We can now stop the speculation of whether there will be football in the fall with the Big Ten’s announcement of the postponement of Fall Sports with possible Spring play, and if done in the spring, likely in a modified version. Terps Head Coach Mike Locksley believes there can be football in the Spring and then again in the Fall of 2021 if done correctly to protect the players health. In the recent episode of Talking Terps (see below) I give my take on whether I agree with the Big Ten’s decision which you can hear.
(You can discuss this on the BSL Board here.)
I did recently write that there are no winners here with a delay to the season until spring or with no football at all. I generally stick by that statement however if you read the story, I did throw in some glimmer of positive at the end of the article from an off the field perspective. While this will delay the rebuild of the Maryland program there are some further positives off the field here for the Terps.
A) If there were a program that would have a legitimate reason for not wanting to play this year after the death of Jordan McNair (even though the circumstances were/are different) it would be the Terps. Another type incident whether it be extreme illness or death (even though no players were being forced to play) would be akin to an SMU type sentence from the NCAA as it pertains to perception and damage to the program. Just to be clear while some Terps players had opted out, the program was prepared to play but certainly you could argue the team taking the biggest risk in the Big Ten was Maryland.
B) Two of the offensive line starters were opting not to play this fall which to me on an already questionable offensive line would have a tough obstacle to overcome. QB Tua Tagovailoa may have been wishing for a denial of eligibility for this year when that news came out before his ruling.
C) Most important of all though I believe is the time that Head Coach Mike Locksley has had and will have to further immerse himself in the program. Let us go back a few years to when Locksley was hired in December of 2018. At the time he was still the Offensive Coordinator of the Alabama Crimson Tide and he continued to both prepare for the National Championship game against Clemson, do the work of salvaging MD’s 2019 Recruiting Class and put a staff together. That is a daunting task. While the DMV lauded the hire, while he had already been at College Park and while local high schools knew him well, he still had the tasks of 1. Meeting with the AD, the President, and the players. 2. He also had to reconnect with the local area coaches on a more face to face basis especially after the death of McNair to rebuild the bridges after the fallout. 3. He had to put together a Spring Practice, meet with the media and most important, the all too much used phrase of “Change the Culture”. Then comes the 2019 Season.
I do not want to speak for Coach but there is no way in my mind you can do that all in one year effectively enough through no fault of his own. Something(s) are not going to be quite where you need them to be after such a busy year. Insert Covid 2020.
To my point, this time away further allows Locksley to build a brand, an image, to further market himself as Head Coach to players and recruits. This gives him an opportunity to further build the kind of a program he would like to. Covid also is affording the Coaches to further collaborate and tweak and analyze and get to know their players so much more from the playbook to their personal life. There are areas I am sure that we will never know about that the Coaching staff and players are able to benefit. I have no doubt that Locksley has used this time wisely behind the scenes. This time will have given Locksley time to take a deep breath after a busy ‘19 and go about orchestrating further changes, additions, deletions, whatever it may be to his program. Certainly, all programs are benefitting from being forced to adapt and change and be a better program through technology in communicating with their players even when they are not on campus.
Finally, I also think it refreshes these coaches who put in endless hours almost 24/7/365. While these guys are still working a lot from home its completely different and the lack of a wear and tear on them from a season should re-energize these guys physically for 2021.
For the incoming Class of 2021, many of whom are from the DMV and will not have a Senior Season, this will hurt to an extent but in no way do I think they still won’t be able to go out, compete well and at least get some playing time. These guys have been playing football since they were 7 or 8 years old and have been continuing in football activities of sorts even during the pandemic. A season will not ruin their career. I am not saying with the adjustment to college play it may not set them back some, but I do not see it as a major obstacle. You could certainly make a strong argument that there will be no excuse for players to know the playbook and when you know what your doing you can perform at full speed. When you are still learning the playbook, it slows down when you have to think. There is an advantage there if the players put in the work to learn it inside and out.
Bonus Content:
If the Big Ten does have a modified football season in the Spring, these are the opponents I would like to see Maryland play.
Rutgers – I want to see how much impact Greg Schiano has made on the program. Although certainly Covid has no doubt negatively impacted any coach taking over a program this year.
Michigan State – For the same reason as Rutgers, I want to see Mel Tucker’s impact on the Spartan program. Unlike the Rutgers situation, Mark Dantonio leaves big shoes to fill in East Lansing, despite their struggles the last two years. Dantonio did a heck of a job there.
Indiana –This is a program at a basketball school (sound familiar?) that has brought itself to respectability in the Big Ten despite being in a tough division. Maryland needs to aim to be where the Hoosiers have been the last couple of seasons. The two have had some good battles the last couple of years but the Terps have not been able to get over the hump against them.
Iowa –This is a program that in the trenches especially the offensive line is always so good. There are not flashy but tough, this a good litmus test game for Maryland along the lines. The Hawkeyes also have high expectations this year with the team they return.
Nebraska – It has taken longer than expected by the fans at least (not by me) for Scott Frost to turnaround the Cornhuskers program. This is a critical year for the program to see improvement. I think this would be a good litmus test game to see where the Terps stack up against a once elite program that is not in the early stages but still in the process of rebuilding.
Terps Analyst
Mike Popovec is a Weekend and Fill-In host at 105-7 The Fan. In addition Mike hosts the Pre and Post, Halftime and Scoreboard Updates for the Football Games on the Maryland Terrapins Sports Radio Network. He also hosts the Pre and Post Game Show on weekends for some of the Maryland Basketball Games. Popovec also hosts a local News, Talk and Sports Morning Program at the beach on 92-7 WGMD. He also produces and hosts High School Football Games and Shows throughout the season out of Easton covering the Eastern Shore’s Bayside Conference. He sideline reports for CW54 for the Maryland State High School Football Playoffs with Bruce Cunningham, Doug Duvall and Wally Williams.