Signing Day Press Conference Quotes
2/4/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Feb. 4, 2004
Fort Worth, Texas -
(on the class as a whole) We knew we lost three defensive linemen, and two have a chance of going to the NFL. We knew that we had to sign a class possibly with some older players to help us and we were able to get a defensive end, a defensive tackle, and two corners out of the junior college ranks. We really feel good about that because all those guys are already in camp and going through the off-season program. To get four junior college players at mid-year to get them to go through your spring ball to get them used to how you do things is a big deal.
We found four offensive linemen, because we like to keep 15-16 o-linemen as part of our program here just because you can't just go out and find big bodies and develop them.
Besides that, we went out and recruited speed. Reagan will come in as the only quarterback in this class. We also got Donald Massey along with a host of other corners and receivers who can really run and really do some things. With Hensen, we needed a linebacker. He's a very intense young man, very similar to LaMarcus McDonald as far as how he loved to play the game. Brent Hecht was the #1 rated tight end in the juco ranks. His school, Butler County, won the national championship.
I feel really good about them from top to bottom; they may be the best overall strongest group in the past three years.
Within any class, you get 4-6 difference makers. The rest of the class needs to be the kind of guys that go to class and develop into something like the Jason Goss' of the Arizona Cardinals, guys who are going to come in and develop themselves in the weight program. We feel like the off-season program is probably the secret to our success here.
The thing I like best about this group is toughness. This is a group that really likes to go out there and play the game. Coming off the season we had, we had 19-20 of these guys committed before Christmas-time. This speaks volumes about this class because they were very committed to being a Horned Frog. And I that excites me more than anything else because I believe in what we call the "Frog Factor." Guys that come here to get a great education and to win championships are the kind of guys we're looking for. You're not always going to get the best player here sometimes. We've had 19 guys here in the past three years go on to the NFL and we'll probably have another five this year. That has to be one of the best in the state of Texas.
(on Shae Reagan) We've been recruiting him from the very beginning. Coach Winder was probably one of the first ones to go to his house to recruit him. He was already committed to Tech, but I think this felt more to him like more of a home. I don't' think he felt like Texas Tech was a bad place, I just think he felt more comfortable with TCU and with Coach Winder, the quarterbacks coach and the guy who recruited him. We're glad he's going to be part of this class.
(if TCU did anything special to recruit Reagan) Played the guitar. He just learned to play the guitar. He got one for Christmas and we just went in there and we were playing a little 70s, taught him a couple boogie beats. The first thing he said when he changed his mind was so I could give him free guitar lessons.
(on how last season helped recruiting) I think it helped us identify kids who really wanted to win championships and really get a great education. At TCU, one of the selling points I feel we really have is: it's not what we're going to do for you the next four years, it's what we're going to do for you the next forty. As far as going out and getting your degree and making yourself if the NFL is not your calling. And I think that there's a lot of moms and dads and young men out there who understand that football's important but I also think they're also starting to understand that only 1% is going to go to the NFL. And we're still putting a lot of guys there and giving them the opportunity to do that. But it's also about what's going to happen after what college is over and I think we're starting to get that kind of guy at this school.
(on his Front Porch Theory) The porch is not the most important part of the house, but the most visible. If you don't take care of it, no one's going to know what kind of house you have. Because it's definitely not as important as the kitchen or the bedroom, or the living room or anything else. The administration and the alumni at TCU have allowed us to spend almost 30 million dollars in the past three years to maintain the porch. There's a lot of good things going on for us and I wouldn't be surprised if we're a preseason Top 25 again next year with all the guys coming back on offense and the secondary, with Marvin Godbolt, leading the defense.
(on the junior college players' immediate influence on defense) We needed defensive backs and Zarnell Fitch was a guy who was recruited by everybody in the country. He'd signed with Tennesse but then he found he was short a couple units, so he sat out what was basically his redshirt year. Then he decided he wanted to stay a little closer to home and here he is, a very good physical player who's been a great leader while he's been here.
