Feb. 6, 2002
On the type of athletes this recruiting class is made up of~ "The balance of the class is athletic people that can run, and all these athletes can compete at the highest level in the Big XII. That's where our efforts were."
On the instate recruiting this year~ "I think we've continued to improve instate. I'm very pleased with Missouri athletes that we've signed. As we as a program mature and as we continue to build and as we continue to build more trust, hopefully that will continue to improve each year. We know how critical that is, and I think we are headed in the right direction. As always, there is a process to getting the best players. This process is ongoing, and we work at that all the time."
On the high number of junior college signees in this recruiting class~ "We signed one or two more than I would have liked to. I think you have to look at your needs. I felt we might end up around five, but I think we ended up with six. Generally, I think you want to keep it fewer than five if you can. I would suggest that a lot of things could change through attrition personnel wise. I would suggest that we keep it between one to four in the years to come."
On the many openings on the offensive line~ "I think when you look at that you have to look to our junior college players. We have two junior college offensive linemen coming in, and I think those guys with an experience level should be able to do it. Offensive line is a very difficult position (for freshmen) to come in and play right away, and that is why we brought in those two junior college offensive linemen. The other offensive linemen (already in our program) are going to compete hard and see what happens. We'll see how it goes from that standpoint"
On running back recruit Mario Whitney~ "He's good. He's got tremendous quickness, change of direction, and acceleration. If you see video of him, he can turn on a dime and not lose any speed. You can't coach all those things. He's a very, very gifted runner. You can do a lot of different things with him. Not only can you just hand the ball of to him, you can throw it to him as well. I think he has a tremendous future."
On this year's recruiting class in relation to last years~ "Our staff works very hard. I can't compare it to last years. Hopefully we'll improve it every year. Hopefully this is a little better than last year. I don't know. Ask me in about three years, and I'll tell you. Hopefully next years will be better than this year's. We ask our players to improve all the time so obviously we as coaches have to improve our recruiting all the time. We have to raise the bar on the level of athletes that we bring in."
On wide receiver/defensive back recruit Dedrick Harrington~ "I don't know if there is a last piece to the puzzle. I don't know if I would describe it like that, but hearing the news about Dedrick was pretty exciting. He certainly adds to this class. He's a very athletic guy. He's a very big athlete. He can play at a various number of areas. He's got a great future. There's not many athletes like that that can run and have that kind of quickness, and that is why he was recruited as heavily as he was. We're certainly pleased he decided on the University of Missouri."
On the possibility of Harrington and Whitney playing in their freshmen years~ "I think both players, Dedrick and Whitney, like all our players, certainly want to come in and play as freshman. I think both those guys are certainly of a high enough caliber that they are capable of making an impact as freshmen. I think we have to handle that differently (with all our freshmen) depending on who they are. Whether a player plays as a freshman or not does not determine the kind of player he is going to be. So it doesn't mean a player that comes in as a red shirt isn't as good as a player that comes in and plays. A lot of that has to do with (our) need. I think athletically both of those players could make an immediate impact, and a lot of it has to do with the athlete himself. Does he want to come in immediately and play or does he want to red shirt? We try to communicate with our athletes so that turns out the best for them and the program. We've talked to (Dedrick) about the safety position. We have three safety positions in our defense. So he could certainly fit in probably in a number of areas."