urban meyer Q&A - signing day

[radbag]

Florida coach Urban Meyer addressed the media for about 25 minutes on Signing Day and he covered a range of topics which included putting the finishing touches on the 2008 class, answering questions about how he felt during the Carl Moore situation and many others. Here is what Meyer said:

Meyer opening statement

Meyer: I just did a couple interviews and everyone was talking about our last three classes which I'm awfully pleased with but it's hard to say this isn't my favorite class. If you look at the amount of time and research spent on each player, there are always going be issues and things show up, but I'm awful proud of my staff.

There's a right way to do it. A lot of times you jump on early commitments. We didn't do that. We had an opportunity to get a bunch of early commitments but we made a decision this past year that we had relatively fewer numbers than we've had in the past. All of a sudden, we had some transfers which increased those numbers.

Going into the year we had much fewer numbers than we've had the last couple years. I'm very pleased with the amount of research we did. I'm very pleased with the quality of student we brought in. You're going to find out there's one, maybe two, that may have an issue with being close to qualifying. We would think they'll qualify or we wouldn't sign them. Other than that we have green check marks, I do it myself. Once they qualify on the list of 22, with the eight already here on campus, have green checkmarks that say they're already qualified. At a school like Florida that's critical.

First, I'd like to thank the families of the coaching staff and their kids. This has been a grind ever since that national championship game all the way through. I've beaten them to death. I'd like to thank the families, those wives and kids. They can be dads now for a couple days and then come back to work for the next year.

The new facility is going to be a tremendous help. You can see it's going up out there; the front door of Florida football. I told (athletics director) Jeremy (Foley) the story about Bo Schembechler when he first went to Miami of Ohio.

They had very poor facilities so every time during recruiting he'd pull that bulldozer out there and just park it on a big vacant lot and say that's where the new facility is going to be and the next year (he'd) do it again, next year do it again. I was getting ready to do that. I was going to pull the bulldozer up. That's where the new facility is going to be.

Overall, great class, I know you hear that everywhere but that's three in a row. It will be a roster of 25 upperclassmen and 60 underclassmen. One of these days I'm going to stand up here and we're going to have a veteran team. I'm not quite sure when that's going to happen here. Eleven seniors, we just graduated a small class. It's going to be a very young team once again…The future is awful bright. I'm anxious to get back and be a father, a husband and coach our team. I'm anxious to get going again.

Was the plan to wait on commitments and take them later?

Meyer: We had a bunch of guys that wanted to commit early and we wanted them to slow down. I want them to take five trips in the fall. Don't commit, take your time. I encourage that. The ones that commit without visiting usually don't hold. That's why I'm opposed to the early signing period as well. You're asking young people to make decisions that are going to follow them around for the next 40 years.

Take your three or four visits, I don't think kids can take five anymore. Kids are too busy. Take your three or four visits, come back, sit with your family and your high school coach and make the best decision. Don't just go and watch a spring practice and commit because that's usually not going to last.

How did you meet your needs especially at defensive tackle and in the secondary?

Meyer: I wish I brought that sheet down. It's my personnel board that I work off of. For example, you want 16 offensive linemen. We currently have 15. Defensive tackle, you want seven. I believe we have seven. Defensive ends you want eight. We have eight. Safeties you want six, we have nine so we're a little heavy there. Receivers we want 12. I made that comment three years ago. We have 12 scholarship receivers now. To run our style of play that's what we need.

First time I can remember you have three returning quarterbacks that you're going to war with. We've gone (from) just recruiting, take whatever you can get, to now we're trying to fit those pieces together.

Safety and defensive tackle were the areas and we have two tremendous safeties coming in. We have three corners coming in. You stick them in with Major Wright, Dorian Munroe. That's an area we have to improve and we will. Defensive tackle, defensive end, William Green, Troy Epps and Omar (Hunter), the guy we got today at 10:30 (a.m.). That was a big, big get.

With building depth, are you at the point where you can reload every year?

Meyer: Whenever you have that many young players stockpiled at a position you're going to have some unhappy athletes. What we have to do as a staff, I already met with our staff about that, you're going to deal with some five-star, four-star guys that played in all-star games and everybody is saying how great everybody is and all of a sudden you wake up and you're third string on the depth chart and you're a sophomore.

That's a potential issue and we have to coach through it, play through it. You'd rather have a class of 20, 20, 20 20. We don't have that. We have 11, 14, 31 and 29 so we're going to have to fight through that. Just look at pure numbers, position by position, it's as close as I've been and I've been a head coach seven years now. It's as close as I've been as being right on as far as numbers.

How did losing two coaches affect your late recruiting?

Meyer: It had some effect. If I felt it was going to have a major, major effect, I would've jumped right tin the middle and hired a coach. It was more important to take our time like we did in recruiting and try to hire a coach and try to close our recruits, you're doing one an injustice to another. We made the decision we're going to go as is. I love our staff. Our guys busted their tails and at the end of the day I don't think it made that much of an impact at all.

