Maryland Terrapins (3-5, 1-4 Big Ten) head coach Michael Locksley met with the media Tuesday afternoon to preview the homecoming game against Michigan (6-2, 3-2) on Saturday (12 p.m., ABC).
The Wolverines are fresh off of a 45-14 win over Notre Dame last week, while the Terrapins are looking to recover from three straight losses, the latest being a 52-10 blowout loss at Minnesota.
Locksley talked about his quarterback situation, the challenges U-M will pose and more.
RELATED: News & Views: Harbaugh On NFL Rumors, Dax Hill
RELATED: Beyond The Box Score: Sainristil, Haskins Enjoy Career Nights Vs. Irish
Maryland’s Quarterback Situation
It's been a revolving door under center this year for Maryland. Redshirt junior Josh Jackson, an Ann Arbor native and the son of former longtime U-M running backs coach Fred Jackson, was the starter to begin the year, but sustained an injury against Rutgers Oct. 5. Jackson returned last week against Minnesota in spot duty.
Redshirt sophomore Tyrrell Pigrome took over the starting duties following Jackson's injury before being hurt himself in the Minnesota game. He is questionable to play against U-M this week.
Pigrome has thrown for 642 yards on the season and completed 61 of 102 attempts (59.8 percent) for three touchdowns and five interceptions. Jackson is 70 of 139 through the air (50.4 percent) for 968 yards with 10 scores and four interceptions.
"''Piggy' is on a limited schedule for us today. He’s what we would call limited," Locksley said of Pigrome's status. "So, obviously, Josh will take the reps with the first-team guys and [redshirt freshman] Tyler DeSue will serve kind of as the second-team guy until we can get more information.
"It’s my expectation that 'Piggy' will get better as the week goes along. There was nothing structurally wrong, other than a hyperextension there.
"[Tuesday] and Wednesday are really big work days for us, so we’ll see how much we can get out of 'Piggy' when he comes out to practice today, but we expect him to be available. But going into today’s practice, Josh will take the first-team reps and Tyler DeSue will get the second-team reps."
Jackson was in for three snaps against Minnesota and finished 0-of-2 passing.
"With the time off and only having played limited reps Saturday, I feel like he’s better," Locksley said. "Based off of yesterday, he feels a lot better.
"This week will be about building the confidence, getting back out there and seeing him operate the system and see if he’ll be able to operate it with his full ability. We’ll get a chance to see today."
On The Challenges The Wolverines Present The Terrapins
U-M has improved on both sides of the ball in recent weeks, while Maryland had a hot start to the season, winning its first two games before losing five out the last six.
"Michigan poses another tremendous challenge for us," Locksley said. "They're a team that's obviously coming in ranked. They have a top-10 defense. They've been running the ball effectively, especially the last three games.
"For us, the challenge will be to find a way to contain their run game and manage to attack a very aggressive defense. They're well-coached with Coach [Jim] Harbaugh and his coaching staff. We expect to get their best."
The struggling Maryland offense will have to face an aggressive U-M defense that seems to be playing with a growing confidence.
"Again, Michigan is a top-10 defense," Locksley said. "[Defensive coordinator] Don Brown does a tremendous job on that side of the ball with the way they coach, they pressure.
"You know what you’re going to get — they play man coverage, they’re going to have more numbers in the box than you can block, they try to create the one-on-one matchups up front with their front seven, between their inside linebackers, No. 7 [Khaleke Hudson], the two defensive ends are both really active players, No. 97 [Aidan Hutchinson] and No. 19 [Kwity Paye] are really active, and No. 2 [Carlo Kemp] is a twitchy interior player.
"They pose a great challenge, but our guys come to play at Maryland because of these opportunities to play against the best, and we’ll definitely see one of the better fronts this weekend. It’s a great challenge, but I think our guys will be up to the task."
Stopping the run will not be an easy task for Locksley's group. U-M ran for 303 yards against Notre Dame, 141 the week prior against Penn State and 295 the week before that against Illinois. Maryland allowed a staggering 321 yards on the ground to the Golden Gophers last week.
"Michigan comes in as a team that, the last three weeks, has run the ball really well," Locksley noted. "We put it on film that we struggled last week maintaining our gaps because we had enough guys in the gaps, but we weren’t in the gaps we needed to be in, so we got to get that corrected."
---
• Talk about this article inside The Fort
• Watch our videos and subscribe to our YouTube channel
• Listen and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, The Wolverine
• Sign up for our newsletter, The Wolverine Now
• Follow us on Twitter: @TheWolverineMag, @Balas_Wolverine, @EJHolland_TW, @AustinFox42, @JB_ Wolverine, Clayton Sayfie and @DrewCHallett
• Like us on Facebook
