Several players from the Maryland men’s basketball team chatted with PressBox during Media Day on Oct. 23 to discuss a variety of off-court topics, from their favorite movie to their dream NIL deal and more.
What’s your favorite thing to do on a day off?
Aleks Alston: Relax and just watch TV.
Nick Blake: Watch movies and TV.
Collin Metcalf: Probably just hop on the game, play a little bit of “Battlefield,” play a little bit of “Minecraft,” different video games.
Rakease Passmore: I haven’t found anywhere out here, but I’m a real big fisherman. I fish a lot in my time off, but I haven’t found any spots out here yet.
George Turkson: I like to journal, rest, listen to music. [Journaling] is more so like a brain dump. Everything that’s in my brain, write it all onto a piece of paper.
What’s your favorite movie of all time?
Aleks Alston: “Planet of the Apes”
Nick Blake: Probably “Avengers: Endgame”
Guillermo Del Pino: “I Am Legend”
Jaziah Harper: I’m not even a movie guy. My favorite movie would probably be “The Avengers” or something.
Collin Metcalf: “Coach Carter”
Andre Mills: “Friday”
Rakease Passmore: “Polar Express”
George Turkson: “Avengers: Endgame”
What show have you been binging lately?
Aleks Alston: I’m waiting for “Stranger Things” to come out.
Nick Blake: “The Terminal List,” that’s the show I’ve been watching. It’s on Amazon Prime.
Jaziah Harper: I’ve been trying to tap into a little bit of anime. I’ve been watching “The Seven Deadly Sins” and “Martin” on Netflix.
Collin Metcalf: It’s a little nerd show called “Slugterra.” It’s an old cartoon I used to watch.
Andre Mills: I watch a lot of anime. There’s this anime called “Dandadan.”
George Turkson: I watch anime, and I’m watching “Black Clover” right now.
If you could trade places with any movie or TV character, it would be?
Nick Blake: I would trade places with Bruce Wayne. I want to be Batman.
Guillermo Del Pino: The main character in “Prison Break”
Jaziah Harper: Martin
Collin Metcalf: I’d have to change to Bruce Wayne, man. He was the greatest crime fighter, a billionaire.
Andre Mills: I know this sounds crazy, but Spider-Man.
Rakease Passmore: James Bond
What’s your go-to karaoke song?
Nick Blake: I’m not a big singer, but any Drake song.
Collin Metcalf: “Let Me Love You” by Mario
Andre Mills: “Best Part” by Daniel Caesar
Rakease Passmore: “No One” by Alicia Keys
George Turkson: “Outside” by Ellie Goulding
Who was your favorite sports star growing up?
Aleks Alston: Derrick Rose
Nick Blake: Damian Lillard
Guillermo Del Pino: Cristiano Ronaldo
Jaziah Harper: LeBron
Collin Metcalf: Tim Duncan
Andre Mills: My dad watched a lot of Kobe, so I saw a lot of Kobe growing up, but my personal favorites were probably guys like … Jrue Holiday, Andrew Nembhard, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, those types of guys — the role players that are essential to the team. I used to watch a lot of guys like that.
Rakease Passmore: I’ve got to say Kevin Durant or Victor Oladipo.
George Turkson: LeBron, and then I would say Usain Bolt because I used to run track.
What was your favorite sports team growing up?
Aleks Alston: Chicago Bulls
Nick Blake: Portland Trail Blazers
Guillermo Del Pino: Warriors
Jaziah Harper: Bulls
Collin Metcalf: Spurs
Andre Mills: Celtics
Rakease Passmore: Definitely OKC with Russell Westbrook, KD and all of them.
George Turkson: New England Patriots, Tom Brady era
What’s your favorite basketball road trip you’ve ever gone on?
Aleks Alston: Back in middle school, my AAU team Mac Irvin Fire [took] a road trip to St. Louis on the bus.
Nick Blake: Going to Chicago with my AAU team.
Jaziah Harper: I went to South Carolina and North Carolina with one of my AAU teams. That was fun for me just because of the group of guys.
Collin Metcalf: I think every time I’ve come to D.C. In the CAA [with Northeastern], our tournaments were all in D.C. Every time we went to D.C. was a great experience for me.
Andre Mills: I’d say when we went to Cali in AAU. We were playing for the Adidas championship, and we went to Cali for like a week. That was cool.
Rakease Passmore: Going to Vegas [with Kansas] when we played Duke last year.
George Turkson: Last year when I was with A&M, I’d probably say Ole Miss.
What would you be if you weren’t a basketball player?
Aleks Alston: A future basketball coach
Nick Blake: I would still be around basketball. I would say I’d probably be a coach or a trainer.
Guillermo Del Pino: Something related to sports
Jaziah Harper: I’d probably hope to be an entrepreneur of some sort.
Collin Metcalf: I’d probably either be a football player or a volleyball player.
