Randy Edsall speaks at Big Ten Media Day
By Chris Bengel
Maryland coach Randy Edsall addressed the media at Big Ten Media Day on Thursday afternoon. Here’s some of Edsall’s comments from that press conference:
On the switch to the 4-3 defense:
“When you take a look at your personnel, we felt that our personnel would be more suited better in the 4-3. Now we can get Yannick Ngakoue to put his hand down and I think he’ll even be more effective playing on the edge. We felt it would be better for us. We made a move where we moved Cavon Walker from a linebacker to a defensive end. We have some big guys up front with David Shaw and Kingsley Opara with Quinton Jefferson coming back and Malik Jones. We felt we had a little bit more depth. We want to be able to attack downhill a little bit faster and get those double teams off the defensive lineman and that singles people up. That also gives us a chance to be a little bit more aggressive on defense, which is what we want to be able to do.”
On Will Likely being the anchor of the secondary:
“Will is one of those rare and unique young men. He just has some of those special attributes about himself. He might be 5’8, but he plays like he’s 6’4. Will brings a presence to the defense and to the secondary, one of hard work and preparation. He’s somebody that going to find a way to be successful. The thing I really like about Will is that he has been a lot more vocal. He’s taken on a lot more of a leadership role with our team. The players respect him. I don’t know if I’ve been around a guy that’s so competitive. You see what he does for us on special team as a punt and kick returner. He’s very valuable, but he’s a very humble kid. His leadership and work ethic really rubs off on everyone in our program.”
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On Daxx Garman:
“He throws a very accurate and catchable ball and he’s challenging Caleb Rowe and Perry Hills for the quarterback job. He’s an experienced young man and won at a very high level. He came from a very good high school program and is someone that has adapted and fit in really well with our team.”
On the Penn State win:
“It showed kids that we can compete with them and we can win. I think kids look at that. Penn State has always had a niche for being able to come down to Maryland and take players up there. That’s one of the things that we knew. If we wanted to get some recruits, we’d have to beat them on the field. Any time you can beat a team on the field, it certainly helps you in recruiting.”
On Brad Craddock:
“It’s great to have somebody like Brad as consistent as he is. It’s a little bit of a crutch sometimes for a coach because you have a guy that can put the ball through consistent. You can go for that two or three yards and you might be able to get it. It gets you thinking because you have Mr. Automatic on the sidelines. The neat thing about Brad is that he came here as a punter from Australia and worked very hard to become a kicker. To become the best kicker in the country is a tremendous story. The best leader we have on our football team is Brad Craddock.”