Feb. 5, 2014
Opening Statement
"It's a great day to be a Hilltopper today. It's an extremely exciting day. This recruiting process started at this time last year and is a long, thorough process that involves a lot of time and effort put into it. We're excited to get a great class today. Everything went extremely well; exactly the way we wanted. We couldn't be happier with the class we have here. We feel like we got outstanding football players who have outstanding character and we think will develop into great people on and off the field and in the classroom and that's very important to all of us. We feel like we've filled a lot of needs. Players who can come in and have an opportunity to compete and earn a job. We also feel like we signed some guys that we can develop into excellent football players and that's important as well.
I think our assistant coaches did a great job in staying in touch with these kids and keeping them informed of any changes that have happened or things that took place throughout the recruiting process and did a great job of sticking with these individuals. With that being said, I think our recruits also never wavered in their commitment to us and that really displays the character of them and the character of their high school coaches. I'm happy to say that we were able to sign 10 guys from the state of Kentucky which is exciting for us and we like all 10 of them. That includes Mr. Football in the state of Kentucky. This is a big statement for us and the fact that we believe in the talent pool in Kentucky. We believe in the outstanding high school coaches that coach these guys and we definitely have a lot of connections with our staff to a lot of coaches and players in this state and we're happy to get these guys and we think they'll be excellent players for us. Four of those 10 actually won a state championship or competed in one and that's an exciting thing as well. We want winners.
I want to thank our staff and the relentless work ethic they displayed in the recruitment process. I want to thank our current players on our team right now. Not only are they doing a great job in the classroom, working out, becoming a better football player, but they do a great job recruiting these recruits when they come in town and they spend a lot of time around them selling our university and what it has to offer and they should definitely be thanked for all the hard work they put in. I want to thank our president and his unwavering leadership. Our AD, who spends a lot of time with our recruits as well, Todd Stewart, anything we ask, he does. I want to thank our professors. They also spend a lot of time with our recruits when we have them on campus which is very, very important. They're able to eat breakfast with them on Saturdays. They're able to take our recruits onto campus and explain their program, and really go into great detail about the education they will receive here. We also want to thank the entire athletic department. We believe this is a full team effort and we definitely thank all of them for their help. I definitely have to commend our assistant coaches for how well they recruited all these players. They were on the phone constantly, they were on the road, and they were in the homes of these people as much as we could, and they spent a lot of time developing relationships in this process and it definitely has paid off.
I want to thank the families of the coaches and my family for helping make this day a success too. There are a lot of things they have to sacrifice and they have to support us and they're a big reason for our success as well. I also want to say I think that the transition from Coach (Bobby) Petrino to myself and the current staff went very, very smooth. We were able to keep all of our commitments. We were able to sell WKU. The continuity that we have, the new league we're going in, the great facilities we have, the outstanding campus, the leadership we have here, and the commitment of this university to grow and become elite is an easy sell to recruits and is a no-brainer.
The class we have this year includes nine junior college student-athletes that are already enrolled in school here. They are already in classes and working out with our team and will be able to compete for a starting job with guys this spring, which is a huge benefit. We did a very good job in that state of Kentucky but we were also able to get down into Nashville, Florida, Alabama and Georgia to get players we felt fit out program. We not only got a Mr. Football in the state of Kentucky but a Mr. Football in the state of Tennessee. Those are huge gets as well. Our goal is to get the best players in the state and we have a lot to sell here. We are not going to back down from anybody. This state has a lot to offer and we are going to continue to recruit it hard.
Recruiting went extremely well. We even had to turn away guys that wanted to commit but we were full. That's a testament to how well the recruitment went and how easy it is to sell this university. I think today is obviously a day to celebrate because of the excitement and the talent pool we have coming in. Our belief is that they are not only football players, but they are of excellent character and excellent in the classroom as well.
From here, it is time to get ready for the next signing day. We have already begun that process. We have already begun to pinpoint guys within a three-hour radius of WKU and we feel like we have a good grasp on it right now. This is a constant process and we have to continue to do what we do every single day. We have a staff here that has a lot of connections. They do a great job of coaching and developing young men. I think we are going to continue to do a great job of recruiting to WKU. Right now our goal is to get these signees on to campus this summer, get them ready to play and get ready to open up on August 28 against the MAC Champions Bowling Green State. In my opinion, things are happening right now on the Hill and people are seeking us out to be a part of it. We couldn't be more excited."
