West Virginia University
Coach Dana Holgorsen Media Conference
February 3, 2016
National Signing Day
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (February 3, 2016) - Coach Dana Holgorsen addressed members of the media on Wednesday, Feb. 3, at the Milan Puskar Center Team Room.
Opening Statement
We had a successful day today. I know everyone across the country is probably saying the same thing. For the first time since I have been, there wasn’t any surprises. Usually, there are a handful of surprises. I was pretty excited by the job that our staff did. Led by (director of player personnel) Ryan Dorchester in the back. How you doing Cleveland? He’s from Cleveland. He likes Cleveland quite a bit, so he has a new nickname. (Director of Player Personnel) Ryan (Dorchester) has done a great job. He has been with me for my entire time here. This was the smoothest it has ever been. Is this our seventh signing day? It is our sixth signing day. It went very smooth. I was very proud of (director of player personnel) Ryan (Dorchester) and the job that he’s done. (Recruiting coordinator) Casey Smithson, our recruiting coordinator, had a big hand in this as well.Obviously, the nine full-time coaches too. Seven of them have been here for a quite a while, and then the two new guys hit the ground running for the month of January. They were a big help as well. The staff did a great job.
I also want to commend our players. The one thing about recruiting that you all don’t get to see is the job that our players do on campus. When we bring all these guys here, our players play a big role in helping recruit these guys. Two weekends ago was the 30 inches of snow. We were in this building for eight hours on Friday night, and then we were in the building for about 12 hours on Saturday. We really couldn’t go anywhere else. Olivero’s opened on Saturday night, so we were able to go over there and eat. A lot of them were sitting in here watching Mountaineer basketball or eating pizza. Our players were around the guys the whole time, and we signed every one of those recruits that were in town last weekend. Then we had another seven or eight guys this past weekend that we needed to close with. Again, our players did a great job of selling our program. I think that goes to show the place that the program is in and the excitement level that the current players have toward the program and the staff here. They really did a great job of closing, and I am pretty excited about the class overall.
Eighteen of the guys signed today. There are nine guys who are currently enrolled. I wish that they were able to have their own little signing day, but the way that the signing periods are laid out, they don’t get an early signing day. I think that they should make an early signing day for high school guys. They should be allowed to sign with the mid-term junior college guys on the third Wednesday of December. At that point, they are going to know where they are at. They are going to know where they are going, so those nine could have signed. Then you can open it up to guys that have been committed for well over two years. They know where they are going to, so I wish that those guys were able to sign in December as well. It would have saved them a lot of hassle, and it would have saved us some money. I don’t make those decisions. The NCAA and the administrators do. Currently, there are nine guys on campus. You all know who those guys are. They are all doing well, and they are adjusting well. We haven’t been around them too much. They have been in the academic and strength and conditioning world.
We will start our offseason training on Monday. We will be around all the guys for about five weeks. We will be around the new guys and old guys for about five weeks, prior to spring ball. That’s when we will get a better feel for how those guys are doing. In the meantime, those other 18 guys signed today. From top to bottom, I think we filled a lot of needs.
Offensively, we had to replace Wendell (Smallwood). We had to replace Cody Clay. We had to replace Marquis Lucas. We had to replace Jordan Thompson. Those were the four contributors that we lost. Other than that, everyone is back. We have some good quality kids who are coming back, and they are going to take a shot at being able to fulfill those roles. If you look at (running back) Justin Crawford from Northwest Mississippi, he has a lot of Wendell (Smallwood) qualities from a versatility point of view. He has great vision. He can hit the hole quick. He can make people miss, and he is a good receiver as well. (Wide receiver) Steven Smothers signed today. He has a lot of start/stop qualities. He is a bigger version of Tavon (Austin) coming out of high school. There has been a lot of comparisons and a lot of similarities between the two. They have known each other for a long time, and Tavon (Austin) is a big reason why Steven (Smothers) came here. He has a lot of start/stop qualities. He has a fantastic returner, and we have a need for a guy like that. (Tight end) Trevon Wesco, a tight end from Lackawanna College, will give us a bigger body, where we can continue to do some of the 11 personnel stuff that we have done. (Offensive lineman) Craig Smith is a big tackle from Tyler, Texas. He is originally out of the Miami/Palm Beach area. We had to recruit seasoned guys like that that could fill some of those roles on offense
There are a lot more holes on defense. When we lose as many as the old guys who we lost, you have to fill those roles. We didn’t lose a whole lot at d-line. We didn’t have to go out and recruit a whole bunch. Even though we lost five, we have a lot of experienced guys coming back at the linebacker position. We lost five, but we still have guys who have experience. We loaded up on four quality high school players at that spot. Obviously, (linebacker) Brendan Ferns was a big one for us. He is a little bit of a legacy kid, but he had a lot of options. He could of went virtually anywhere he wanted to. He decided to spend the next four years with his brother and the Mountaineer family. The secondary is probably the biggest need on defense. You lose Karl (Joseph). You lose KJ (Dillon). You lose Daryl (Worley). You lose Terrell (Chestnut).
