A recurring series where we will profile every player on Maryland's roster, counting down to kick-off against William & Mary on September 1. Thanks to OBNUG for the idea.
Today we profile Maryland's offensive coordinator.
Mike Locksley, Offensive Coordinator, Quarterbacks Coach
via grfx.cstv.com
Stats:
Date of Birth: 12/25/69
When he joined Maryland: 1997, 2012
Twitter: @Coachlocks
Alma Mater: Towson '92
Hometown: Washington, D.C.
How'd He Get to College Park?
From 1989 to 91, Mike Locksley was a defensive back at Towson, earning team defensive MVP honors as a senior. Immediately after graduating, he started coaching, serving as the defensive backs and special teams coach at his alma mater for a year. Locksley had two more gigs on defense - as the defensive coordinator at the U.S. Naval Prep School for two years and the outside linebackers coach at Pacific for one year - before moving on to offense.
In 1996, Locksley coached the wide receivers and tight ends at Army, helping lead them to the Independence Bowl - their first postseason appearance since 1988 and only one until 2010. He was then hired by Maryland in 1997 as a running backs coach, a position he held until 2002.
In that time, Locksley also found his true calling - as a recruiting coordinator. He served in that position from 1998 until 2002. During his first stint at Maryland, he coached some truly great Terrapin running backs, including Chris Downs, Bruce Perry and LaMont Jordan. Each of them were first team All-ACC players and hit 1,000 yards on the ground.
Locksley then went to Florida, serving in the same position and coaching Ciatrick Fason to a conference-leading rushing season. After two years there, he went to Illinois, where he was the offensive coordinator for four years. Pierre Thomas, Juice Williams, Arrelious Benn, and Rashard Mendenhall were all successful Illini under Locksley's tutelage.
All of that is well and fine, but what Locksley is known best for is one of the worst head coaching stints in recorded human history, as the man in charge of the New Mexico football program for nearly three years. His Lobo teams went 1-11, 1-11, and 0-4 before he was fired after losing to an FCS school. On top of that, a minor was arrested for a DWI after the game driving a car registered to Locksley's wife and son. It was thought for a time that the minor was a recruit, but that proved to be false.
In addition to the woeful records and the DWI, Locksley had a age and sex discrimination complaint filed against him by a former administrative assistant (which was later withdrawn) and was suspended for punching an assistant coach in the face.
Locksley was hired as Maryland's offensive coordinator this past offseason to replace Gary Crowton, and has already made a huge splash in the recruiting game. The Terps' 2012 class finished with a huge bang, and the 2013 class is getting off to an incredibly fast start.
Nickname:
Mike "Lox" Locksley
Career Highlight:
Landing somewhat on his feet after the New Mexico disaster.
Career Lowlight:
Everything that happened in New Mexico.
Dream Season:
Perry Hills does well in his true freshman season, Diggs is utilized effectively, and Locksley figures out a proper rotation for the four backs.
Nightmare Season:
None of those things happen.
2012 Prospectus:
Somehow, Mike Locksley has managed to get a second chance in major college football, and this is going to be a tough one. There's a lot of potential with this Maryland program (and Locksley's recruiting efforts are in large part responsible for that), but the offense this year could be rough to watch.
On the offensive line, there's actually a pretty solid group. Fulper and Gilbert (when healthy) are proven starters, Conaboy has been getting rave reviews at center, the winner of the Arnett/Cary battle should be a solid contributor, and Klemm has been quietly good off the bench in his Maryland career. There's a capable back-up at each of those positions, as well as two talented incoming freshmen in Mike Madaras and Nick Brigham.
In terms of pass catchers, there's some talent, and some experience. Kevin Dorsey is the only one who really has an abundance of both, but this could be a breakout year for Kerry Boykins. Stefon Diggs will be breaking down the door to get playing time, and the combination of Marcus Leak, Nigel King and Tyrek Cheeseboro should produce at least one playmaker.
At running back, there are four quality guys in Justus Pickett, Brandon Ross, Albert Reid and Wes Brown. Pickett is the only one of the group with a collegiate snap, but all are talented and the competition should spur at least one into a good, if not great, season.
And thanks to the quarterback situation, Maryland should be running a lot. That's nothing against any of the three that are there now - true freshmen and players who just switched to quarterback just generally don't do too well in a major conference at quarterback, and we were only now starting to get warm to the fact that C.J. Brown could be the answer. Perry Hills and Devin Burns are both good on the ground (with Hills likely having a better arm) and Caleb Rowe is a good pocket passer. If Locksley can wrangle something out of two true freshmen and a converted wide receiver at the most important position in an offense, maybe we can all believe in miracles.
Up Next:
Our next one is our last one, so a final piece of trivia to crown the winner.
In the year that Randy Edsall took over at Connecticut, who won the award for best offensive player at that division and where did he go to school?
Maryland1206 takes the lead back.
Standings:
Maryland1206 - 13
Terpsonfire - 12
Dirty_Terps - 10
kbuts151 - 6
bubbasparks - 5
ClickClack62 - 3
Terpsfinish - 2
curterp - 2
fballplyr92 - 2
T Free - 1
Mdak06 - 1
clevesanterp - 1
CSB Jack - 1
trueterpfan81 - 1
Everybody else - 0