what we have to do is take them from the potential to the production.
10:21And Sid and Zaire obviously had production a year ago,
10:24but now the consistency that comes with a little more experience,
10:28we've added more depth.
10:30And to me in the Big Ten, as you know,
10:32it's a trench league where you better be good running the ball and stopping the run
10:36if you want to have any chance of success.
10:38Mike, I mean, every year I know you get excited for the season to start just like anybody else.
10:44Is this year making you a little bit more excited for your crew?
10:47You know what?
10:48I've been containing it, but, I mean, I got a big secret.
10:52And I know that what kind of team we have, I've watched it.
10:55I mean, I've been a part of rebuilds most of my career,
10:58whether you get places like Illinois or even here in Maryland for multiple rebuilds.
11:04And I can tell you that this team is different.
11:07They're really well connected.
11:09You know, a year ago we finished four and eight where we had opportunities in at least three games
11:14where I know we lost games on the last drives of games against Nebraska, Washington, and UCLA.
11:20Games we were winning in the fourth quarter.
11:22And what I've, you know, taken a deep look at myself,
11:25I've got to do a better job of putting us in situational football and practice
11:28and making sure I got the right guys in the right place at the right time.
11:32I own that.
11:33These players also own and understand that those losses that we had have to become lessons for us
11:39to which we learn from and we learn how to finish.
11:42We learn how to not be complacent.
11:44We learn how to not play to a scoreboard.
11:46You know, the scoreboard can lie to you because when you're winning like we were in Washington,
11:50it makes you feel like the game is over and next thing you know you're in a dogfight.
11:53Or when you're down, it creates anxiety.
11:56So with a young team, we've really harped on let's not worry about the score.
11:59Let's focus on the task at hand.
12:02Let's focus on the production.
12:04And then the winning takes care of itself.
12:06Coach, I know you've got meetings to get to.
12:08I know you made time for us.
12:10And I really appreciate that.
12:12Try to keep Rachel Frank in line for us, all right?
12:15We've got to keep Rachel Frank in line.
12:17I love it.
12:18Appreciate you, man.
12:19Thank you, Lox.
12:19Really appreciate the time, man.
12:21Y'all be good.
12:22All right.
12:23Maryland football coach Mike Loxley.
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