As the Maryland football team began its weight lifting session Wednesday morning, strength and conditioning coach Rick Court paced around the room wearing a Big Ten hat and holding a Big Ten sign.
Defensive back Josh Woods greeted the coach.
“He doesn’t say ‘Hi,'” Woods recounted Wednesday afternoon. “I don’t think he said anything other than, ‘It’s Big Ten week. It’s Big Ten week.'”
The reminders of the Terps’ conference opener against Purdue on Saturday at Maryland Stadium continued at practice, where the coaches held Big Ten signs during the stretching portion.
They drank “Big Ten water” when the players took a break, though wide receiver DeAndre Lane said its no different than what the Terps have been drinking all season.
“It’s really good,” coach DJ Durkin said. “It’s cool. It’s refreshing. It provides hydration.”
Unlike last year, when the Terps dropped two early games in nonconference play, the Terps enter their Big Ten slate with an unblemished record. But for Durkin’s bunch, the early success isn’t enough.
“Our goals aren’t to win our nonconference games and nothing else this year,” Durkin said.
While the team spent its bye week recovering from a double-overtime victory against University of Central Florida, the Terps also reverted to the physical nature the staff established during fall camp.
Defensive coordinator Andy Buh emphasized tackling. He reviewed the process — planting the near foot in the ground and powering through with the same shoulder — and worked on fundamentals when battling opponents in the open field.
He reminded the Terps that takedowns aren’t always supposed to be “pretty.” He often sees his young players looking to make a hard hit, and they lunge off balance and whiff. After each practice, Buh assigned many of the newcomers 15 or 20 reps against the one-man sled to enforce the proper technique.
He doesn’t expect Purdue’s offense to operate at the same tempo as UCF, but he acknowledged Boilermakers quarterback David Blough, who Buh said has a penchant for big plays. In three games, Blough has completed 60 percent of his passes despite tossing seven interceptions.
Woods will look to limit those plays in his first start, as he will replace first-team safety Denzel Conyers, who suffered a torn ACL against the Knights. He’ll be ready if Purdue tries to target him.
“They can if they want,” Woods said. “They can test me if they want. It’ll be fun. I mean, maybe not for them, but it will be fun.”
On offense, quarterback Perry Hills also displayed that tough mindset in recovering from the shoulder injury he suffered on the second-to-last play in Orlando.
Offensive coordinator Walt Bell joked Hills would have “fist-fought” him to play if the Terps had a game the next day. Instead, Hills used the bye week to recover, and the Terps expect him to be ready for the homecoming tilt.
The redshirt senior will receive some help from a returning veteran in the backfield, too, as running back Wes Brown will make his 2016 debut. He served a three-game suspension to start the season after last year’s staff suspended him indefinitely in November.
His rotation, though, won’t be much of an adjustment. He couldn’t play in games, but Brown has taken equal snaps with the offense in practice. Bell said the senior hasn’t gotten a day off from contact drills, mainly so he emphasizes taking care of the ball and not feeling pressured to rattle off long gains in live action.
Maryland has preached that patience throughout the season, and the players hope this mindset brings the Terps another victory.
“When you’re 3-0, it’s the most fun you could have after three games,” left tackle Michael Dunn said. “We’ve just got to hopefully take it one step at a time, one game at a time. [If] we’ll get to 4-0, I’m sure 4-0 will be a lot more fun than 3-0.”
