COLLEGE PARK, MD - NOVEMBER 22: A general view of SECU Stadium at the University of Maryland prior to the Michigan Wolverines game versus the Maryland Terrapins on November 22, 2025. (Photo by Mark Goldman/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty ImagesAfter a long, long offseason, Maryland football is set to start its 2026 season on September 5. For many fans, the beginning of each new season brings renewed hope and promise (and maybe some slightly more complex feelings for yours truly, who will be spending his 21st birthday evening in the booth as the Terps play Hampton).With one month remaining before the opening kick, the Terps hosted a media day in SECU Stadiums Tyser Tower, beginning to pull the curtains back on the work they have done in an aim to not finish 4-8 for a third straight season. Here are some takeaways from the Terps media day. The full video is available to watch here.Shift in mindsetThe first topic head coach Mike Locksley chose to address in his opening statement was the teams attitude with respect to the upcoming season: work over words.A verse from the Bible quarterback Malik Washington used at the end of last season made its way back into the conversation this year: Proverbs 14:23.All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.New International Version BibleAll those losses we had a year ago have now become lessons for a really talented young team, Locksley said. The wisdom and experience that we gained going through it I think will benefit us.Locksley said during the press conference that the team played more conservatively last year than he had had his teams play previously because of Washingtons inexperience entering the season not only was he a true freshman, but he also missed all of training camp with an injury. He said the team will play a much more spread offense this year, which he believes will better fit Washingtons skillset and is the system Locksley said he has been recruiting him to play since eighth grade.The best thing about we did in Pep [Hamilton, former OC]s offense was that we taught Malik how to play quarterback in the Big Ten, Locksley said. To me, now that he has that understanding, operating out of the spread where the picture becomes a little more consistent, things become a little clearer because of the formations and the personnel groupings, thats where well see the difference.One frequent talking point that was addressed was Marylands returning production 71% of its overall production last year, an impressive number for a college football program in any era, let alone the NIL era. Locksley addressed that pessimists could say that bringing back so much of a 4-8 team may not be a great thing, but he said he was excited by a lot of talent from a team that was a few drives away from being a 7-win team returned. Weve had two different 4-8 seasons. And yeah, at the end of the day, its 4-8, and I am not diminishing that I am a 4-8 coach the last two years, Locksley said. But the 4-8 last year was a lot different than the 4-8 in the year before. And because of that, it was the leadership I saw out of this group. There was not one game last year that I didnt feel we were competing, we didnt quit, where we werent laying it all on the line.However, he also said the team was a little behind where he wanted to be when he was bringing in several high school recruits last year and envisioning their first-year growth.Run game improvement is a priorityOne of the biggest stumbling blocks for Marylands 2025 offense was its inability to move the ball on the ground. The Terps averaged 4.1 yards per carry and 104.3 rushing yards per game last year. Everyone in the building knew that was an area that needed to get better.Maliks ability with his feet will really be the thing that helps our run game as much as anything, Locksley said.New offensive coordinator Clint Trickett could be the answer. His offense at Jacksonville State averaged 5.3 yards per carry and 246.7 rushing yards per game the latter mark sixth-best in the country last year.Trickett professed his love for the air raid offense and said he wanted to take advantage of having a Malik Washington-caliber quarterback, which he had not yet had in his offensive coordinator career. He said he wanted to take advantage of Washingtons arm strength and ability to zip the ball outside the hashes on a wire by stretching the field in a similar manner to what Tennessee did with former quarterback Joe Milton. At the same time, Trickett said there will be a point of emphasis on the run game. He also expressed faith in the Terps running back corps making a jump.Theres competition across the [offense] in every position, but that room is definitely one where you think you maybe have a 1, but who is the 2, who is the 3, who is the next one in there, Trickett said when asked if DeJuan Williams was the presumptive top running back. He compared his receiver, running back and tight end rooms to basketball