Quotes from Coach Pinkel about 2004 Recriuts
2/4/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Feb. 4, 2004
Missouri Head Coach Gary Pinkel
On the recruiting class...
"First I would like to thank the people that are involved in this process. It was interesting most of the players that signed today had everything in by 9a.m. this morning. We are already started on recruiting for next year; this is a year round process. We are well into next year at this time. There are a whole lot of people that make this thing work certainly thankful for the faculty and administration that we have here we sell the academic institution. The medical, strength, academic staff and the equipment staff all those people help us sell the University of Missouri and our program. The cheerleaders, golden girls and many more that do a great job in the stages. I want to thank my staff more than anything because they do all the work in the year round process, we team recruit a lot meaning that we recruit area and cross over in position to assist each other and we do not care who signs who. "
On the breakdown...
" We just want to get the best 20-25 athletes each year. I am excited about the class and I feel very good in the direction that we are going. Our philosophy when we got here was to get 90 percent of the best players in the state of Missouri. Not just one year, but year after year. That gives us a recruiting base, that is the beauty of the state of Missouri because of the great high school football to build a national program. I was aware of Oklahoma to the southwest of us, and Texas where they play great football and you need other athletes to complete your class. With the number of players out of Texas this year brings the number to 25 players from the state of Texas. What that presents is another alternative to students in Texas to come to the University of Missouri and it is a good program. We offered16 scholarships in state and 14 of them signed with us. I appreciate the high school coaches in the state for letting us earn their trust, and I think that trickles down to their players. We are happy that they choose to come to Columbia, Mo."
On recruiting Patton and Alexander...
"First time I recruited guys with their high school that was two miles down the road. Certainly hard for them to stay here makes a statement and we work hard. It can be an advantage for us they can stop by and make unofficial visits any time that they want."
