Feb. 2, 2005
Missouri Football Recruiting Class Announced
Selected Quotes from Coach David Yost and Dave Christensen
Opening Statements of Dave Christensen...
"... I certainly want to thank for coach Pinkel our staff who have worked for the past 12 months to put together this terrific recruiting class, they worked their rear ends off Many nights on the road many hours, and I know coach is really appreciative of our staff. There were not any real surprises... very uneventful everyone we had expected to sign with us signed with us. We are very pleased with the class."
Opening Statements of David Yost...
"... Our goal is always to find between 20 to 25 student athletes and the best that are available and fit the positions. Most every year we recruit all positions, but some times we focus on one position over the other. ... We think from top to bottom this is the best group since we have been here. Lot of guys committed early in the class and we were not waiting on a lot of guys down toward the end. The state of Missouri is very important to us. We have nine guys from the state of Missouri in this class of 23. That is not the complete state, and that is what our goal is. Our goal for next year is that 90 percent of the players that we recruit to come here to Mizzou. Again Oklahoma and Texas are an area that we focus on heavily. Texas really came up big for us this year. We have 7 guys from the state of Texas. A main focus was the offensive line, tight end, and defensive line area... we feel we got 16 high level players from those areas. Three of the guys we signed early are here already."
David Yost on the interest of Texas in Chase Daniels...
"... Coach Steckel was visiting with the family about a week ago and Mr. Daniel told coach Steckel that he did not have to worry that if they called him they would tell them they were not interested. After Coach Steckel left the home he called me and coach Pinkel to let us know that."
Dave Christensen on recruiting lineman...
"First off there was only one senior. The class behind them there are only two or three. So we are not really heavy in the juniors or seniors. So we had to bring some experience in. We have a big group of red shirt Freshman and good players this year, so we have some players coming. We just felt that we needed some experience to provide the immediate impact that we need. The last few years in a row we graduated three seniors so we needed some depth. We needed some guys with experience."
David Yost on recruiting a punter/place kicker...
"... With most positions you recruit them off video that is not the case with a kicker. We do not feel that is the best way to evaluate a kicker. There is a large difference between high school and college. First off is that a high school kicker will kick off a block, and you can not translate what a guy will do kicking of a one inch block, or kicking off the ground. We were able to get evaluations on Matt Casaday from kicking camps... he excelled at those and that is when we made our evaluation on him. ... We then watched the video after the fact to verify that he could do it in the game too."
David Yost on Darnell Terrell...
"He is about one inch taller and 15 pounds heavier. He is a great looking player on tape from the junior college level. He is showing that he is a big time college football player. He played against and with good competition. Most people that went their to look at other guys, he stood out. We are excited to get him."