On the opening kickoff of the second half of the Maryland football team’s game Saturday, linebacker Isaiah Davis lowered his shoulder and knocked Penn State kicker Joey Julius to the ground.
The hit came a few seconds after Julius’ kick had sailed out of bounds, and coach DJ Durkin was livid. He spoke to the redshirt freshman on the field before referees ejected Davis for targeting.
Durkin also condemned the foul Tuesday afternoon in the opening statement of his weekly press conference when he announced Davis’ suspension for this weekend’s game against Minnesota.
“Isaiah is a starter on three or four of our special teams, and he will not participate,” Durkin said. “I just want to make a point of Isaiah is a great young man. He’s a great member of our team. We love him. He made a very bad decision.”
The first-year coach said he spent time with Davis after the game discussing the foul. The Terps also talked about the penalty as a team, and Durkin wanted his group to understand the program will not tolerate the behavior.
“Aggressive penalties in a game I can take, I can understand,” Durkin said. “There’s things that happen fast in a football game, where, you know, it’s sometimes hard to avoid, so we’re certainly not going to be in the business of suspending guys based on penalties in a game.
“This, to me, was different, just something that there’s no room for that in the great game of college football.”
The Terps took notice of the message.
“He understands if there’s, like, a penalty that could not be avoided or is just an accident, but penalties like that, he doesn’t stand for,” center Brendan Moore said. “He doesn’t condone it … and his actions make that pretty clear.”
“Coach is really disciplined about what he wants,” cornerback Will Likely added. “I mean, you got to expect that.”
Davis’ penalty wiped out the chance for the Terps to start the drive on Penn State’s 35-yard line, as Julius’ kick went out of bounds. Instead, the Nittany Lions re-kicked, and the offense went 3-and-out on the ensuing possession.
Durkin didn’t elaborate on Davis’ explanation for the penalty, which came a week after Minnesota linebacker Jaylen Waters was ejected for a similar hit on Julius.
“The bottom line [is,] more than any other explanation of not, what happened on the field was wrong,” Durkin said. “It’s putting yourself above the team, and like I said, it’s disrespecting the game, and our team, the opponent, everyone. Isaiah knows he’s wrong.”