We have a lot of young guys that are in the program. We have been down the road of having to play freshmen in the Big 12, and it didn’t work out very well. That was probably where we attacked the junior colleges the most. It was headlined by (safety) Kzyir White. I am very familiar with him, and he is very familiar with us. I don’t have to go into that. With that said, he could have went anywhere in the country. He is 6-foot-2. He is 210-pounds. He is a fierce hitter. He can cover ground. He is fast, and he is always around the ball. He will have a pretty good opportunity to step in and do what KJ (Dillon) has done for us the last four years. (Safety) Toyous Avery and (safety) Jovanni Stewart are a couple of other guys who are around the ball a lot. They have made a ton of plays. Then there is the corner situation. We have a couple of seniors coming, but you need about four of them to be able to play. If you look at the bowl game, we were out there with our fourth, fifth and sixth corners. You need a bunch of people there who can play. We have a bunch of guys coming back with some experience, but we added two junior college guys. (Cornerback) Mike Daniels and (cornerback) Elijah Battle is going to be good for us.
All those junior college guys should be here around May 16th, and then we will be able to work with them all summer. The high school guys will be here around June 8th, potentially into July. Overall, it was a really good day. We recruited them from 12 different states, and I think that is important to point out. It was a lot of regional guys. It was probably the most regional we have been in quite some time. We have seven from Ohio, four from Pennsylvania, three from Maryland, two from West Virginia and one from New York. There also was a couple from down south. That is more regional. I think that is another good thing to point out as well. Overall, I thought our staff did a great job. I will take some questions.
On how much signing day is an educated guess compared to actually evaluating the recruits on paper
It’s still a very educated guess for us. That’s just so hard to answer, because you are probably going to set the kid up for failure. We know what our needs are, and we are going to address those needs with specific recruits either by volume or junior college. That doesn’t mean that the guys on your team are not ready to step into those roles. If those guys step into those roles, then you need to add more people for depth. Our depth has been good. (Director of player personnel) Coach (Ryan) Dorchester has done a fantastic job as the player personnel guy. He has done a great job at getting the depth to where it needs to be. At this point, I’m happy with where we are at. We have the room to maybe add a couple more if we can identify a couple of guys out there who can help. We may have to lose a guy or two in order to have the amount of numbers that we have to be able to add. That tells you that you are in a good spot. You can only go to 85. It’s a guess. You just try to get as many bodies stacked on top of each other. You let them compete their tail off. Competition within your group is what makes you better, and I think we are at that place.
On the expectations of recruiting legacies like linebacker Brendan Ferns and safety Kyzir White
Expectations are fine. You are around them a bunch, and you get to know them pretty well. You take for granted the fact that they have options. We did not take for granted that either one of these kids had options to go wherever they wanted. We recruited those two guys harder than anybody we signed. The truth of the matter is that those guys had a lot of good opportunities and options elsewhere. We battled, and we recruited hard. We were fortunate to get both of those guys. I think the difficult thing about it is that you are around them so much, and you know them so well. You may take for granted the fact that you know them so well, and you don’t recruit them as hard as you need to. I don’t think that happened with either one.
On if his needs changed when Daryl Worley and Wendell Smallwood left for the NFL
It did. We were counting on those two guys to come back and play a big role for us. They have played a lot for us. They have been three-year starters for us. We got a lot of those guys. I wish they changed that rule. Nobody gives a crap on what I think about it. I wish they would change it to where those guys have to finish what they started. The degree aspect of it is the most important thing. If a guy gets his degree, starts for three years and has a year of eligibility left, then congratulations son, you accomplished what you wanted to accomplish when you came to school here. If a guy exhausts his eligibility, hasn’t graduated yet and wants to be a professional, then fine by me. I think that’s the point where they can go do that. Like I said, nobody cares what I think, but that’s what I think should’ve happened with those guys. Nonetheless, I will support them. I will follow them, and I wish them all the best. I hope things work out great, but we had to go out and find another back.
Last year, we were pretty fortunate when those two guys stayed healthy the whole year. We didn’t really have to get to three as much as we did the year before. We got to No. 5 a lot. You have to have some bodies there, and we need someone to take the place of Wendell (Smallwood). They have to have that kind of a year, because I think that the opportunity will be there. When you have your o-linemen coming back and all your wideouts can stretch the field, there are going to be opportunities for yards. I think (redshirt junior running back) Rushel Shell is going to step up into a role and carry the ball more. By signing (running back Justin) Crawford, that put us in a pretty good place. The corner is the same way. We were targeting one from junior college, and then when Daryl (Worley) left we had to target another one. You don’t want to line up a freshman. We have a bunch of freshmen at that spot right now.
