Mike Locksley has ‘Sabanized’ practice at Maryland

Mike Locksley spent three years under Nick Saban at Alabama, so it makes sense he’d take some of Saban’s practice strategies with him to Maryland. But as it turns out, Locksley took more than just some of the strategies with him.

“I’ve been Sabanized,” Locksley joked. “I still make us do 9-on-7 with two tight ends, we put a fullback in the game and we bang a little bit there. Then we spread it out a little bit.”

Locksley worked his way from offensive analyst to offensive coordinator during his time with the Crimson Tide from 2016-18. Then, he took the job at Maryland, where he now coaches Taulia Tagovailoa — whose brother, Tua Tagovailoa, was Locksley’s starting quarterback in Tuscaloosa.

Locksley said with the Terrapins, he’s tried to put his own spin on practices while still pulling from his time with Saban. In fact, he said there’s a specific formula to it, almost like when you make a good dessert.

“The practice plan, I call it grandma’s chocolate chip cookie recipe,” Locksley said on ESPN’s Always College Football podcast. “If it calls for four cups of brown sugar, why would you put three in? I try to follow the script of the way we practiced [at Alabama] and we were able to do some great things under Coach Saban. We’ve taken some of those things. But obviously, I think the difference is as a coach is you’ve got to put your personality on it and you’ve got to know your personnel.

“As we continue to develop our roster and grow depth — which, to me, this is the deepest we’ve been. This is the most returning starters, the most efficiency in all three phases we’ve had since I’ve been here. I’m excited to see what this year offers us.”

Mike Locksley hilariously declares best quarterback from Alabama’s 2018 team

In 2018, Alabama’s quarterback room consisted of Tua Tagovailoa, Jalen Hurts and Mac Jones. Not bad, right? All three ended up becoming NFL starting quarterbacks, which speaks to the amount of talent in that room that year.

McElroy asked Locksley who he thinks the best quarterback was of that group — Tagovailoa, Hurts or Jones. The 2018 Broyles Award winner found a way to get around the question and give a humorous answer in the process.

“I tell you what, I really like ‘Tua J. Mac,’” Locksley said. “‘Tua J. Mac,’ I thought he was the best of all of those three guys. You didn’t mention his name, but he was sitting in that room. ‘Tua J. Mac.’”