MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Maurquice Shakir wanted to help a team. He'd done that his whole life as a football player, at the high school level, the junior college level, the Division I level and even in the NFL.
But after he spent most of 2021 training and training, waiting for another opportunity, the former Baltimore Raven and Houston Texan knew how he wanted to help next: coaching.
The journey from that point led the former Blue Raider offensive lineman back to Murfreesboro, where Shakir hit the ground running as a graduate assistant during spring practice, helping primarily with the offensive linemen while also performing more general duties with the entire offensive staff.
In between his summer work helping prepare MT for the coming fall, Shakir sat down with Staff Writer
Sam Doughton to discuss what got him back into coaching, his sense of homecoming with familiar faces on the MT staff, and what, exactly, does a GA do on a day-to-day basis?
(This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity)
First off, what has it been like coming back to Middle Tennessee?
It's been a blast! I'm getting acclimated, still, but everything has been fun for the most part. I got here during the spring, so I got to experience spring ball. And it's been a joy, honestly, and a refreshing experience going from a player to a coach.
Spring ball was pretty different from a usual spring here at MT due to the roster turnover, particularly at offensive line. What was it like to jump into that, where there were maybe only six or seven offensive linemen at practice?
For me, I wouldn't say it was normal, but I'm accustomed to it. Because in the NFL on Game Day rosters, you've got six or seven linemen that are active. So I'm used to that type of pressure. It was different coming to this level and noticing it, because we need the bodies to get the reps. But I was telling those guys, 'hey, when you get to the League, this is how it's going to be on Sundays and Mondays.'
You've played in both the NFL and XFL recently, and with leagues like the USFL popping up in recent times, you clearly could still be playing. Why did you want to come back to MT in a GA role?
I was training all of 2021, staying in shape, just being ready to go. I had a few invitational workout deals. But I was kind of, not annoyed at the process, but I was looking to do something besides just train, train, train. Either get on a team or help someone in a different way.
Coaching has always been in my mind. I would catch myself watching NFL games with my mom or my girlfriend, and I'd hear myself coaching. So I thought I should give this a shot. I told myself I would give myself until the end of the year. If I didn't hear anything concrete about playing, I would definitely get into the coaching.
I like helping others, giving them the information that they don't have. Getting them to that level, so they can come back a few years later if they want to coach and they'll have a template of how to do it.
Once you decided you wanted to get into coaching, what was the next step that led to you ending up here?
It was a hard process for me, because as Coach Stock told me, no coach wants a guy who's still contemplating on playing or coaching. So I had to really make that decision. But I made that decision with my mom and my family, and that made the transition easier.
I went to the AFCA convention in January, that was the next step. Met some different people, a few different coaches, a few different schools. But I just kept updating Coach Stock, keeping him in the loop on how things were going, where I had interviews with and all that. I had interviews with a few schools that went well, but then the next thing you know, I had an interview with Coach Stock.
What are those coaching conventions like? I've heard from a lot of coaches about how mythical they seemingly are for their development.
It was something I'd never experienced before, just having all these graduate assistants and quality control and different positional coaches all in one area, in one city, at one time. Everywhere you went, there was a coach, whether it was going to get something to eat or a bar or whatever, there was a coach there from somewhere.
It was good to connect with them, and even some of the GAs I met there from different schools. I picked their brain to see what they were doing and how they were going about it. It was different, but it was something I just jumped into. I didn't really dip my toe in water, I just dove right in.
The coaching staff has a lot of familiar faces on it from the last time you were here. Not just the coaches, like Coach Mallory, Coach Polly, Coach Stock, Coach West, Coach Beckles, but also Shane Tucker, who was a fellow senior when you were here. Brent Stockstill was your quarterback. Even Coach Gilstrap was a GA when you were a player. What has it been like for you to join a staff that has so many of your former teammates and former coaches on it?
It's been a joy, it's been very comforting to come into a situation where some of these guys who "above me" are someone I played with or who was around every single day. I respect those guys and how they went about it. Brent was a GA prior to this job, Shane was a GA prior to his job, and, like you said, Gilstrap was a GA. So I just respect their journey, their process of how they did it. And getting to pick their brains as well. Brent and Shane are both very helpful, Shane, this is his first time doing a lot of this stuff too (as a position coach).
That mixture with the older coaches as well, it's a great combination of youth and wisdom that we have. I get both sides of it. Also, I have my NFL background as well. I get all the game from them, tie it to what I know, and try to figure out the best way I can to help these guys. It's been a great experience.
A lot of folks outside of the football office might not know what a GA does on a day-to-day basis. What are some of the things you're working on now?
If it wasn't for visits we've been having, both unofficial and official, doing campus tours, facility tours and stuff like that, we've just been working on different stuff for the season. Like our scouting report templates, so when we get to that week, I can just plug in the pictures and information, making it a little easier on us.
Besides that, we're watching film on a bunch of 2023 and 2024 guys, helping (our coaches) out when they're on the road recruiting. Whether someone is in the transfer portal, filling a need, or if I see a guy we might have interest in, just getting that information to them.
During spring ball, what were you working with the team on?
We'd break down a bunch of film, plugging in the information from practices, jersey numbers and stuff like that. I've been watching a lot of PFF (Pro Football Focus) of NFL guys, making a lot of cutups of some O-Linemen that the current O-Linemen here want to watch, so they can get some more tools from those NFL guys.
It hasn't been too crazy, but I know that during the season, it will get there.
What's your overall goal for where you want to be at the end of this GA experience, and what is a larger goal for your coaching career?
I would love to get promoted or move on to a positional job or something like that. But I definitely want to soak in all this knowledge now. So that's pretty much what I'm focused on, because the GAs that are here now, they have so much information that they've gotten over the years, so I just like to ask them questions.
Hopefully, I'll get the knowledge and have the resources to move on. Hopefully, I'll be back in the NFL coaching one day. That's definitely my dream. But I'm definitely glad that I'm here, and that I'm able to start that journey here.
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