February 03, 1999
General comments:
"Very pleased with the way recruiting went. There will be a lot of comparisons, but in reality you go out as coaches and evaluate players. You try and recruit players who fit your system and what you're trying to do in terms of your schemes, and also fit your personality in terms of what your programs all about. You pick guys you feel good about. We're very pleased with this class. I believe our coaches did an excellent job. The new facility (The Zone), the obvious commitment of Texas A&M to having a first-class football program, the season we had, the way our team played, the effort they played with and the excitement of winning the Big 12 Championship were all factors in this good recruiting year."
"Clear evidence that a young man here in the state of Texas, could stay here in Texas and play at Texas A&M and have a big time experience. We lined up and beat Nebraska, when they were the No. 2 team in the nation, here at home and broke the nation's longest winning streak on television. Later on, beating the No. 1 team in the coaches' poll in Kansas State on national television for a (Big 12) championship. Those kind of wins send clear evidence to recruits that you do not have to go somewhere around the country to find that kind of experience. You look at a young man like Ja'Mar Toombs, playing as a true freshman on a nationally-ranked team (A&M) and against nationally ranked teams and we played eight bowl teams this year, those are factors. You look at the recognition that Dat Nguyen received as the winner of the Lombardi Award, a finalist for the Butkus Award and making every All-American team. You look at the success that Ricky Williams had winning the Heisman Trophy and all but the very narrow-minded would say why go off and play. Things are pretty good here at home."
"You look at your needs and areas of concerns and we tried to address those areas in recruiting running backs and defensive backs."
"Those tangible things-- facilities, number of wins, stadiums, and they (recruits) can make comparisons to narrow down their choices. Here at Texas A&M we are growing and getting better. Our 12th Man Foundation has been a good organization for us in terms of support and creating opportunities for us to provide scholarships and facilities for our student-athletes. The chance to play on championship teams, chances to develop as potential professional players and All-America recognition is something we have demonstrated we can provide here at Texas A&M."
On keeping Ty Warren from Bryan and Shannon Mitchell from Navasota at Texas A&M:
"It's always been a priority to keep those guys close to you at home. You don't want to lose guys in your backyard. Both of these young men are very talented players and very athletic. I think they can be outstanding players." More national guys from California and Louisiana:
"We've received more national exposure. We started in New York, or New Jersey, in the Kickoff Classic and ended up in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. We played in a number of televised games including the national televised conference championship over Kansas State. That exposure has allowed us to reach out and supplement our recruiting. Every year, no matter how good of job we do in recruiting, players will leave the state. We will always seek out those players that would like to come here. Texas will always be our recruiting base, but we will supplement with key guys out of state. The case of Louisiana, Monroe is as close to us as a lot of places in the state of Texas. Southern California is an area I have some contacts, I coached out there and I've got a couple of my coaches who have recruited out there."
Last year's class was a heavy emphasis on offense, more balance this year:
"We needed to balance the board this year. In looking at your defensive side of the ball, one thing in addition to playing defense, they account for a lot of your special teams. Important to have a good year recruiting defensive players. You have to go into recruiting with a plan to divide up your scholarships. That is one of the more difficult things. Running back was an area where we're getting thin and after this year we'll be really thin. So that's an important area to beef up in. The secondary where we lost a couple of guys this year and lose three starters next year so we had to bring in some guys this year. A number of guys will have to help us this year."
What about next year's emphasis?
"The No. 1 priority next season will be wide receivers. We've got to bing in some guys who can help us. We'll be able to go out there and say you can come in and play early."
How does this class stack up?
"The reality is you don't know until a couple of years down the road. There is no way to predict at this time who can come in and make the adjustment from high school to college. Some of the guys that I feel are the most qualified over the years have been a disappointment, while other guys just walk in and go to work and make the transition."
Recruiting top players:
"There is no big secret about being good. There is a certain level of coaching expertise, and a lot of people, schools, that have that. The biggest thing is having good players. The No. 1 ingredient to having a good team is good players. There are some people who have good players, and they are not good. But there's no one that's good that doesn't have good players."
Which players look like they will step in and play right away?
"I'm always reluctant to predict who would play next year. I would have never dreamed last year at this time that Ja'Mar would be the starting fullback all year. You look back at this time last year and we had Tiki (Hardeman) and Marc Broyles and those guys were coming back. All of these guys (recruits) obviously have ability and it remains to be seen how they train between now and the time they report. This is a lot of guys and it will make the freshmen workouts a lot more fun. It really impacts your team. Some of these guys are going to have an impact on our team next year. There will be enough spots, you look at some of our positions and you can see where people will help us. I can look at tight end right now and say they could help us right now."