On how big of advantage it is to recruit guys from West Virginia
You just contradicted yourself there. It’s hard to recruit in state when there is not a whole lot. When there is, we would certainly love the opportunity to be able to do that. We have two which is probably above the norm. We have (safety Dylan) Tonkery and (defensive lineman Reese) Donahue. They are two quality West Virginia kids who are very deserving at being at West Virginia University and playing in the Big 12. I wish there were more, but there aren’t. They are good quality guys. Along those same lines, we have a good walk-on program here. We are actively pursuing guys to walk-on. We have three from Morgantown High. Kody Shearer is a good ball player. I’m starting to get to know these guys a good bit, because my son is over there. I am able to go over there and watch games and be around the kids. Obviously, that couldn’t happen in the past. Nathan Green from Brooke High is a good football player. I saw Brooke and Morgantown High play earlier in the year. He is a good football, so he is coming. Then there are four or five guys who are committed to coming to West Virginia. They are going to try and earn their way. Justin Arndt is a prime example of that working out for him. Darren Arndt is another guy. He is a prime example. He played in West Virginia. They both came in and did everything the way that they were supposed to, and those guys ended up being on scholarship and being contributors to this team. I think that is going to continue to cultivate itself. We have to make decisions from a scholarship point of view out of school, and we have to do the same thing once they are on our team.
On if Nick Kwiatkoski and linebacker Brendan Ferns are similar
I think so. From a body type, they are. (Linebacker Brendan) Ferns is probably more athletic than Kwit (Nick Kwiatkoski) coming out of high school. He is pretty athletic. Kwit (Nick Kwiatkoski) turned into an unbelievably solid, tough-nose football player. That’s what he turned in to. When I got here, Kwit (Nick Kwiatkoski) was committed, so I didn’t study him as much as I did (linebacker Brendan) Ferns. (Linebacker Brendan) Ferns is athletic now. That guy does everything. He plays offense. He plays defense. He throws it, and he catches it. He runs it. He tackles people. That is impressive, but the body type is very similar. (Safety) Kyzir (White) is very similar to (KJ) Dillon. When KJ (Dillon) started as a freshman, he was a 170-pounds. He turned into a 6-foot-1, 210-pound guy who you currently see. (Safety) Kyzir (White) is 6-foot-1, 210-pounds. He is maybe even bigger than that. He is game ready now, where it took KJ (Dillon) a couple years to get there.
On if tight end Trevon Wesco is someone they can target downfield
Not at 280-pounds. That guy is huge right now. He is big. He hasn’t played. He didn’t play this past year, so he is bigger. He is athletic. I think (coach Bob Huggins) Hugs recruited him when for a while when he was young. I’m serious. He was a really good, athletic basketball player. He grew into a more of a football player. The more they grow this way instead of this way, it switches from basketball recruits to football recruits. He had a heck of a freshman year, and unfortunately, he was dealt with a knee injury. He didn’t get to play this year, so he gained some weight. He is about to be cleared. By the time August rolls around, you are going to be looking at a 6-foot-5, 250-pound athlete. He will be able to move. Everyone always says ‘why don’t you throw it to the tight end?’ Well if you watch Cody Clay run a dang corner route, you wouldn’t throw it to him either. We have tried. It took him three days to get there, but the closer you get to the goal line, the shorter the route is. That’s when we threw the ball to Cody (Clay). We would love to be able to keep the tight end in there and do some things down field. I have studied what the Carolina Panthers are doing right now, and although we don’t have superman at quarterback, that tight end does a lot of good things. He really is a good player, and I love to have a guy who can do stuff like that. It’s a tough thing to go find.
On what he thinks of high school running backs Kennedy McKoy and Martell Pettaway
(Running back Kennedy) McKoy is here now. He is probably taller. He is probably 6-foot-1, 200-pounds. I don’t trust anything (director of football communications Mike) Montoro puts together over here. I don’t know where you find this stuff. Although, it is probably 100 percent accurate. He is longer, and he is very versatile. You can do some very different things with him. He has some Wendell (Smallwood) qualities as far as being able to run and catch. He has good shake which is good. (Running back Martell) Pettaway is a shorter, shiftier front-line guy. They are both good football players, and I think we will probably end of needing both of them.
On the cornerback situation and two JUCO players coming in
Hopefully, a lot of competition. We are in good shape right now. (Redshirt junior cornerback) Rasul Douglas looks great. The longer the season went on, the better he played. I anticipate him being a guy. (Senior cornerback) Antonio Crawford gaining eligible was great, and he is as good as a corner that I have seen. (Redshirt junior cornerback) Nana Kyeremeh has been here for a long time, and he knows what to do. He is good. After that, you are looking at a whole bunch of young kids. I am not saying that any of these freshmen can’t come in play. (Cornerback) Jake Long can run. The cornerback (Sean) Mahone can really strike you. Those guys need to come in and compete. That gives you depth, and it gives you guys on top of each other. You are going to go through some corners in the Big 12. We average four to five corners in a game, whether it’s a series here or a series there. They even play on special teams as well.