teams, talking about utilizing different players in different roles. According to Trickett, one of the core principles of the offense is keeping tempo and a sense of urgency. He also spoke about spacing, talking about using all 53.3 yards of width and 120 yards of length of the field. That will be a large departure from the 2025 offense, which played a lot of condensed sets.A year ago our skill didnt play with a lot of production, we maybe didnt put them in the best possible positions, myself included, Locksley said.Defense got deeperTestudo Times will go into more detail on how the depth charts are looking for the Terps with our position group previews, which will begin to drop at the end of next week.But defensive coordinator Ted Monachino has been given a lot of toys to play with. A year ago those young players, Zahir [Mathis] and Sid[ney Stewart], both missed an extraordinary amount of time with high ankle sprains, lower leg injuries, and we didnt necessarily have the same talent to put in behind them, Locksley said. Well now, we feel like weve created some depth, especially within the front seven.The names of Maryland defenders that can be expected to contribute at a Big Ten level run deep.On the edge: Sidney Stewart. Zahir Mathis. Zion Elee. Nahsir Taylor. DD Holmes. The defensive interior: Lavon Johnson. Derrick LeBlanc. Armon and Jayvon Parker. Eyan Thomas. Bryce Jenkins.At linebacker: Daniel Wingate. CJ Smith. Trey Reddick. Steven Dean. Darius Grimes. A wildcard in former collegiate basketball player Jordan Williams that the team seems high on. The year after the Terps had 19 interceptions, the sixth-most in the country, it appears the weakest depth point of Marylands defense is in the secondary. That depth issue was only exacerbated over the summer, with Locksley confirming Wednesday that cornerback Dontay Joyner will not return to the program. Locksley said hes not treating it any differently than a season-ending injury or transfer, though, and said he knew there were players that could step up. He named two newcomers, Darrell Carey and Zahir Cobb, as players that could elevate.Monachino said that his attitude toward that position group pride for what they did a year ago in terms of takeovers but dissatisfaction with what they didnt do a year ago in missing plays and opportunities.Its about the next step now, he said. Priority number one is to find out who the two outside guys are and who the nickel is because were going to play 70% of our snaps in that personnel That clump of guys behind them, at this stage, I think you throw them all up in the air and whatever order they come down in is going to be the order in which they find a role.Monachino said there are established leaders in pretty much every position group except for the defensive line room, which saw a large amount of turnover over the offseason the first four interior defensive linemen named above didnt play for Maryland in 2025.The defensive coordinator also fielded a question about he plans to combine and utilize his three top edge rushers, Stewart, Mathis and Elee, but he only said they would look to play to the strengths of each player, with the focus for Elee being what he is currently best at. Production from them would be the best cure for a comparatively thin secondary.

CHICAGO Alessio Milivojevic confidently strode across the stage and sat down on the dais, snappily dressed in a dark-colored pinstripe suit that blended into the black table cloth and microphone in front of him.Any nervousness that he showed last fall as a redshirt freshman who was thrust into the Michigan State football quarterback job also faded with every answer to every question at Big Ten media day. He knows now he is the starter and face of the program going into Pat Fitzgeralds first season, and Milivojevics comfort at the podium came from advice he got recently from his new coach.I think its just being yourself at the end of the day, Milivojevic said last week. Im just coming up here talking as if I was talking to one of my best friends right now.As the Spartans prepare to open preseason camp on Thursday, Aug. 6, Milivojevic and his 104 teammates will spend the next month building their bonds inside the walls of Case Hall. Thats where they will be living when they are not across Chestnut Road at the football complex working toward Fitzgeralds debut game against Toledo on Friday night, Sept. 4, across Shaw Lane at Spartan Stadium.Fitzgerald, a former All-American and College Football Hall of Fame linebacker who spent 17 seasons as head coach at his alma mater Northwestern, flashed back to his days in high school and college. He brought back the tradition of putting the Spartans in the dorms for camp because of the friendships and connections he cultivated as a player and watched as a coach before being dubiously dispatched by Northwestern before the 2023 season.I'm just honored to be here, I'm humbled to coach our guys, Fitzgerald said at Big Ten Media