I was concerned about that and watching that closely. Everything was moving. NCAA says you're allowed to have seven out at one time so it didn't change how many guys we had on the road. We were full seven every week.

When do you think you'll have your new assistants in place?

Meyer: That's what we start tomorrow. I started it. That's our next plan to get that in place. I'd say in about a week it should be done.

Twelve signees are from out of state. Was that the goal this time around?

Meyer: I'd rather have 22 in-state, saves a lot of gas money for the university and travel time for us. I'd much rather do it that way. New Jersey, Steve Addazio has done a heck of a job up there. You look at who we have from there. We have Phil Trautwein and then we have Justin Trattou. We have Will Hill and Brendan Beal. That's an area we're going to continue to hit very hard. Once you get one you'll notice you'll get a few more.

What range are you looking for from early enrollees next year?

Meyer: I want to say our first year here we operated well under 80 scholarships. I want to say low 70s so that means you can go 10-12 just to fill your roster with mid-semester players. Second year, we were down and could have taken one or two more but we ran out of numbers. If a guy transfers, a guy leaves, you can't replace him mid-semester. I want to say we're going to have four players who are going to graduate and we're one under so I'm looking at maybe five maximum next year. I'd rather have eight or nine. I think we had nine two years ago and this year we had eight. Seventeen in two years is pretty good.

Are you finding that recruiting in south Florida is tougher than expected?

Meyer: (Miami) did a good job. Every year we do the research on south Florida and before our staff got here, (Florida) signed a few players from there but I always look at who plays. South Florida in the last couple years with Major Wright Marcus Gilbert, who is going to be a contributor, Deonte Thompson is going to be a good player. I'd much rather take a smaller number of guys who are actually going to play.

They signed six guys in whatever year it was but none of the six ever played so I'm very pleased with what we're doing down there. Losing Doc Holliday who recruited down there for a couple hundred years…so we're going to put Billy Gonzales in the Lake Okeechobee, Broward County area and one of the new coaches I'm going to put right in the city of Miami. Great football players, but Miami did a good job down there. We're still going to go down there, compete and try to get a few players out of there. Quality is going to be the key.

Can you explain your communication with Maranda Smith when you were recruiting Carl Moore?

Meyer: I read what was said in the release and that's right on the dot. I knew that back when it all came to light when I was instructed not to say anything. I trust the system. I trust Florida and I trust Urban Meyer and the coaching staff. Very, very aware of the rules and we believe in the rules. To see things said, I wanted to say a bunch of things, but I couldn't because it's just not true.

What happened on Heisman night? Did Tebow use your phone? Did Moore call Tebow?

Meyer: What you read was right on the dot.

Will Brandon Antwine be available for spring practice?

Meyer: I don't think he'll be available for spring. Brandon had a rare issue with some muscle issues in his lower back so we're hoping to get him back in the fall.

Who are two or three guys that you look at who can make an impact?

Meyer: I could get in trouble doing this but I like doing this. I'll get in trouble with the families if I don't mention their names. Omar hunter is the guy. I was told we were going to get it about 7:30, 8 o'clock and it didn't happen until 11 o'clock. Those were three tough hours but we got it. What kind of player he is, what kind of person he is, he's qualified, that's going to be a hard not to get on the field that first series of defense for us. That's maybe putting two much pressure on him but I watched him work out, I stood right there in the weight room, watched him lift, watched him train, he's a 400-pound bencher, he's a squat guy, he's a state champion. It's everything you wanted. We had to have him and I told Jeremy (Foley), I told everyone else, we get that one I'm going home. I didn't go home but we got him.

William Green is probably up there as a guy we earmarked last spring. He's a Jarvis Moss-type. That's a lot of pressure to put on a guy once again but I feel that strong about him as a player and then Will Hill to commit at Friday Night Lights or right after and hold that commitment and not take trips, not put on different hats and rip shirts open. I admire guys like that and Will Hill and his family showed a lot to me about, 'I want to be a Florida Gator. How we doing? I want to be a Florida Gator. What about this calling you? I'm a Gator.' He's always a very good player from a great high school.

How did the Carl Moore investigation bother recruiting?

Meyer: Recruiting is you're trying to find advantages. Florida has a bunch of built-in advantages. Our academics, support system, our strength program, our new facility, the crystal ball, the Heisman trophy, the graduation rate, I can go on and on and on…Those are all really good selling points and to compare that to other schools which we do quite often you look pretty good so you also have to have a defense mechanism.

What do people go after us with? They have too many players at your position so you're not going to play early. We might lose a guy here or there but at the end you might not mind losing a guy that doesn't want to….Percy (Harvin) and Tim (Tebow) and (Brandon) Spikes, not one time asked me how many players we had at that position. They just wanted to go and play. That and when something negative rolls across a ticker. I was out on the road and got a call that said 'Hey, you're name is on here.' That was about 10 days putting out fires.