On if he has an idea of where he wants the four linebackers to play right now
You really don’t know. (Linebacker Logan) Thimons looks like a middle linebacker. (Linebacker Zach) Sandwisch looks like a sam. (Linebacker Adam) Hensley looks like a will. (Linebacker Brendan) Ferns looks like anything. It doesn’t matter. (Assistant coach/defensive coordinator/linebackers Tony Gibson) Gibby will look at those guys and evaluate them. You want a bigger, thicker guy at sam. Then you want a shiftier, smaller guy at will. You can move those guys around. Kwik (Nick Kwiatkoski) played both a lot. When Najee Goode was here, he played all three. He played damn near every game. You can move those guys around.
On what he thinks about quarterback Cody Saunders
He is athletic. He is 6-foot-2, 205-pounds. When you look at him, he doesn’t look it, but he is. He has a live arm. He is nervous as hell right now. He doesn’t know anything. I haven’t had any time to work with him. He has good athleticism. He is bright eyed. He is happy to be here. It’s funny. We height and weight all our quarterbacks, and they are all right around 6-foot, 210-pounds. They are all pretty athletic. Most of them are guys who are true dual-threat guys. (Freshman quarterback Chris Chugunov) Chugs probably isn’t going to run away from anybody. He has the most live arm of all of them. It’s going to be fun. We have five healthy, competitive bodies. We will work with them. We will coach them, and we will let them develop and play. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. I know one of them has an abundance amount of confidence right now based on that bowl game. He’s a senior and those other guys have their work cut out for them. It will be fun to watch.
On freshman quarterback David Sills going into camp as a wide receiver
They are all at quarterback right now. I have (senior quarterback Skyler) Howard, (redshirt freshman quarterback William) Crest, (freshman quarterback David) Sills, (freshman quarterback Chris Chugunov) Chugs and (quarterback) Cody Saunders right now. Then you have Austin Hensley back there as well. They want to be in the quarterback room. The next five weeks, we get two hours of film work with them. We get very little football instruction type stuff with them. We can get out there and watch (director of strength and conditioning) Mike (Joseph) run them around with strength and conditioning. They want to be in the quarterback room, so for the next five weeks, they will be in there with me and (offensive graduate assistant) coach (Michael) Burchett. We will drill them and quiz them. We will test them and see what their knowledge is. That’s step one, and then we have 15 days of spring practice in order to drill them and take snaps. Only one of them can take a snap at a time. I would anticipate (freshman quarterback) David (Sills) and (redshirt freshman quarterback) William (Crest) to get in there as opposed to sitting on the sideline 80 percent of the time.
On how the addition of assistant coach/offensive coordinator Joe Wickline helps with recruiting down the stretch
He is well verse in recruiting to say the least. He has been around for a while. He is originally from Tampa, so he knows the area down there pretty well. He knows the junior colleges as good as anyone in the country. He was a Mississippi junior college coach at one time. He was a head coach in Mississippi. He knows what he is looking for. He is a great evaluator. He can evaluate anything. He can go anywhere in the country. He has a lot connections to where he can go out and sell our brand. He is going to help us out in a lot of different ways.
On the four offensive linemen recruits
I doubt we will talk about three of them for the next three years. (Offensive lineman) Craig Smith, the big kid, is an interesting story. He is a basketball guy. He is one of those 6-foot-6 basketball guys that are a dime a dozen. He gained some weight as a senior, and then he went to some junior college in Minnesota. He hated that, which was understandable. He played this past year at Tyler Junior College, which is really good football. He sat out a year, and then he played this past year at Tyler. He did a great job. He is coming into his own. He has been as big as 6-foot-6, 360-pounds. Right now, he is probably 6-foot-6, 310-pounds. He needs some weight room work, and we will get him caught up. Hopefully, he will get some stuff done at home, and then he will get a chance to compete in May, June and July. We need a tackle, and we have some options.
On how he is going to use kicker/punter John Young this year
Competition. (Redshirt junior kicker) Josh (Lambert) has to get back to being the All-American guy we know he can by. (Kicker/punter) Jonn Young went out to Las Vegas and won the national punting contest a couple weeks ago. He has a big leg. He said he is striking the ball as well as he ever has. He can kickoff. We have a couple candidates on campus right now with (redshirt freshman kicker/punter) Billy Kinney and (redshirt sophomore kicker) Mike Molina. They want to have something to say about that as well. We have four good legs. You need that many over the course of the season. You just have to have a lot of competition. (Assistant coach/defense/special teams) coach (Mark) Scott will chart all that stuff out this spring and in camp. Then we will make decision on who the best one is for all three of those spots. Two of the three are open, but we have to get (redshirt junior kicker) Josh (Lambert) back to where he was. He made some good kicks this year. He had a tough year, and he overcame a lot of tough things this year. He has to get back to being that guy. That’s a Lou Groza All-American kind of guy.
