Feb. 1, 2017
COLLEGE PARK, Md. --
Opening Statement:
“It’s a great day for our program and a great day for our team. I can’t tell you how excited we are and how tremendous of a day this is for all of us and for the direction we’re moving in. This recruiting class is a big class in number — we’re close to 30 guys — but also the quality of the class. From top to bottom, all positions on offense and defense are represented in this class. It’s about an even split between offense and defense. You look at a position and we start going through the names and how strong we feel about the guys as students, athletes and as people with character. 17 guys from the DMV — from our backyard. I can’t tell you how excited we are about that. We’ve made no secret about that; that is our formula. Our formula is we’re going to take care of our backyard and we’re going to win here in the DMV. We’re going to build our team with that being our foundation. To land 17 guys in one class from here is big time. There are eight guys who have been WCAC All-Conference players and a lot of the Maryland public schools are represented. Some great programs are represented in this class. You go down that list and it’s really big.
"With that said, there’s also representation from 10 states in this class. We’re recruiting right here in our backyard but we’re also recruiting guys from various parts of the country who are highly recruited. The rankings and numbers and all that are great. Recruiting has taken on a life of its own. It’s like a different season right now with Signing Day and all the coverage. You look at our class and we’re Top 20 in every major publication and even Top 10 in some. But for us that doesn’t really say much or do much other than this: what that says is these guys that we just signed and the guys who became a part of our family have a lot of options. You don’t get ranked this high or have all these stars with guys that are limited in their options. I think the most important thing from my standpoint is that there are guys that had the opportunity to go play in a lot of different places in the country and at some of the perennial, big names in college football, and they chose to come here to the University of Maryland and to be part of something special that we’re building. That’s the most impressive and exciting thing to me and I think that tells you where the excitement level is around our program.
"There are so many people to recognize and thank. When you put together a class like this, it’s hard to factor in all of the people who had something to do with it. Obviously our coaching staff — we have an unbelievable staff that works tirelessly. I run them pretty hard and we recruit here every day. We’re always available and we are always here. Every weekend we are here to host recruits and their families to make sure they feel welcome here. They're taking a lot of time away from their families and everything else but that’s part of why we have this class. We have tremendous recruiters on this staff and we have guys who work really hard at it. They do an unbelievable job planning all of this out and organizing things like visits and coaches travel. When these kids come on visits, we make sure they spend time with our strength staff, our training staff, our academic staff. There’s so many people involved in the program and I can tell you — I’ve sat in this very room with our whole staff and talked about the importance of recruiting and put an emphasis on recruiting — every person in our program has a part in recruiting. They have all taken that to heart and have done an unbelievable job with that. It’s tremendous the amount of pride everyone in this building has taken in this recruiting class and it’s well deserved.
"Last, but certainly not least, our players. Our current players on our team are the guys who host these recruits when they come. That’s them taking time out of their schedule and out of their day even when it may be an inconvenience to them at times. They have done an unbelievable job making these guys feel welcome and making them feel like part of the team even before they are here. One of the unique things about this class and one of the cool things I think is that these guys have taken ownership in one another to be a part of something. They are recruiting one another. The amount of conversations and time they have spent together — it’s really made it special and made it what it is. We all like to think we’re great recruiters as coaches but other players do an even better job at recruiting. Great players want to play with other great players and this class has really taken ownership in one another in making it one of the best in the country. Those guys do a great job along with our recruits’ parents and families. There’s so much pride in this area and there’s a lot of people in a small place. Everyone knows each other and all these families. Mom’s and Dad’s have communicated with each other and taken a lot of pride in being part of this. It’s a great day and we’re extremely excited. I think the future is really, really bright with these classes we have put together back-to-back, but we’re going to keep moving forward.”
On his emphasis of keeping guys home in the DMV and Prince George’s County:
“Out of our class of 30 guys, it’s hard to single out certain guys. We signed a couple of guys from DeMatha and if you look at the WCAC, you have schools like Gonzaga, Good Counsel, St. John’s, and we have good representation from all of those programs. From Eleanor Roosevelt we signed Lawtez Rogers: a great defensive lineman who we think has a great future. Fofie Bazzie is from Quince Orchard’s High School — another great program here in the Maryland public schools. If you look at the numbers we have four offensive linemen coming in and five defensive linemen coming in so we really addressed the line of scrimmage where we need improvement and need to get better. In the skill positions as well we have six receivers and five defensive backs in the fold. Those are areas where we really need to get better and work on. There are 17 total from the DMV and those guys are big because they are the one’s who started this and they have kept it going and brought other guys in with them.
