The Maryland Terrapin football team had a busy Monday, starting the day with a tour of the Capitol and finishing with its last practice before squaring off with East Carolina on Wednesday.
After taking a team photo and touring the Capitol in the morning, head coach Ralph Friedgen, wide receiver Torrey Smith and linebacker Alex Wujciak represented the Terrapins at a Military Bowl news conference. They were joined by East Carolina head coach Ruffin McNeill, wide receiver Dwayne Harris and linebacker Melvin Patterson.
Then the Terps held their final practice before Wednesday's game with ECU, a practice that was also the last for Maryland's senior class. Maryland honored its tradition of carrying each senior off the field following their final practice, and the Terps also carried off Friedgen, who is coaching the team for the final time on Wednesday.
Friedgen talked at the news conference about how much he has grown to like this team, from going 2-10 last year to 8-4 this season.
"This has been a special group for me. Last year when everybody was down on us, I never got down on the kids. It's because of the effort they gave every day; many, many times they motivated me and I knew they were going to be good. Everybody seems surprised by our success this year, but I'm not surprised in the least. In fact, I just started to see us hit our stride right now, and that's one of the reasons why I wanted to continue."
Maryland has a walk-through at RFK Stadium Tuesday, as well as a Military Bowl luncheon, before holding meetings to make final preparations for East Carolina.
Click
here to view a photo gallery of the day's events.
Quotes from Monday's news conference:
Friedgen's opening statement:
"We'd like to thank the Military Bowl, Northrop Grumman, and the USO for supporting this bowl. I think our players have had a wonderful time. It's been a little bit different practicing at home; we actually went home for Christmas. So there were some positives there that I think our kids really enjoyed. I think the city of Washington has been great. It's going to be a great opportunity to go up against East Carolina University. They have a fine football team, very explosive, and I'm sure it's going to be a great game."
On what the week has been like:
"Being with the players for the last time, it's pretty special. You know, it's kind of like you died and it's a slow death. Everything you experience is for the last time. It's been a very stressful week for me, especially from an emotional standpoint. I'm looking to go out one more time with the players."
Alex Wujciak
On what this week has been like:
"It's definitely been an emotional week, just getting back here and having a meeting with Coach Friedgen in front of the whole team, him just telling us everything that happened. Obviously it got out into the media but he wanted to tell us first, so that was an emotional day. This afternoon we have practice and its kind of our last practice as a team. We're going to go out there and change jersey numbers; wide receivers wear lineman numbers and we have a traditional carry off the field for the seniors. We'll probably carry Coach Friedgen off the field as well."
Torrey Smith
On whether the players have cherished the moments this week:
"To be honest these practices the past few days have been fun. We've been excited and everyone is getting into it, it's just been an all around good vibe from the whole team. I can't say we've been cherishing the moment but it's another life lesson for us. As good as things may seem, you just never know what can happen. Everyone's kind of taking it all in and just trying to get ready to play a great ECU team. But we definitely cherish these moments and were definitely thankful to be here in the Military Bowl. We have an opportunity to play in front of our fan base."
Then the Terps held their final practice before Wednesday's game with ECU, a practice that was also the last for Maryland's senior class. Maryland honored its tradition of carrying each senior off the field following their final practice, and the Terps also carried off Friedgen, who is coaching the team for the final time on Wednesday.
Friedgen talked at the news conference about how much he has grown to like this team, from going 2-10 last year to 8-4 this season.
"This has been a special group for me. Last year when everybody was down on us, I never got down on the kids. It's because of the effort they gave every day; many, many times they motivated me and I knew they were going to be good. Everybody seems surprised by our success this year, but I'm not surprised in the least. In fact, I just started to see us hit our stride right now, and that's one of the reasons why I wanted to continue."
Maryland has a walk-through at RFK Stadium Tuesday, as well as a Military Bowl luncheon, before holding meetings to make final preparations for East Carolina.
Click
here to view a photo gallery of the day's events.Quotes from Monday's news conference:
Friedgen's opening statement:
"We'd like to thank the Military Bowl, Northrop Grumman, and the USO for supporting this bowl. I think our players have had a wonderful time. It's been a little bit different practicing at home; we actually went home for Christmas. So there were some positives there that I think our kids really enjoyed. I think the city of Washington has been great. It's going to be a great opportunity to go up against East Carolina University. They have a fine football team, very explosive, and I'm sure it's going to be a great game."
On what the week has been like:
"Being with the players for the last time, it's pretty special. You know, it's kind of like you died and it's a slow death. Everything you experience is for the last time. It's been a very stressful week for me, especially from an emotional standpoint. I'm looking to go out one more time with the players."
Alex Wujciak
On what this week has been like:
"It's definitely been an emotional week, just getting back here and having a meeting with Coach Friedgen in front of the whole team, him just telling us everything that happened. Obviously it got out into the media but he wanted to tell us first, so that was an emotional day. This afternoon we have practice and its kind of our last practice as a team. We're going to go out there and change jersey numbers; wide receivers wear lineman numbers and we have a traditional carry off the field for the seniors. We'll probably carry Coach Friedgen off the field as well."
Torrey Smith
On whether the players have cherished the moments this week:
"To be honest these practices the past few days have been fun. We've been excited and everyone is getting into it, it's just been an all around good vibe from the whole team. I can't say we've been cherishing the moment but it's another life lesson for us. As good as things may seem, you just never know what can happen. Everyone's kind of taking it all in and just trying to get ready to play a great ECU team. But we definitely cherish these moments and were definitely thankful to be here in the Military Bowl. We have an opportunity to play in front of our fan base."
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