Coach Dana Holgorsen Media Conference
February 3, 2016
National Signing Day
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (February 3, 2016) - Coach Dana Holgorsen addressed members of the media on Wednesday, Feb. 3, at the Milan Puskar Center Team Room.
Opening Statement
We had a successful day today. I know everyone across the country is probably saying the same thing. For the first time since I have been, there wasn’t any surprises. Usually, there are a handful of surprises. I was pretty excited by the job that our staff did. Led by (director of player personnel) Ryan Dorchester in the back. How you doing Cleveland? He’s from Cleveland. He likes Cleveland quite a bit, so he has a new nickname. (Director of Player Personnel) Ryan (Dorchester) has done a great job. He has been with me for my entire time here. This was the smoothest it has ever been. Is this our seventh signing day? It is our sixth signing day. It went very smooth. I was very proud of (director of player personnel) Ryan (Dorchester) and the job that he’s done. (Recruiting coordinator) Casey Smithson, our recruiting coordinator, had a big hand in this as well.Obviously, the nine full-time coaches too. Seven of them have been here for a quite a while, and then the two new guys hit the ground running for the month of January. They were a big help as well. The staff did a great job.
I also want to commend our players. The one thing about recruiting that you all don’t get to see is the job that our players do on campus. When we bring all these guys here, our players play a big role in helping recruit these guys. Two weekends ago was the 30 inches of snow. We were in this building for eight hours on Friday night, and then we were in the building for about 12 hours on Saturday. We really couldn’t go anywhere else. Olivero’s opened on Saturday night, so we were able to go over there and eat. A lot of them were sitting in here watching Mountaineer basketball or eating pizza. Our players were around the guys the whole time, and we signed every one of those recruits that were in town last weekend. Then we had another seven or eight guys this past weekend that we needed to close with. Again, our players did a great job of selling our program. I think that goes to show the place that the program is in and the excitement level that the current players have toward the program and the staff here. They really did a great job of closing, and I am pretty excited about the class overall.
Eighteen of the guys signed today. There are nine guys who are currently enrolled. I wish that they were able to have their own little signing day, but the way that the signing periods are laid out, they don’t get an early signing day. I think that they should make an early signing day for high school guys. They should be allowed to sign with the mid-term junior college guys on the third Wednesday of December. At that point, they are going to know where they are at. They are going to know where they are going, so those nine could have signed. Then you can open it up to guys that have been committed for well over two years. They know where they are going to, so I wish that those guys were able to sign in December as well. It would have saved them a lot of hassle, and it would have saved us some money. I don’t make those decisions. The NCAA and the administrators do. Currently, there are nine guys on campus. You all know who those guys are. They are all doing well, and they are adjusting well. We haven’t been around them too much. They have been in the academic and strength and conditioning world.
We will start our offseason training on Monday. We will be around all the guys for about five weeks. We will be around the new guys and old guys for about five weeks, prior to spring ball. That’s when we will get a better feel for how those guys are doing. In the meantime, those other 18 guys signed today. From top to bottom, I think we filled a lot of needs.
Offensively, we had to replace Wendell (Smallwood). We had to replace Cody Clay. We had to replace Marquis Lucas. We had to replace Jordan Thompson. Those were the four contributors that we lost. Other than that, everyone is back. We have some good quality kids who are coming back, and they are going to take a shot at being able to fulfill those roles. If you look at (running back) Justin Crawford from Northwest Mississippi, he has a lot of Wendell (Smallwood) qualities from a versatility point of view. He has great vision. He can hit the hole quick. He can make people miss, and he is a good receiver as well. (Wide receiver) Steven Smothers signed today. He has a lot of start/stop qualities. He is a bigger version of Tavon (Austin) coming out of high school. There has been a lot of comparisons and a lot of similarities between the two. They have known each other for a long time, and Tavon (Austin) is a big reason why Steven (Smothers) came here. He has a lot of start/stop qualities. He has a fantastic returner, and we have a need for a guy like that. (Tight end) Trevon Wesco, a tight end from Lackawanna College, will give us a bigger body, where we can continue to do some of the 11 personnel stuff that we have done. (Offensive lineman) Craig Smith is a big tackle from Tyler, Texas. He is originally out of the Miami/Palm Beach area. We had to recruit seasoned guys like that that could fill some of those roles on offense
There are a lot more holes on defense. When we lose as many as the old guys who we lost, you have to fill those roles. We didn’t lose a whole lot at d-line. We didn’t have to go out and recruit a whole bunch. Even though we lost five, we have a lot of experienced guys coming back at the linebacker position. We lost five, but we still have guys who have experience. We loaded up on four quality high school players at that spot. Obviously, (linebacker) Brendan Ferns was a big one for us. He is a little bit of a legacy kid, but he had a lot of options. He could of went virtually anywhere he wanted to. He decided to spend the next four years with his brother and the Mountaineer family. The secondary is probably the biggest need on defense. You lose Karl (Joseph). You lose KJ (Dillon). You lose Daryl (Worley). You lose Terrell (Chestnut).