Days. I love our guys. And it's been so impressive to me, in an era where it's about me, to see our group of guys be about each other. And we've been talking about that since the moment we arrived in East Lansing we'll only be as strong as our commitment to each other and the relationship we build. And they have to do it.We can facilitate this team-building thing or that, that's all cute for social media. But they really gotta pour into each other, and they've done that.MORE: 5 Michigan State football questions as Pat Fitzgerald opens 1st campAll eyes are on Fitzgerald as he tries to restore the tarnished reputations both he and MSU have endured over the past three years. He recognized and expressed his admiration for how Curt Cignetti turned Indiana in two seasons into a national champion, but he also knows his situation is different. And the two tenets Fitzgerald talked about when he was hired in December improving toughness and strength are among the biggest building blocks he believes will get the Spartans back to a bowl game for the first time since 2021. And returning MSU to the togetherness it won with under Mark Dantonio also is high on his priority list, particularly as camp begins.Overall, the culture building has been great, Milivojevic said. I think the team, he really wants us to focus on genuine relationship-building. When you have a team, you dont want to be a ton of individuals, you want to come together as one.Milivojevic, who is from Naperville, Illinois, brings the Chicagoland toughness at quarterback that Fitzgerald exuded on the other side of the ball. Last season, when the Spartans lost at Iowa, Fitzgerald watched as Milivojevic was sacked twice and hit hard a number of other times. That came after Milivojevic got dropped seven times in his starting debut at Minnesota, 16 times in his nine appearances overall. But he had MSU within a score of winning both games in a 4-8 season that ended without a postseason trip and with Jonathan Smiths firing after a two-year tenure.I watched 'Less compete in Kinnick last year, and he got his lips absolutely frickin' knocked off. And he kept getting up and getting up and getting up and getting up.In short, a model for how Fitzgerald envisions the Spartans this season and beyond.I know exactly the play hes talking about. A 15-yard penalty, by the way, Milivojevic said. My mouth may have been bleeding, I may have been coughing up blood. But its very cool to hear a guy whos been through the Big Ten for many, many years as a head coach talk about you like that.And now, hell be my coach. And I can show him in person how I am a tough guy.NEW ERA: Pat Fitzgerald's promise? Michigan State football to win titles againReviving the physical and tenacious brand of football Dantonio used to turn MSU into a consistent winner during the late 2000s and 2010s for the first time in nearly 50 years is a priority for Fitzgerald. But so is establishing his own identity for a program that has lacked one in football since Dantonio retired as the Spartans all-time winningest coach two months after the 2019 season ended.There are snippets of Dantonios gregarious personality in Fitzgerald, who is charming and quotable and still looks like he could level an oncoming running back. There also is a shared urgency to restore MSU football after two failed coaching experiments, as Nick Saban-acolyte Dantonio did in following Bobby Williams and John L. Smith during seven years of darkness after Sabans departure.But, at least for now, there isnt any of the defiant gruffness Dantonio became beloved for by Spartan fans. Hes more like Tom Izzo, who Fitzgerald said he is leaning on for leadership and guidance in learning his new home and navigating a first season without an athletic director. A beer-and-burger guy, as both Izzo and Fitzgerald have said about school president Kevin Guskiewicz, to potentially give MSU its most aligned top-down academics-to-athletics direction in a decade.Fitzgerald knows hes getting a second chance. Hes leaning into his affable personality to win back fans and the football cognoscenti that watched Mel Tuckers tenure implode and Smith fail to get off the ground or generate any spark the past two years. He called himself a Big Ten guy and considered MSU one of the short-list schools where he would fit.His next step is to build a team to fit that identity that defines who he, Dantonio and Izzo are. True to themselves.I'm just trying to be genuine and authentic in who I am, Fitzgerald said. I chose to do this again. So I'm just going right down the middle, man. Fastball, right down the middle.Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him@chrissolari.Subscribe to the "Spartan Speak" podcast for new episodes onApple Podcasts,Spotify or anywhere you listen to podcasts.This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Pat Fitzgerald sees toughness MSU football needs in Alessio Milivojevic

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