On opening up a recruiting pipeline in Georgia:
“The guys from Georgia, when you look at it, we were one of the first one’s to get on those guys. I think it was a tremendous job by our staff of identifying them early and then keeping consistent because the rush of offers came after ours and there is something to be said for that. Guys take the approach that they’re not going to forget who was first to offer. That resonates with guys and their families so we jumped early on guys we felt good about as people and players and we got them up here really early to come visit us so they got to see our place early. It just went from there. Several of those guys from Georgia are at the receiver position and we need them. We’re thin at that spot right now. Chris Beatty does a tremendous job recruiting and that plays a big part in keeping those guys with us.”
On if this signing class will set the standard for years to come:
"We expect to recruit at this level every year and get better and better. There's not a reason not to. We're going to attack it and be aggressive with it. We're currently sitting in the middle of one of the most fertile recruiting grounds in the entire country. We have a product that is second to none. You all drove in and pulled up here and saw the facility going up across the street. There will be none better in the country. We play in the best conference in the country. We have a unique relationship with Under Armour that is second to none in the country and it's the best one to be a part of. You can keep checking the list. There's now a tremendous influx of talent coming into this program. I know this, great players want to play with other great players. When they see other guys going there, they want to go there for a reason. I think there's a great opportunity for this to continue as we keep going through this for years to come. This is the level we need to recruit at. It's what we need to do to go do what we want to do, which is win championships."
On the importance of quarterback Kasim Hill:
"Kasim's special in that obviously anyone that watches football can put on the tape and watch him and know that he's a tremendous talent. He can make all the throws, he can beat you running the ball. He's 230 pounds. The guy is a freak of nature. But that's only scratching the surface of what Kasim is all about. That's why I'm so happy to bring him in, what makes him difference than other guys. Just his leadership ability. What he's all about, what he stands for, what his family stands for. They're as good as they come. Kasim was one of our early commits. He was a major part of putting this class together because he has that leadership quality about him. I talked to him earlier today on the phone and I said 'this is great because you are viewed as a leader, this doesn't stop now.' That's going to continue. That's the position he plays and that's what he does. He'll be here competing with the other guys. That's what all the guys coming in here have a chance to do. He's ready to do whatever we ask him to do. Obviously we'll always play the best guy. I know this though, this guy has a bright, bright future here. He's going to be a household name around here for a long time."
On Anthony McFarland Jr.:
"I can go on and on with what we like about Anthony. He's electric. He's dynamic with the ball in his hand. He's a difference maker. Ant is great because he's around here all the time. That's what it was. He's here all the time. He knows me, he knows our staff, he knows our players. It's not just like he was here for recruiting presentations. He's here all the time. That's the great part about it. He knows what he's getting with us and we know what we're getting with him. He got hurt his senior year and is as hungry as can be. The sky's the limit with him. If you put the ball in his hands, he has the chance every time he has it to go the distance."
On if it's important to get early enrollees:
"We're not choosing who we're recruiting based on if they can be in early. But it's a huge benefit. If a guy is motivated, if him and his family want to do it, we are all in. We push it and try to help them the best we can. It's a tremendous benefit to them as well as our team. We don't push anyone though. If it's not something they want to do, we don't push it. I don't think it's something you really want to do to a guy that's not feeling it because you take him out of his senior year of high school. To all the guys that are in here, yea, it's tremendous. They're all in here for winter workouts with us, they're enrolled in fifteen hours of classes, they're going to take part in fifteen spring practices. So when all the other freshman come in this summer, these guys are in a class of their own. They're not a freshman, they're above that at this point."
On the defensive backs being brought in:
"When you look at those DB's. We need it. One of the biggest things, at safety, corner, all the DBs, we have guys with length, we have guys that can run and change direction and go cover guys. What we want to do defensively is that. Get up in guys face, play some press, and play some man to man. That's what we want to do and we brought in guys that can help us go do that."
On how important it is to recruit New Jersey:
"Jersey pumps out good players every year. They have great high school programs up there. It's in close proximity to us, so we'll always be up that way and trying to get as many guys as we can. We feel great about Markquese (Bell). He walks in the room and looks like a NFL safety. It's going to be for him learning the defense and getting caught on but he's going to have every opportunity to do that."
On getting more size on the offensive and defensive lines:
"It's a huge emphasis. I made a statement to our staff many times. Let's recruit big guys that are big. Big bodied guys. Guys that have big frames, can grow, and are huge. Also I tell them, let's recruit fast guys that are fast. If we're recruiting defensive backs, running backs and receivers, let's get the guys that are really fast. It's not a complex formula but we need to get those guys on the line of scrimmage if we want to be where we want to be in this conference. There's always so many of those human beings on earth. When you walk into a high school, you can see those guys that are 6'5, 6'6 and are coordinated and can move their feet. Yea, you have to work really hard to get those guys and credit to all the people I mentioned earlier for putting this part of our recruiting class together. Those guys are all highly recruited, they weren't some hidden gem that we found somewhere, they were highly recruited for a good reason and they made the decision to come here."