We have a lot of young guys that are in the program. We have been down the road of having to play freshmen in the Big 12, and it didn’t work out very well. That was probably where we attacked the junior colleges the most. It was headlined by (safety) Kzyir White. I am very familiar with him, and he is very familiar with us. I don’t have to go into that. With that said, he could have went anywhere in the country. He is 6-foot-2. He is 210-pounds. He is a fierce hitter. He can cover ground. He is fast, and he is always around the ball. He will have a pretty good opportunity to step in and do what KJ (Dillon) has done for us the last four years. (Safety) Toyous Avery and (safety) Jovanni Stewart are a couple of other guys who are around the ball a lot. They have made a ton of plays. Then there is the corner situation. We have a couple of seniors coming, but you need about four of them to be able to play. If you look at the bowl game, we were out there with our fourth, fifth and sixth corners. You need a bunch of people there who can play. We have a bunch of guys coming back with some experience, but we added two junior college guys. (Cornerback) Mike Daniels and (cornerback) Elijah Battle is going to be good for us.
All those junior college guys should be here around May 16th, and then we will be able to work with them all summer. The high school guys will be here around June 8th, potentially into July. Overall, it was a really good day. We recruited them from 12 different states, and I think that is important to point out. It was a lot of regional guys. It was probably the most regional we have been in quite some time. We have seven from Ohio, four from Pennsylvania, three from Maryland, two from West Virginia and one from New York. There also was a couple from down south. That is more regional. I think that is another good thing to point out as well. Overall, I thought our staff did a great job. I will take some questions.
On how much signing day is an educated guess compared to actually evaluating the recruits on paper
It’s still a very educated guess for us. That’s just so hard to answer, because you are probably going to set the kid up for failure. We know what our needs are, and we are going to address those needs with specific recruits either by volume or junior college. That doesn’t mean that the guys on your team are not ready to step into those roles. If those guys step into those roles, then you need to add more people for depth. Our depth has been good. (Director of player personnel) Coach (Ryan) Dorchester has done a fantastic job as the player personnel guy. He has done a great job at getting the depth to where it needs to be. At this point, I’m happy with where we are at. We have the room to maybe add a couple more if we can identify a couple of guys out there who can help. We may have to lose a guy or two in order to have the amount of numbers that we have to be able to add. That tells you that you are in a good spot. You can only go to 85. It’s a guess. You just try to get as many bodies stacked on top of each other. You let them compete their tail off. Competition within your group is what makes you better, and I think we are at that place.
On the expectations of recruiting legacies like linebacker Brendan Ferns and safety Kyzir White
Expectations are fine. You are around them a bunch, and you get to know them pretty well. You take for granted the fact that they have options. We did not take for granted that either one of these kids had options to go wherever they wanted. We recruited those two guys harder than anybody we signed. The truth of the matter is that those guys had a lot of good opportunities and options elsewhere. We battled, and we recruited hard. We were fortunate to get both of those guys. I think the difficult thing about it is that you are around them so much, and you know them so well. You may take for granted the fact that you know them so well, and you don’t recruit them as hard as you need to. I don’t think that happened with either one.
On if his needs changed when Daryl Worley and Wendell Smallwood left for the NFL
It did. We were counting on those two guys to come back and play a big role for us. They have played a lot for us. They have been three-year starters for us. We got a lot of those guys. I wish they changed that rule. Nobody gives a crap on what I think about it. I wish they would change it to where those guys have to finish what they started. The degree aspect of it is the most important thing. If a guy gets his degree, starts for three years and has a year of eligibility left, then congratulations son, you accomplished what you wanted to accomplish when you came to school here. If a guy exhausts his eligibility, hasn’t graduated yet and wants to be a professional, then fine by me. I think that’s the point where they can go do that. Like I said, nobody cares what I think, but that’s what I think should’ve happened with those guys. Nonetheless, I will support them. I will follow them, and I wish them all the best. I hope things work out great, but we had to go out and find another back.
Last year, we were pretty fortunate when those two guys stayed healthy the whole year. We didn’t really have to get to three as much as we did the year before. We got to No. 5 a lot. You have to have some bodies there, and we need someone to take the place of Wendell (Smallwood). They have to have that kind of a year, because I think that the opportunity will be there. When you have your o-linemen coming back and all your wideouts can stretch the field, there are going to be opportunities for yards. I think (redshirt junior running back) Rushel Shell is going to step up into a role and carry the ball more. By signing (running back Justin) Crawford, that put us in a pretty good place. The corner is the same way. We were targeting one from junior college, and then when Daryl (Worley) left we had to target another one. You don’t want to line up a freshman. We have a bunch of freshmen at that spot right now.
