Florida Gators head coach Will Muschamp held a press conference after his coaching staff received 18 National Letters of Intent on National Signing Day. The following are some key thoughts Muschamp divulged.
Opening statement: “Real pleased with the 18 signees for today. The Gators got better today. [I’m] excited about bringing these young men into our program in a short period of time. Recruiting is all about developing relationships and trust, and it’s tough to do that in a short period of time. Recruiting has changed so much over the years. You’re starting to recruit guys when you see guys coming their sophomore, junior seasons. You start recruiting. You’re building that relationship for a year, two and three years. And to come in – in the short term – we did a nice job of securing the class we had, which we had to re recruit all of those guys because of all of the changes, the mass changes with the staff. And our staff did a nice job of securing those guys. Just really pleased with what we had, and Urban [Meyer] and his staff did a great job with those guys that were already committed to the university. And then coming back and supplementing some other guys to our football team.”
On evaluating the 2011 class: “We’ll know about this entire class in two or three years, and I’m going to say the same thing next year. In two or three years, we’ll know about what kind of class this was. Not today. Today’s not the day to judge anything we do, and you can put that in your tape recorder because I’m going to say the same thing next year. Football’s a developmental game. We have an outstanding strength staff and an outstanding coaching staff. It’s our job, when we get these young men on campus, is to develop them on and off the field to be good football players and good citizens and good students of the University of Florida. And that’s what we plan on doing.”
On only signing 18 players: “We have a smaller senior class for next season. So I didn’t feel like at the end of the process, to make an emotional decision in offering guys that I didn’t think could play at, on or off the field, a championship level at the University of Florida. And I’d rather have held those scholarships to the next season to give our staff a whole year to evaluate and recruit. We could have signed 25 initials, and I held it at 18 there with some other possibilities. But excited about that, our signing class coming in. […]
“I was more interested in the quality of player and the character of the player that we’re going to sign at Florida as opposed to going out and signing a class of 25 and regretting three or four or five of those guys. That’s not what we were going to do. We were not going to make an emotional decision to go out and make an emotional decision and sign guys just to sign guys. That’s not the purpose of what we’re going to do. We got a small senior class, and we’re going to take those scholarships to next season when we’re going to sign a full class.”
Read the rest of what Muschamp had to say about his class…after the break!
On taking over Meyer’s recruiting: “I had a week, really four days actually, three days. When I first took that job that Monday, Tuesday we had the press conference [and] I was unable to see any recruits. Wednesday, Thursday and a half day Friday to work on the midyear recruits because some of them had taken their visits to Florida and had never met me. So I had to get in those homes immediately and was seeing three and four young men during the day during that period and that time.”
On the early enrollees: “We have seven midyears that are in here: Jeff Driskel, A.C. Leonard, J [avares] McRoy, Mike Blakely, Pop Saunders, Clay Burton, and Kyle Christy. All of those young men are doing really well. Coming midyear is great from the standpoint of you’re getting way ahead academically, and you’re also getting way ahead from a football standpoint. You’re able to go through spring ball. Academically, it’s not as hectic. It’s not like you’re coming in the fall when the season’s going on and there’s an awful lot on your table. You’re able to have a slowed process. Going through the off season program, learning how to work, learning how to work at a championship level. And then getting in at spring ball and understanding the schemes and the different things we ask you to do. It’s huge to get a guy midyear, but they have to be totally into it because they’re not going to be able to go to prom. They’re not going to be able to do some of the things your senior year of high school, it’s a great time in your life. You have to be all in to want to do this. It’s an exciting time in their lives.”
On only signing four total linemen: “I feel really good about our football team on campus as far as the line of scrimmage. I really do. I wish we could have gotten a little more depth in the line of scrimmage, but I look at each player individually – not the class as a whole.”
On the secondary commitments: Really excited about bringing the guys we brought in. Of course, Marcus Roberson sent in his LOI in this morning. Was excited to him and got more length at the corner position. Loucheiz Purifoy is a very similar athlete, excited about him, great athleticism, ball skills down the field, man coverage skills. Outstanding athlete. Valdez Showers is a Player of the Year in Michigan. A guy, when you turn his tape on, he’s got great highlights as a running back. We’re going to play him at defensive back but as a bigger bodied defensive back. Shows all the critical aspects of being a successful player. Pop Saunders played some quarterback in high school. I really like recruiting defensive backs that have played quarterback because they have to make decisions. And the critical decisions you make on the back end sometimes can cost you a football game. I like the fact this guy has had to make decisions with the ball in his hands, and I really like his athleticism in the few days we’ve been able to watch some of the workouts. Chris Johnson from Trinity is a very physical player, in the box safety. He’s shown skills to play outside in the deep part of the field. And Jabari Gorman is a guy that’s been able to do a lot of things. Played some receiver down at Pace. He’s a very versatile player that can do a lot of different things. He can play nickel. He can play corner. He can play safety. But we recruited him as a safety to come in here and contribute for us.”
