Maryland football spring practice notes: Injured WRs, D'Andre Payne impresses

Quotes from Randy Edsall, via a school release.

On today's practice:

"The big thing about spring and what you are doing today was really the first day we really kind of got after it. You are looking to see some of these young guys that are out there really kind of going live for the first time to see how they respond. You are looking for communication on both sides of the ball. Today we lined up offsides on defense a couple of times and the same thing offensively, had some false starts and those are the things you don't want to have but sometimes you get because guys are so anxious and wanting to do things. Now we can go back in, watch the film and teach from the things that we saw. Overall, we got just about every situation covered today."

On Levern Jacobs:

"I have a lot of admiration for Levern because of the fact that even though he couldn't play last fall the one thing that he did is he really busted his tail on the scout team. He ended up making himself better last year even though he wasn't playing in games because of the approach he took to say ‘ok I can't play, but I can get better and I can help my teammates be better in terms of how hard I go and everything else.' You can see the difference in him because of that approach and how hard he worked. I think Levern is a very talented receiver. I think there are things he can do and he has proven in games that he has very good speed, he can catch the ball, he's got toughness, he's got those things that you look for. I think he has a chance to be an outstanding receiver for us this year."

On how the wide receivers have looked during practice:

"The problem that we have is we have a bunch of guys banged up. Juwann [Winfree] is out, Taivon [Jacobs] is out, Amba [Etta-Tawo] is out. I think Marcus [Leak] still has to learn to be more consistent with what he is doing. I think Will [Ulmer] has made progress. There is just a lot of stuff there that we have to get him honed in on things. I think DeAndre [Lane] has been pretty consistent, the same thing for Malcolm [Culmer]. We have to get all those other guys to step up a little bit more as we continue to go through the rest of these practices."

On D'Andre Payne:

"He is a young man who is really working hard and is trying to do all the things we are asking him to do and he has. He has made some plays out there in practice. The big thing is for him to continue to really work his technique and get better at learning all the things that are going on. He is out there competing and hustling, knowing here is a guy who is going to have to sit for a year, but he is taking advantage of the opportunities that he is getting."

On Brad Craddock and the kicking game:

"We are working with the operation. Brad is fine in terms of what he is doing. Now we need to get the holder in place and we are kind of looking at some different guys there. We are using Nick Pritchard right now as a holder. We thought about using Caleb [Rowe], but he can't really do anything out there even down on a knee. That is something that we will continue to work out and will have it all straightened out by the time we get to preseason practice in terms of who the holder will be."

On running backs coach Terry Richardson:

"Terry is an outstanding coach. He has tremendous experience, both as a player and a coach at the collegiate level and a coach at the NFL level. He is a proven developer of talent. He has had guys who have rushed the ball for quite a few yards. The thing about Terry is, he is a guy who is going to develop the running backs holistically in terms of they are going to be guys who can pass black, they are going to be guys who catch the ball, they are going to be guys who can run, who understand what is happening in front of them. We had the one today, but we haven't seen the ball on the ground really in terms of our running backs this spring. I see running backs running with a little bit more determination, getting downhill and doing the things you have to do to get positive yards."