On how big of advantage it is to recruit guys from West Virginia
You just contradicted yourself there. It’s hard to recruit in state when there is not a whole lot. When there is, we would certainly love the opportunity to be able to do that. We have two which is probably above the norm. We have (safety Dylan) Tonkery and (defensive lineman Reese) Donahue. They are two quality West Virginia kids who are very deserving at being at West Virginia University and playing in the Big 12. I wish there were more, but there aren’t. They are good quality guys. Along those same lines, we have a good walk-on program here. We are actively pursuing guys to walk-on. We have three from Morgantown High. Kody Shearer is a good ball player. I’m starting to get to know these guys a good bit, because my son is over there. I am able to go over there and watch games and be around the kids. Obviously, that couldn’t happen in the past. Nathan Green from Brooke High is a good football player. I saw Brooke and Morgantown High play earlier in the year. He is a good football, so he is coming. Then there are four or five guys who are committed to coming to West Virginia. They are going to try and earn their way. Justin Arndt is a prime example of that working out for him. Darren Arndt is another guy. He is a prime example. He played in West Virginia. They both came in and did everything the way that they were supposed to, and those guys ended up being on scholarship and being contributors to this team. I think that is going to continue to cultivate itself. We have to make decisions from a scholarship point of view out of school, and we have to do the same thing once they are on our team.
On if Nick Kwiatkoski and linebacker Brendan Ferns are similar
I think so. From a body type, they are. (Linebacker Brendan) Ferns is probably more athletic than Kwit (Nick Kwiatkoski) coming out of high school. He is pretty athletic. Kwit (Nick Kwiatkoski) turned into an unbelievably solid, tough-nose football player. That’s what he turned in to. When I got here, Kwit (Nick Kwiatkoski) was committed, so I didn’t study him as much as I did (linebacker Brendan) Ferns. (Linebacker Brendan) Ferns is athletic now. That guy does everything. He plays offense. He plays defense. He throws it, and he catches it. He runs it. He tackles people. That is impressive, but the body type is very similar. (Safety) Kyzir (White) is very similar to (KJ) Dillon. When KJ (Dillon) started as a freshman, he was a 170-pounds. He turned into a 6-foot-1, 210-pound guy who you currently see. (Safety) Kyzir (White) is 6-foot-1, 210-pounds. He is maybe even bigger than that. He is game ready now, where it took KJ (Dillon) a couple years to get there.
On if tight end Trevon Wesco is someone they can target downfield
Not at 280-pounds. That guy is huge right now. He is big. He hasn’t played. He didn’t play this past year, so he is bigger. He is athletic. I think (coach Bob Huggins) Hugs recruited him when for a while when he was young. I’m serious. He was a really good, athletic basketball player. He grew into a more of a football player. The more they grow this way instead of this way, it switches from basketball recruits to football recruits. He had a heck of a freshman year, and unfortunately, he was dealt with a knee injury. He didn’t get to play this year, so he gained some weight. He is about to be cleared. By the time August rolls around, you are going to be looking at a 6-foot-5, 250-pound athlete. He will be able to move. Everyone always says ‘why don’t you throw it to the tight end?’ Well if you watch Cody Clay run a dang corner route, you wouldn’t throw it to him either. We have tried. It took him three days to get there, but the closer you get to the goal line, the shorter the route is. That’s when we threw the ball to Cody (Clay). We would love to be able to keep the tight end in there and do some things down field. I have studied what the Carolina Panthers are doing right now, and although we don’t have superman at quarterback, that tight end does a lot of good things. He really is a good player, and I love to have a guy who can do stuff like that. It’s a tough thing to go find.
On what he thinks of high school running backs Kennedy McKoy and Martell Pettaway
(Running back Kennedy) McKoy is here now. He is probably taller. He is probably 6-foot-1, 200-pounds. I don’t trust anything (director of football communications Mike) Montoro puts together over here. I don’t know where you find this stuff. Although, it is probably 100 percent accurate. He is longer, and he is very versatile. You can do some very different things with him. He has some Wendell (Smallwood) qualities as far as being able to run and catch. He has good shake which is good. (Running back Martell) Pettaway is a shorter, shiftier front-line guy. They are both good football players, and I think we will probably end of needing both of them.
On the cornerback situation and two JUCO players coming in
Hopefully, a lot of competition. We are in good shape right now. (Redshirt junior cornerback) Rasul Douglas looks great. The longer the season went on, the better he played. I anticipate him being a guy. (Senior cornerback) Antonio Crawford gaining eligible was great, and he is as good as a corner that I have seen. (Redshirt junior cornerback) Nana Kyeremeh has been here for a long time, and he knows what to do. He is good. After that, you are looking at a whole bunch of young kids. I am not saying that any of these freshmen can’t come in play. (Cornerback) Jake Long can run. The cornerback (Sean) Mahone can really strike you. Those guys need to come in and compete. That gives you depth, and it gives you guys on top of each other. You are going to go through some corners in the Big 12. We average four to five corners in a game, whether it’s a series here or a series there. They even play on special teams as well.