On wide receiver Ja’Juan Story: “You’re always concerned about wavering until you get that LOI in. Until you actually get that in nowadays, it’s always a concern. Ja’Juan is a bigger receiver. He’s a guy that’s going to be a tough matchup with a smaller corner. He’s a guy that can vertically stretch the field. He’s got great ball skills down the field, very athletic. Again, played quarterback mostly high school. He’s electric with the ball in his hands, but he’s a guy that’s shown really nice ball skills down the field.”
On fullback Hunter Joyer: “Hunter Joyer, we’re going to get back to more traditional as far as running two back runs. And he’s a young man that’s got a lot of lower body power, punch and explosion. He’s a very strong young man. He lives in the weight room, and we’re excited to what he brings to our football team from a toughness standpoint.”
On quarterback Jeff Driskel: “Jeff’s an outstanding player. He’s a very athletic, big quarterback that can really pin it. He’s got great velocity on the ball. He’s shown good leadership, good skills, and I’m excited he’s here mid-year. […]
“Jeff is an outstanding player first of all. Secondly the quarterback position is different than all other positions. From the standpoint of you got to have that guy that can pull the trigger, to manage the game, to convert third downs, to have leadership ability and affect other guys on the offense and in the huddle, on your football team and in the locker room. Past that, our numbers at quarterback aren’t very good.”
On early enrollees helping with recruiting: “Well, I think all of our players helped as far as that’s part of the huge recruiting process when a young man comes on a visit. They’re going to the first person they’re going to ask is the players. That’s part of the transition process that is hard. ‘What is Coach Muschamp like?’ ‘I don’t know. I’ve only known him for ten days.’ So that is part of the process that’s difficult in a transition standpoint of getting to know the players, the players getting to know us. And not just me, but the entire staff, position coaches, operations people. All of those things changed. So that was part of the process. That’s what you work through. Again, pleased with what we’ve got.”
On star ratings and class rankings: “You seen those guys that rate those five-stars? I don’t count stars. I watch the tape. I recruit. I don’t read the internet. I just put the tape on and I decide, from a critical factor standpoint, [if] this guy can fit in our program and be a good football player. [If] he’s got a good-looking transcript, he’s going to do things right off the field, [then] I’m excited about him being a part of our program. I didn’t turn on ESPN today and check out what everybody’s thinking. I’m worried about what I think more than what ‘they’ think.”
On upholding Florida’s scholarship offers: “They committed to the University of Florida. I work for the University of Florida, and I was committed to them. We want to honor that commitment. I think that’s the honorable thing to do. We offered the opportunity for all of those young men to have the opportunity to be committed to Florida.”
On disappointment for guys that did not commit: “No. Zero.”
On his linebacker class: “Graham Stewart, I’m excited about him. He’s going to be a good football player. He has all the critical factors. We had him in camp; he has all the good measurable on him. He’s a very physical player, plays the game the way it’s supposed to be played.”
On how much Meyer helped with evaluations: “When I first got here, Urban and I talked a lot about the recruiting class as far as where he thought things were. Not necessarily from an evaluation standpoint, more input on where he thought we were on the process. You either feel really good about a recruit or you know we’re behind in the game.”
On recruiting Texas: “The first thing we’re going to do is take care of the state of Florida. And then we play in the SEC, so we’re going to take care of our area. We’ve got a national brand at the University of Florida. So if there are players who have a genuine interest in the University of Florida, we will certainly reach out and see if we have what they are looking for.”
On finally being in Gainesville, FL and not on the road recruiting: “Every day is critical. It’s tough the way the calendar falls as far as the recruiting calendar. When a new coach comes in, you’re gone the whole month of the January recruiting. You’re out. You’re trying to build for your future and built to develop the depth of your football team. And yet you’ve got a team on campus who doesn’t even know who you are.”
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