I was on the road so I was seeing most of them. I address each person, each player, each coach, each family member and there is a little bit of faith involved and there's a track record. I found myself looking at some of them, chat rooms or whatever they are.

Two players de-committed on Wednesday morning and chose other schools. How difficult is that to handle with the amount of time you invested?

Meyer: Pat Dooley's been great to us and Pat from the Gainesville Sun, I mentioned to him last year it would be really neat to watch what goes on. It's unbelievable what goes on on a Signing Day and he hit me with that today, 'Remember, you said, do you mind if I come up?' and I said, 'It would really be a neat story to come up here, have a cup of coffee and watch the fax machine turn on and watch 43-year-old men act like 2-year-olds when they get a new toy at Christmas.'

It was a tough Tuesday and I said, 'You'll probably not want to come up.' Tuesday got a little rough with who's coming, who's not coming and coaches fire cell phones across the office when you lose a guy. Every coach is a competitor, but you also understand you're not going to win every game you play. It's disappointing but it happens. Is there any animosity? Absolutely not. That's his decision. It did shock me a little but I'm also very pleased with who we got.

Are you surprised with the defensive line commits especially after who you signed last year?

Meyer: Not one time did Troy Epps ask me, 'We did lose a couple but you signed six last year and what about Carlos Dunlap, Justin Trattou? What about John Brown?' Omar Hunter, I spent a lot of time with him. Not one time did that come up. It's a little bit like when we recruited Tim. Tim never asked me how many quarterbacks we had on scholarship. He said, 'I'm good. Let's go play.' That's a lot like Omar. Same thing with William Green and Troy Epps. Not one time did you have to explain last year's recruiting class. If you're good enough you're going to play at Florida. We proved we play freshmen and the best players will step on the field.

How did it feel to have your recruiting methods called into question with the Moore situation?

Meyer: That's one of the hardest things ever. When I saw that it was one of the most disturbing things I've experienced in my life because we take great pride. I'm not saying we're perfect, but trying to do it the right way. To see that come across the ticker or have your wife say, 'Hey, by the way.' I'm trying to think if I've ever been angrier and I don't know if I have. I belief in the system, I believe in the University of Florida and I have to re-emphasize I believe in the system. I don't agree with everything that goes on but I have a job to do and I'm going to do it the best I can.

How crucial was it to land T.J. Lawrence on Signing Day?

Meyer: We knew about T.J. about a week or two weeks ago. That one was in our hip pocket and David Young, once we got clearance from the doctors. T.J. Lawrence, I went myself to watch him play basketball and I stood there for a long time and I was even more impressed after I left there. He's also another guy people were hammering how many people we have at a certain position and he wanted to go play at Florida and his whole family wanted him to play here as well.

Have you ever seen a kicker with better hang time than Caleb Sturgis?

Meyer: I understand he went out there and kicked a 45-yard field goal and turned around and kicked one the other way. For you math majors, that's a 65-yard field goal. I don't believe it because I didn't see it but the boys were telling me about that. With them moving (kickoffs) back to the 30-yard line to have a guy can have a shot popping it out of the end zone will be key.

[MinGator]

if this Sturgis kid can really reliably put it out of the end zone from the 30 it will be huge. opponents scoring percentages have got to be pretty low if every drive is 80 yards.

[TheTodd]

they had some videos poster on GC of him kicking. He is an amazing kicker.

[radbag]

they had some videos poster on GC of him kicking. He is an amazing kicker.

why is he only a 2 star? have there ever been 5 star kickers?

[IHateUGAlyDawgs]

^^^Wilbur

[TheTodd]

Kickers are rarely 5 stars.

[G8rMom7]

We need a kicker...bad. Hope this kid is the real deal unlike that other dood we got a couple of years ago.

[IHateUGAlyDawgs]

Meyer has actually done his research on this kid, whereas Jonathan Phillips he took someone's word for it. Hopefully he is not consulting that person any further.

[radbag]

^KCoachR??? [img]{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_lmao.gif[/img]

[IHateUGAlyDawgs]

[img]{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_lmao.gif[/img]

no, KCoachR hated Phillips.

[TheTodd]

Ron Zook?

[TTBHG]

^^He was the poster on the old board who OVER analized our kickers. I think he said he was a high school coach or something but he would spend hours breaking down everything wrong with our kickers. From ball placement to trajectory angles. Dude was a anal bastard.

[TheTodd]

I know who he was. I was wondering if Urb took advice from the Zooker on Phillips.

[radbag]

^^He was the poster on the old board who OVER analized our kickers. I think he said he was a high school coach or something but he would spend hours breaking down everything wrong with our kickers. From ball placement to trajectory angles. Dude was a anal bastard.

he and i had legendary battles

he was emoticon man.

[IHateUGAlyDawgs]

I thought that was insti?

[radbag]

^^^shit...you're right.