On emphasis on signing in-state recruits
"There wasn't a plan to get so many I think we just have a lot of connections in this state. For a long time I was an assistant before I got the head job here so I was able to get into homes and recruit a lot of people in this state. Mike Cassity does a great job in the western part of the state. We were able to hire Greg Nord recently and he is going to take over my area of the state of Kentucky. We really just have a lot of connections to coaches. We obviously know information about the players but it is a lot easier for us to get information provided to us. We are really on top of talent in this state. We are able to get a lot of guys on our campus, to our camps in the summer and we feel like we were able to get a great groups of kids from this state and we are happy with every one of them."
On how the move to Conference USA affected recruiting
"I think it is definitely going to help us, especially in the future. Being able to go into that conference, be in a lot more national exposure with more bowl tie ins, guys are excited to compete against new teams in new venues. It is going to continue to help us in recruiting without question."
On DeAndre Farris
"We are excited to have him. He's a very explosive player. He's not only explosive, he's produced at a high level. He won a state championship. He had a numerous catches and touchdowns. He can run the ball, catch the ball and he's fast. He has explosion and burst in him. He is a great kid. He's been on our campus a lot and came to our camp this summer. He was always around. We got a good close look at him from the get-go and from day one we liked him. He's a guy we are definitely excited to have and we are going to throw him in the mix. We want to evaluate him and try to get him on the field early."
On whether or not there were specific positions recruited more heavily than others
"I think we always identify early in the process what we are going to need at each position. How many guys, what type of players we are going to need, whether it is a strong burly guy or a fast, speed rusher. I think we got exactly what we wanted. We signed more defensive players than we did offensive players. We lost some key players on defense, some starters that were very good players for us. We feel like we spent a lot of time evaluating those guys and filled the positions we needed the most. It all turned out very well."
On the two Bowling Green signees, Nacarius Fant and Joel Iyiegbuniwe
"Nacarius Fant is just an outstanding football player. He knows how to play the game. He has great ball skills. He is a winner. He has kept in contact with all of our recruits throughout the process and been committed to us for a long time. He is just a great kid. The fact that he was able to win Mr. Football as a receiver was extremely hard to do and he did it. I was able to watch him practice a lot and he's a natural. He has natural ball skills, knows how to run routes and get open. I watched him in practice before the state game and they ran about five reverse passes in a row and he threw all of them and all of them were perfect passes. He is a natural athlete and we are excited to have him. Joel is an outstanding prospect. He came to our camp this summer. He's tall, rangy and athletic. He probably was one of the best performances we had in camp throughout the entire summer. He is a guy that has a huge upside. He is a great kid with a high GPA. He excels in school and wants to go to medical school. His dad is a professor here at the university and we are excited to have him."
On recruiting Florida in the future
"We are definitely going to try to hit Florida hard. Some of our junior college guys took up some spots this year and some of those guys are from Florida. We want to make sure we have that area surrounded and do a great job there. Without question we are still going to hit Kentucky hard, Tennessee hard and anywhere within a three hour radius but Florida, Alabama and Georgia will all be a big part of it."
On new coaches
"I could not be happier with what we have. We have a tremendous amount of experience that has coached a long time at high levels, won a lot of championships. Our previous staff had around 55 bowl games between us and our current staff has 88 bowl games between us. That's a lot more experience. I'm excited to have them. They are proven coaches. They have done a great job. They are great people and they are excited to be here. That is one thing I wanted to make sure when I hired anyone new, I wanted them to be excited to be here. I think we got that."
On keeping recruits through coaching change
"I'm obviously thankful for Coach (Bobby) Petrino and what he did for this university. From a recruiting standpoint we didn't have anybody waiver. All of our recruits stayed solid. Even recruiting after that went extremely well. We had a lot of guys on us and we had to back off because we were getting full. Things went extremely well and we didn't lose one recruit."
On signees competing for playing time right away
"We obviously tell all our guys we recruit that we don't want them to come in planning to redshirt. We want them working hard to compete for a job. The fact that you can start scholarships in the summer gives them a two and a half month start. After signing day we communicate with them regularly. We want them all coming in ready to play. Obviously we have a Mr. Football from two states that our both outstanding players. We feel like we have good athletes that can compete right away."