Chris Hayes is a Fort Worth product, I think he had 17 sacks his senior year. We were looking for a speed guy off the edge. You know, here at TCU we base everything off being able to run and this day in age you have to have corners. And we went out and got Quincy Butler, a tall corner 6-2, 190 lbs, a preseason All-American out of Tyler Junior College that a lot of people looked at that was a just a really good player. He'll give us a more help against the big wide receivers that we have to face day in and day out, not only in Conference USA but also the Mountain West.
Drew Coleman played wide receiver, but he's slated at corner. He was coming here a year ago and was short hours and still went and visited places like Kansas State and Nebraska and decided to stay close to home and will play on that side of the ball too and has great ball skills.
Brent Hecht is a guy that was a 4.0 student out of Butler. One of the higher rated tight ends in the country. I think he has a great upside also because he's never really gone through an off-season like he going through right now. He's a very smart guy who will learn the system well.
Having junior college guys in the mid-year is a great benefit because they basically get 15 more practices in because with 29 practices in the fall, you have to consider they get 44 practices to get ready for the season. Usually, if a junior college transfer comes in at the start of the August season, you don't really get a lot out of them until about the fifth or sixth game of the season, until they get accustomed to the social atmosphere and academic surroundings, and also the level of football that you play. For these guys to be here right now is a great benefit for us.
(on choosing positions) We always allow as a group for the young men to come in and pick the side of the ball they want to play on. They get to choose, and then we come in and evaluate and find out what they are and kind of go and help them to make decisions on what would help them get on the field the quickest.
(on immediate freshmen impact) I never really see any freshmen ever make an immediate impact. Every once in a while we see a freshman play here and usually it's because of the depth chart. We graduated Kenny Hayter on fullback and Jason Phillips, who'd played some linebacker and fullback, may come in because of need. But you never know as far as the freshmen are concerned; it really depends on how they handle things from right now until we come in in August. Because a lot of them come in and start working out in June and July - they can come in here and Coach Don Sommers in the weight room is able to move them forward, you never know what could happen when you get bigger and stronger.
(the biggest factor in getting them signed) Probably two years of winning. Winning breeds success. The academic standards and the way TCU runs everything else speaks for itself, but it takes you X-amount of years to build tradition. We had tradition but it was a long time ago; you have to get to where you don't talk about things in the past, you talk about things in the future. Being as high as sixth in the BCS helped not only in Texas but nationally - even that commercial with Nokia and Snoop Dogg. Nobody could really understand what was said, but they saw the Frog. That's the whole key: it's all about getting into people's homes and understanding where Fort Worth and TCU are.
(on conference realignment affecting recruiting) Most of the kids are going to come to TCU because we recruit mostly from Texas anyway, and we play 6-8 home games each year. If anything, it helped us. Would you rather play a game in San Diego or Manhattan? Las Vegas or Birmingham? Kids come from small towns where they've never been anywhere else in their life.
We had some very good friends in Conference USA. We had some great rivalries with Louisville and Southern Miss and I'm really going to miss those because I really respect the competition that Conference USA gave us. I'm not somebody who stands on either side of the line really as a head coach. My standard statement is, as a soldier, my job is to point my army whichever way we're supposed to go into battle and go do that. Three years ago I became the head coach at TCU and we went into Conference USA and you've go to go in and find out what the landscape's like and first year we were 6-5 and then we went 21-5 next two years. You've got to know what you're going to play and what you've got to recruit to and the level you're going to play at. I think the Mountain West will be the same.
It's all about winning the championship. It's all about being able to get a shot at one of those four bowl games that everyone's trying for, and that's still going to be our goal. First thing you've got to do is to compete against yourself and be the best football team you can be and then find out come September how we can be. We start out with two bowl teams this year: Northwestern and Texas Tech.
We're playing on all days of the week because a lot more people see us because there's not a lot of other ballgames on. And even though its been tough on us sometimes, I think it's best and the pluses outweigh the negatives.
