Wake Forest Athletics
Signing Day Press Conference Quotes
2/4/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
Feb. 4, 2009
Head coach Jim Grobe
Thoughts on this year's signing class...
"I really like this recruiting class. I know most people say that this time of year but I will tell you that I think our coaching staff has done a nice job, not only finding good football players but finding guys that fit at Wake Forest. I think the thing that impresses me most about this class is not only are there good football players in it but I like the character of this class. I think we've got a bunch of guys that will treat every play like it's fourth and one on the goal line. They will play with a lot of intensity. They not only have good character but I think they'll graduate from Wake Forest, they'll leave here with a degree and they'll help us continue to compete for the opportunity to go to bowl games and compete for championships.
"Typically we don't get much credit for our recruiting classes but I think this is maybe the most athletic class we've brought to Wake Forest. I think most of the guys have the potential to play on both sides of the football. We'll get them in here and find out how best to get the top 22 guys on the field, but I think it's a very athletic class, a very versatile class. It's a class we are really going to enjoy coaching."
What were you looking for in this year's class?
"We're really trying to balance our classes out a little bit. We've been fighting that ever since we got to Wake Forest. When we got here we were pretty strong offensively but had a lot of problems on the defensive side of the ball. One year we'd have a monster offensive class and the next year we'd have a big defensive class. We're trying to balance that out as much as possible. We've got a few linebackers in this group, we've got some guys that can play on the defensive front. Our class is about what we wanted.
"I try to give all of our coaches at least one guy, even if there's not a great need. I hate to have a year where we don't have anybody come in at one position. We're going to try and give each coach at least one guy. Another concern is to make sure that we take the best football players we can find. We may be in a situation where we want to take an offensive lineman but if we can find a really quality defensive end I hate to pass on that guy and take a lesser offensive lineman. There is some rationale behind taking the best players you can find, you just obviously can't get into a situation where you have too many guys at one position."
With Riley Skinner and Brett Hodges finishing next season, was the idea of coming to Wake Forest even more appealing for Brendan Cross?
"I think Brendan Cross sees with Riley and Brett leaving next year, that even though he'll be a young guy and hopefully redshirt this fall, he knows that the other guys have no game experience. That will be an opportunity for him to compete to play. It was a situation where a young guy can see himself spending a year behind Skinner and Hodges and then having a chance to come in next spring and really compete with those other guys. He sees opportunity down the road but not right away."
How do you talk to your recruits about the idea of redshirting their first season?
"A lot people use it against us in recruiting, a lot of people go out there promising guys the moon and they'll be superstars the first day they step on campus. We're honest with the guys, we're going to try and not waste a year of eligibility. I have no problems with guys playing right away. If you look at guys that have played right away they're all in the NFL right now. They all turned out pretty good. If you can do that, that's fine. But I'm not going to bring you in for three snaps on the field goal unit every game and waste a whole year of eligibility."
Is there anyone in this year's signing class that is more likely to play as a true freshman?
"Typically skill guys have a little better chance of playing early. There are expectations, last year Joe Looney and Andrew Parker played as true freshman and they are in kind of tough guy positions. But typically skill guys, we lost some pretty quality people in our secondary, a safety or corner might have a chance to work his way in. Any of those receiver positions, guys like Campanero, Quan Rucker, might have an opportunity to come in and play in a hurry. I'm hopeful that we don't have to ask a linebacker to come in and play. We'll know a little bit more after spring practice. We'll know whether we're really looking at either of these guys to come in maybe be a little bit more urgent than the others."
On dispersion of signees' hometowns...
"I think that it's going to vary a little bit year to year. We dabbled a little bit in Texas and I think that ultimately is going to be good for us. Tim Billings has Texas roots so I think that's going to be good. We took some Virginia guys and that's something we haven't done a whole lot of but I think our relationship with some coaches lends itself to that. We'll get calls from coaches from time to time that may not be in a typical area for us who will say, `Hey Coach, I've got a good character kid with good grades that would be a perfect fit at Wake Forest.' In some cases we're not out beating the bushes trying to find new places to go, we just stumble across some guys that happen to be a good fit for us. I think that's key for us, finding the right fit, and that may not be in the typical places. Now I will say that one of the things that has been great for us is when we get a kid from a really good high school program and he comes in here and has a great experience. He's enjoyed going to school here, he's enjoyed playing football for us, and that just becomes a natural. In some cases we get a kid out of a high school that comes in and has a great experience but they don't have another player for five or six years so we're not able to do that. But when you get great programs that are typically producing three, four, five scholarship football players a year - especially programs that not only have good football programs but also good [academics] - then it's a little easier for us to start developing a relationship with them that lasts year in and year out."
On if the last three years' success has helped recruiting efforts...
"Yeah, I would say so. I don't think there's any question about that. We get a lot more leads; we get our foot in the door a lot more than we used to. But our problem is that we still have to be careful. We've been pretty successful with the guys we've been bringing in so even though we're in on more kids now we've got to know when to back off and take our kind of kids."
On the kind of young men Wake Forest recruits...
"Most of the kids, I would say along with Ray [McCartney], that we're in on are kids whose moms' and dads' influence is such that [the student-athletes] feel that before they go chase an NFL dream, having a degree in their back pockets is important. And that's typically what we find at Wake Forest...I think we get a lot of four-star kids character-wise. Services may not put a lot of stars by their names but by the time they get out of here - I think Aaron Curry has a few stars by his name right now, and Alphonso Smith, Chip Vaughn, Stanley Arnoux, Sam Swank - [they] are looked at in a little different light. I think we're bringing in pretty good football players. I'd like to tell you it's all coaching, but we're bringing in some good football players."
On Texas' 5A Defensive Player of the Year Nikita Whitlock...
"He's a guy that we've liked for a long, long time. We kind of see Nikita - even though he played up front, he played nose guard - as more of a mike linebacker, kind of like a Stanley Arnoux. [Whitlock]'s another one of those guys that because of his height - he's as good of a football player as we saw on film anywhere - we feel like we kind of stole him."
