Maryland head coach Mike Locksley impressed with Indiana football, Curt Cignetti: ‘He’s done a tremendous job with that team’

Indiana football welcomes in the Maryland Terrapins to Memorial Stadium on Saturday for the second Big Ten game of the season.

The Hoosiers enter 4-0 — the first time a head coach has won his first four games in Indiana football program history.

Maryland enters Saturday at 3-1 with its lone loss coming to Michigan State.

Below are some key comments from Maryland head coach Mike Locksley, in addition to the full media availability.

On Curt Cignetti: “Indiana man, Curt Cignetti, he’s done a tremendous job with that team. If you look at the way he’s coached and he came up from Elon, JMU, continued the great tradition JMU had and then he had this opportunity at Indiana … he comes from a football family and I can tell you they’re well coached. He came from the same tree — he’s been under coach Saban. When you watch this team, they’re not going to give us this game. They’re the team — they will make us beat them. For us, that is the challenge. We are a team that kinda makes some mistakes but we also can score points if things go well … this game is going to come down to — they’ll figure out who to take away from us and our complimentary players, someone will have to step up and play big for us in this game … they’re not going to let out best players win.”

On Zach Horton: “Their tight end is the guy that makes them go. If you look at him on the stat sheet — maybe he doesn’t have a bunch of stats, but he is the glue for them on offense. And this guy is really talented in the run game and that’s where sometimes we get enamored with catches and production there, but as a coach, when you look at things — I think of them on offense, that tight end is the heart and soul of it and he’s effective in the run game and plays the — style of play is what you like when you respect the opponent.”

On Kurtis Rourke: “That quarterback is tough as nails … really talented player and he’s playing at a high level. He’s a little bit of the Colandrea kid (Virginia quarterback) and also that moxie I talked about with Villanova’s quarterback a week ago, and then the big arm of [Aiden Chiles] from Michigan State… he’s kind of a mixture. And that’s why, the way this season has been set up, our first games have prepared us for this first road trip in the Big Ten. I’m looking forward to seeing how we respond.”

On some other personnel: “Their best players on defense are the two linebackers who were with them a year ago at JMU (Aiden Fisher and Jailin Walker). They have a corner (D’Angelo Ponds) that knows the system. They got two guys up front (Mikail Kamara, James Carpenter). So this isn’t an Indiana team that has a bunch of people that don’t know each other.”

Below is the full video Q&A:

SEE ALSO: Indiana football is off to a record start in many ways. Yet, Curt Cignetti stressing ‘not taking the rat poison’ and avoiding the ‘warm fuzzies’ with arrival of Big Ten play

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