Andre Mills: Football player. I played football all the way up until my freshman year [of high school]. COVID hit as my freshman year happened. I was a receiver and a corner. I played both. I was better at corner than I was at receiver, but I liked to score touchdowns.
Rakease Passmore: I’d probably do construction or something back at home in Florida.
George Turkson: Track and field
What’s your favorite “guilty” food?
Aleks Alston: I’d just say a whole 12-count, 15-count Buffalo wings or barbecue sauce wings.
Nick Blake: Pizza cheesy bread, for sure.
Guillermo Del Pino: Hamburger
Jaziah Harper: I’d just say ice cream because I eat a little bit more than I should.
Collin Metcalf: In the offseason, I do love a good Popeyes chicken sandwich.
Andre Mills: Sugar cookies. I know how to explain them — the cookie dough and then they have just the frosting on the top. They come in a pack of six if you go to Stop & Shop. Out here, they have Safeway. If you go there, sugar cookies — they’re super good, but they’re super not healthy.
George Turkson: I like to eat honey buns late at night. That probably isn’t something that’s advised. My trainer would probably be mad at me, but he knows that I love honey buns.
What’s your favorite pregame meal or snack?
Aleks Alston: Skittles
Nick Blake: Cheez-Its
Jaziah Harper: I like chewy granola bars and fruit snacks, but a meal, I would say a sandwich of some sort.
Collin Metcalf: I would say my favorite pregame snack is these little almond butter crackers that they have. They’re like the old PB&J crackers that they used to hand out in elementary school. They have almond butter on them.
Andre Mills: Life Savers gummies
Rakease Passmore: I could eat salmon, rice, something like that, but I like fruit snacks. I like the Jolly Rancher rope candies.
George Turkson: Pregame snack, I like to eat Swedish Fish. It’s a candy.
Are you a good cook? What do you cook?
Guillermo Del Pino: Spanish food. I love tortillas.
Collin Metcalf: I’m a great cook. I’m huge into Asian cuisine, so I’ll do a mean fried rice. I do a decent Pad Thai. I spice it up and I do different types of Japanese ramen.
George Turkson: Since I started college, my mom has been telling me, “Oh, you’ve got to learn how to cook so you can cook for yourself.” I’m starting to take her advice. She tries to cook me stuff and send it to me. When I go back home, I’m definitely going to try to learn a couple of meals and a couple of recipes so that when I come back I’m better equipped.
What’s a bucket-list place you’ve never been?
Aleks Alston: New York City
Nick Blake: Australia
Guillermo Del Pino: Los Angeles
Jaziah Harper: I’d say the North Pole. I want to see the Northern Lights really bad. I feel like I would never get an experience to see the Northern Lights.
Collin Metcalf: I would probably say the area of the Caribbean. I don’t know which island of the Caribbean I would go to, though.
Andre Mills: I want to go to Japan.
Rakease Passmore: Argentina, somewhere far. I want to go to Spain, too. That’s a bucket-list place.
George Turkson: Turks and Caicos, because Turkson. That’s probably a place I would want to go.
What’s an exercise you hate doing?
Aleks Alston: Knee lunges
Nick Blake: Sprints
Guillermo Del Pino: Mountain climbers
Jaziah Harper: Mountain climbers
Collin Metcalf: VersaClimber. You don’t want to get on it. LeBron does it. It’s like a standing mountain climber. Your feet and arms go back and forth.
Rakease Passmore: Planks
George Turkson: I don’t like doing planks, but it’s something you’ve got to do to keep your core strength, so I’d definitely say that.
What’s the best tip you’ve ever been given?
Aleks Alston: Just stay the course.
Nick Blake: A verse from the Bible, Jeremiah 29:11.
Guillermo Del Pino: Remember where you come from.
Jaziah Harper: Buzz teaches us to stay where our feet are. I feel like that helps you stay locked in and not get in your head and overthink about whatever’s happening.
Collin Metcalf: There’s no such thing as bad advice. It’s all about perspective.
Andre Mills: Even-keeled. When I was younger, I used to get mad really easily — frustrated, mad, emotional. I think that helped me throughout, not because they’re not telling me to dim my emotions, but they’re saying you can have these emotions but don’t show it.
Rakease Passmore: One of my old, old coaches back in Florida said live in the moment. That’s all I’ve been doing. Don’t think about tomorrow. Think about where your feet are.
George Turkson: In order to be great, you have to do something that you hate every day — at least one thing. Put yourself in uncomfortable positions so that you can grow.
What’s your dream NIL deal?
Aleks Alston: I’d probably say Balenciaga. I get those shoes.
Collin Metcalf: Probably a deal with Popeyes. Lifetime Popeyes would be great.
Andre Mills: Probably Life Savers, honestly.
Rakease Passmore: Bass Pro Shops
George Turkson: For food, I would say Little Debbie. I like Little Bites, so I would say Little Debbie.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Maryland Athletics