University of North Carolina Athletics
Signing Day Press Conference Quotes
February 3, 2010 | Football
Feb. 3, 2010
2010 Signing Day Press Conference Quotes - Head coach Butch Davis
Opening Statement “Welcome it is a big day, an exciting today. Today is my wife's birthday. It happens frequently that my wife's birthday falls on National Signing Day. The common joke around our house is what did you get her – four offensive lineman, two wide receivers – but it was a good day.
We are very excited about this class. All recruiting classes are a culmination of 12 months of hard work. A lot of people go into making a recruiting class happen. The assistant coaches did a phenomenal job – calling them, writing them, bringing them into camps and games.
The people of this campus do an outstanding job. Our academic people – whether its professors or deans, the academic support people do a great job in helping us showcase the University of North Carolina. This class is what we would like a recruiting class to look like in future years to come. The first couple years you have to recruit on need. There are voids in the roster, you need speed or skill players or you are short at a position. In this particular recruiting class we signed a player at every position, with the exception of quarterback.
We made a staff decision, probably about six months ago that we would not sign a quarterback in the 2010 class. We felt comfortable with the guys that we had on our team. We respected the idea that kids who play quarterback want to look into the future. Not only do they want to know whom they are going to play with, they also want to know what their opportunities are to get a chance. One of the things we did at the University of Miami, as an assistant and head coach, we would routinely sign a Steve Walsh and then skip a year and sign a Steve Erickson. That way kids knew when they step in the door they have a chance to bet the starter for two or three years. Coach Shoop and I felt that in the Carolina's there are some of the most dynamic quarterbacks in the country. We felt like this would be an appropriate time to skip the quarterback position.
I think we filled some significant needs. Not only currently to help the 2010 team, but certainly to lay the foundation for years to come. This class has got offensive and defensive lineman, which was somewhat of a priority. We really wanted to focus on the offensive and defensive lines and the tight end position, to really try to build a team that can be dominate at the line of scrimmage. We wanted a continuation of speed, which was an overriding thing at all of the skill positions. We wanted guys who are home runs hitters, someone you can score quickly – I think we accomplished that. I think there are some guys we have that can do that.
We are really excited about the class and we anticipate that all 21 of these players will be here in the fall. In previous years, as in last year we over signed – knowing a few players might have to be placed somewhere. This year that is not the intent in any of the 21 players that we signed."
On the two offensive lineman – T.J. Leifheit and James Hurst – that enrolled early: “Clearly that was in their mindset. They are two very talented players, they are big, strong and physical. It was clearly a need on this football team to recruit some offensive lineman and coincidently two great ones we were fortunate enough to get. They are great academic students that have already graduated from high school. Both were able to come in early and enroll in this second (spring) semester. James Hurst and T.J. Leifheit are guys that we feel have the athletic ability and work ethic that is going to allow them to compete for a position to play in their freshman year.”
On athlete Sean Tapley's signing day decision: “We probably knew that he was coming for almost two months. Some of these kids that have surfaced in the past two weeks, most of them had indicated that they were coming. In Sean's case, his father is a major Tar Heel and he really wanted Sean to go to school here. Sean was heavily recruited in Jacksonville by two schools in the state of South Carolina among other schools. One of the trends that have I noticed this year with a lot of recruits is that kids are tired of getting “beat up.” They are tired of getting beat up in their schools, by alumni, in their community and a lot of them have said 'Here is what I want to do. Will you keep it quiet?' That way the kid does not have to battle the unnecessary phone calls from coaches asking why they committed or why they de-committed. When Sean came here he said 'Coach, I want to be a Tar Heel."
On the frantic nature of signing day: “Probably the most bizarre story was the one that surrounded the recruitment of Brandon Willis. We have known about Brandon for a long time. He came to camp with us last summer. We had followed his career throughout his junior year of high school and we were aware not only of him, but also the other players that were on his team. He is a brilliant, outstanding student with terrific work ethic. When he came we said 'That's the type of kid that you want on your football team.' There was a period of time where he was leaning this way, and then he was leaning that way. He then commits and then after that there are coaching changes and he is up in the air with what he wants to do. He had actually committed to us at one time and then changed back. I think he is definitely one of the most relieved recruits at this time of our entire class. He will tell you that he is glad that it is over with and that he is glad that he is here. Since he has been here he has done a great job helping us recruit.”
On the increase in decommittments recently in recruiting: “I would say that there certainly is more uncertainty in recruiting these days. I think it is a byproduct of having so much pressure on them so early. I can remember the days where you would just be formulating your recruiting list as an assistant coach in your particular area in the summer prior to the kid's senior year. We would go out in May and say 'Here's 30 to 40 kids that I found in my geographical area.' Then you would start making plans to watch them in August and follow their senior season. You would not extend an offer nor even set up visitation until after the season was over with. If you wait that long today, you will not sign a soul. Kids are making a decision because of all the camps and other stuff. At least kids are narrowing down possible selections to 3-4-5 potential destinations maybe as early as the summer before their senior year, if not the spring of their junior year.”
Is signing day rewarding as it is the end of a two-year process of recruiting players: “There is relief when it is over with. I think that the kids making the decision, we have a fairly decent idea of what they are going to do. Of the 21 kids that we have signed we have pretty much known as many as 12 to 14 of them since the conclusion of the season that this is the direction that they are headed.”
On signing two running backs in the class: “The initial intent was to sign two in this class. Certainly we lost a running back this morning and it came as a surprise to us. Though, you never know the uncertainty such as why does a kid at the twelfth hour make a decision. Is it because of someone else that you are getting? You never really know. When someone does make a decision you do not have the luxury of calling someone and talking to their parents or their coach and finding out why. Eventually we will find out why someone changed his mind. Again, we feel comfortable about the running back that we did get. We think very highly of him.”
On the Carolina's recruiting locations and strategy “One thing is never going to change as long as I am coach here – North Carolina is going to be the major emphasis of every recruiting class. Almost 50% of the kids that we signed this year came from the state of North Carolina. Every year this state is going to be different as is all states. There is always the uncertainty of how many scholarships that you actually have to give. This year we were able to project how many scholarships that we would have along with how many juniors potentially might have left. The overall number might have expanded from 21 to 25.”
Players Mentioned
