Here are my notes from Jerry Kill’s signing day press conference. I was typing live as he talked, so they are not verbatim…just as fast as my fingers could go.
The good thing is we didn’t turn the ball over today. I feel like we fulfilled needs. We know a lot about the people we recruited, we conducted physical evaluations, they were all seen by several people on our staffs, checked their character. Today we need to turn away a player today that was a very good player because we were filled up, which hasn’t happened before.
We’re going to have a great secondary this year. We filled in with the rest of the team. We continued to increase our skill, which we needed to do. They all can run and they’re all athletic. Some will have to put some strength on but we’ve done that. We played 8 freshman last year. People think us coaches do a great job, but we have great players. We’re not the ones that make the plays. People don’t appreciate the players we’ve got.
With this season, there are a lot more people talking about us. You’re getting offers to speak, you’re getting into some high schools you hadn’t gotten into. The exposure helps us. Winning solves a lot of problems. The next step for us is the new facility. You can talk about it, until you see it…we’re still in that mode where we’re competing against other schools that have them. We still battle that a little bit. It certainly has helped. Sawvel and Sherels know exactly what they want. We want guys that can change directions, loose hips. We’ll take a 5’9 or 5’10 corner that can really really run. They got kind of a certain premium on what they want, and that’s what we did with the kids we got.
There was a kid that we had up here that flipped from Nebraska, and flipped somewhere else, and it’s one of those things that you can’t offer them all. We want smart people. The good thing about where we’re at now, we have a good culture, and these guys will come into a good culture.
On Offensive Line- that’s the hardest position to come in and play. It’s a possibility they could. Tyler Moore that’s here already, that will help because he’s had the spring. That’s a group that is big, it’s as big as group as we’ve recruited, and as athletic a group. Usually we have to put the weight on them. They’re lean, they’re not sloppy. They’ll pass the look test, I’ll tell you that. Before we weren’t able to recruit that type, we had to build them, this year, we were able to recruit them. Size wise, he compared them to Wisconsin’s O-Line.
How do you get a kid out of El Paso (Rashad Still )? Kill: Pat Poore is crazy – he used to coach in Texas. They’ll talk about a kid that people don’t know about. #1 he’s a heck of a bball player and athlete. Another guys, Martell Moore, had seen him play and said we better get out there. After he committed to us, he got called from Nebraska. Overall offensively, it will be the most skilled players that we’ve had. Our running back class too.
Focus on for next year’s class – we offered a sophomore today, it’s crazy but we did it. When you watch Mizzou play, Defensive end wise, everyone is looking for that, we need to find one or two of those guys next year. Add a few linebackers, and that’s where we’d be at defensively. Offensive Line – 3 linemen, a couple of tight ends, take 2 receivers. Right in there. Recruiting a team, so to speak. We’re not done yet. I always save a couple to see what happens, we may take a transfer or two. Everyone wants to see early signing day, it would clear things up, and it would stop decommits. I don’t know if anyone remembers Nate Andrews and 4 days before signing day, Florida State offers him and he went there. If we had early signing day, we could have had him. If they’re serious, they can commit, if they’re not, at least you know. My personal opinion, you’d like to have it in August. In the scheme of things, I think they’ll go to December, we’ll probably find out in the next 5 days. It might not change.
I think we did a good job of finding people that fit with us. We might get on him right off the bat. Tom Lemming is a guy that really started the recruiting rankings. Because of our location, it’s tougher. I think people out there respect what we’re going. People were asking, where did Eric Murray come from. You have to do your research. Patriots and Seahawks did a great job of that, because they didn’t have one 5 star recruit, and only a few 4 starts.
There’s nothing you can do about flips, everyone is competing, trying to keep their job. Until they have an early signing day, you’re going to see that. We’re all worn out. I’ve got to go do something tomorrow, and today they’ve already started, they’re watching film. Next year will be one of the better years in Minnesota since we had Maxx and their group.
In-State – next year, and I think you know that we recruit out, there’s a lot of good players. As far as power conference players, there is more next year. I think we had 4 that went to power conferences. Oregon, Ohio State and 2 went to us. Next year, there will be quite a few more than that. Our 2nd year here, there was 10 or 12, it varies here because we’re not as populated…Texas and Florida have huge populations. 4 our of 5 offensive lineman will be from MN. We’ve got to keep the good ones in state, we lost one to Oregon, one to Ohio State. We haven’t played against anyone in Iowa or WI (except the Marx kid). We’ve done a pretty good job of locking down the state of Minnesota. Losing one to Ohio State who won the national championship…it is what it is. They do a good job. We’ve done a pretty good job. We’ve lost some to schools we’re not going to play.
Desmond Gant recently tested with a 40″ vertical. With Jeff Jones being eligible. Someone people always forget about is Rodney Smith, he’s a very good back.
When you get into recruiting, and you’re recruiting running backs, and you go up to North Dakota…it seems like they’ve been an All American or some great players. Edwards is doing spring ball and running track. Having competition makes you better.
#14 in the country as far as spending in football recruiting, $2.7 million. Kill – I don’t think that’s right. I thought you meant 14th in conference and I’d believe that (laughing)…more to negotiate with Norwood. Most that’s spent in recruiting, for us, is travel because we’re so far up north. There’s a lot of money when you’ve got 10 coaches getting on planes. It’s not like TCU. Flights cost the most, and for official visits. Next year, you’re going to be able to pay for the parents. Now, you have 3 training tables, it isn’t getting any cheaper to run a college football program.
• Colton Beebe – His Daddy played my 1st year at Pittsburgh state. With that being said, when we started talking to him, Arkansas got involved.
• Alonzo Craighton – Length and speed. Some coaches cut things off immediately, others don’t do that. With him, they shut down things pretty quick. He played safety, but he’s got the hips for corner. That’s your DB coach recruiting. Coach Sawvel can get after it. He knows what he wants, he’s proven what he wants, and has a great reputation.
• Demry Croft – You talk about drafting and things of that nature, you think – how does this happen? When people didn’t know a lot about him? People offer so early, and they’re filled up. He played receiver as a junior, got hurt went to QB, and kept excelling. When he came to camp, we didn’t know that much, we put him on the clock and he runs a 4.6 flat. That’s a tough time for a kid to make. When he started throwing the ball and routes you say ‘this kid is different.” After that, he had people call, but he stayed with our commitment. Then he went to the All-Start game. He’s very calm and cool and doesn’t get rattled too much. He has all the tools. He’s kind of a steal, in a different time/situation, it would have been tough for us to get him.