On if he has an idea of where he wants the four linebackers to play right now
You really don’t know. (Linebacker Logan) Thimons looks like a middle linebacker. (Linebacker Zach) Sandwisch looks like a sam. (Linebacker Adam) Hensley looks like a will. (Linebacker Brendan) Ferns looks like anything. It doesn’t matter. (Assistant coach/defensive coordinator/linebackers Tony Gibson) Gibby will look at those guys and evaluate them. You want a bigger, thicker guy at sam. Then you want a shiftier, smaller guy at will. You can move those guys around. Kwik (Nick Kwiatkoski) played both a lot. When Najee Goode was here, he played all three. He played damn near every game. You can move those guys around.
On what he thinks about quarterback Cody Saunders
He is athletic. He is 6-foot-2, 205-pounds. When you look at him, he doesn’t look it, but he is. He has a live arm. He is nervous as hell right now. He doesn’t know anything. I haven’t had any time to work with him. He has good athleticism. He is bright eyed. He is happy to be here. It’s funny. We height and weight all our quarterbacks, and they are all right around 6-foot, 210-pounds. They are all pretty athletic. Most of them are guys who are true dual-threat guys. (Freshman quarterback Chris Chugunov) Chugs probably isn’t going to run away from anybody. He has the most live arm of all of them. It’s going to be fun. We have five healthy, competitive bodies. We will work with them. We will coach them, and we will let them develop and play. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. I know one of them has an abundance amount of confidence right now based on that bowl game. He’s a senior and those other guys have their work cut out for them. It will be fun to watch.
On freshman quarterback David Sills going into camp as a wide receiver
They are all at quarterback right now. I have (senior quarterback Skyler) Howard, (redshirt freshman quarterback William) Crest, (freshman quarterback David) Sills, (freshman quarterback Chris Chugunov) Chugs and (quarterback) Cody Saunders right now. Then you have Austin Hensley back there as well. They want to be in the quarterback room. The next five weeks, we get two hours of film work with them. We get very little football instruction type stuff with them. We can get out there and watch (director of strength and conditioning) Mike (Joseph) run them around with strength and conditioning. They want to be in the quarterback room, so for the next five weeks, they will be in there with me and (offensive graduate assistant) coach (Michael) Burchett. We will drill them and quiz them. We will test them and see what their knowledge is. That’s step one, and then we have 15 days of spring practice in order to drill them and take snaps. Only one of them can take a snap at a time. I would anticipate (freshman quarterback) David (Sills) and (redshirt freshman quarterback) William (Crest) to get in there as opposed to sitting on the sideline 80 percent of the time.
On how the addition of assistant coach/offensive coordinator Joe Wickline helps with recruiting down the stretch
He is well verse in recruiting to say the least. He has been around for a while. He is originally from Tampa, so he knows the area down there pretty well. He knows the junior colleges as good as anyone in the country. He was a Mississippi junior college coach at one time. He was a head coach in Mississippi. He knows what he is looking for. He is a great evaluator. He can evaluate anything. He can go anywhere in the country. He has a lot connections to where he can go out and sell our brand. He is going to help us out in a lot of different ways.
On the four offensive linemen recruits
I doubt we will talk about three of them for the next three years. (Offensive lineman) Craig Smith, the big kid, is an interesting story. He is a basketball guy. He is one of those 6-foot-6 basketball guys that are a dime a dozen. He gained some weight as a senior, and then he went to some junior college in Minnesota. He hated that, which was understandable. He played this past year at Tyler Junior College, which is really good football. He sat out a year, and then he played this past year at Tyler. He did a great job. He is coming into his own. He has been as big as 6-foot-6, 360-pounds. Right now, he is probably 6-foot-6, 310-pounds. He needs some weight room work, and we will get him caught up. Hopefully, he will get some stuff done at home, and then he will get a chance to compete in May, June and July. We need a tackle, and we have some options.
On how he is going to use kicker/punter John Young this year
Competition. (Redshirt junior kicker) Josh (Lambert) has to get back to being the All-American guy we know he can by. (Kicker/punter) Jonn Young went out to Las Vegas and won the national punting contest a couple weeks ago. He has a big leg. He said he is striking the ball as well as he ever has. He can kickoff. We have a couple candidates on campus right now with (redshirt freshman kicker/punter) Billy Kinney and (redshirt sophomore kicker) Mike Molina. They want to have something to say about that as well. We have four good legs. You need that many over the course of the season. You just have to have a lot of competition. (Assistant coach/defense/special teams) coach (Mark) Scott will chart all that stuff out this spring and in camp. Then we will make decision on who the best one is for all three of those spots. Two of the three are open, but we have to get (redshirt junior kicker) Josh (Lambert) back to where he was. He made some good kicks this year. He had a tough year, and he overcame a lot of tough things this year. He has to get back to being that guy. That’s a Lou Groza All-American kind of guy.