Feb. 3, 2010

Included below are excerpts from his meeting with the media.

Opening Statement ...
"We're excited. Most of our recruiting was done before the end of the season. The season we just had will probably impact next year's recruiting class more.

"Anytime you discuss a recruiting class, you always talk about quarterbacks. We have two guys who will fight for that position. Matt Brown, from Allen, was a late get and we are excited about him. He is probably a sleeper in this 2010 class. We also have an athlete in Sam Carter. Besides quarterback, he can play a number of other positions. He could be a starting tailback at TCU if he wanted to be. We are very excited about both of those guys.

"As usual in our classes, we recruit a lot of running backs. Jonathan Anderson from Corpus Christi, Matt Anderson from Vanderbilt, Travaras Battle-Smith, who is already enrolled here, and Ethan Grant. Jonathan Anderson will play safety for us. Matt Anderson got hurt during his senior year but has tremendous skill. We had him in camp and he has unbelievable power and change of direction. He also has great feet for a 6-foot-2 guy. Travaras Battle-Smith is enrolled with us already and will play cornerback. Ethan Grant, who is a running back from Florida, is very fast and can also play at slot receiver.

"We always plan for the future. We have five wide receivers and five safeties who are going to be seniors this year, so we had to make sure we signed guys we could grow up and have ready to go in a year. We are going to graduate four offensive linemen. We knew we would have to bring in a couple of guys to make sure that we wouldn't have to get a large number in the next class, so that you are reloading and not regrouping. To be honest, I'm most happy about getting good people. This group here has great families and they are great people."

On key components to a player having a good upside ...
"I've been coaching 27 years and I can notice a guy with a speed factor and leadership skills, guys that you have seen before and they remind you of somebody. For example, Matt Anderson is 6-foot-2 and 214 pounds. A year ago, he was 6-foot-2, 199 pounds. He might grow up to be 275 pounds one day, but I don't know. What I do know is that he can run and that is one of the things that has been a trademark for us."

On TCU's appearance in a BCS game swaying a few recruits in the last couple of months ...
"There were some guys on here that were committed to other programs, but I think they were close with us anyways, enough to change their minds. They were at the Utah game and then watched us play in a BCS game. One of the biggest fallacies in recruiting before this year was that TCU could never play in a BCS game. I'm glad we have broken that down, because there are a lot of other programs out there that haven't been to a BCS game. Obviously, that helps us in Big 12 country.

"People say that we are going to go out and recruit better players, but we just came a few seconds away from possibly playing for a national championship. I think it will help us the most in our depth. Just because we played in a little higher bowl, it doesn't mean that our players got any better. You've got to go back to the beginning now and start it all over again. We'll see how all of that turns out."

On the key to finding the right player for TCU's program ...
"The key is how do they come into your system, how do they fit, how will they mature and how do they move forward? We are excited about the kids we have now. We're excited about this class coming in, and I'm really excited about the possibilities of the kinds of kids we can recruit in the future. We are in the process right now of raising money to re-do the stadium, the locker rooms, the weight room and our training facilities. It's kind of like that old saying that we live by here, 'you're either getting better or you're getting worse.' You can't stay the same. If you are, you're losing out. We just need to keep moving."

On the respect level for TCU nationally ...
"We have gained a lot more national respect when you talk to kids about what they think of TCU, its academics and football program."

On his recruiting philosophy ...
"I've always felt you only need about five difference makers in each recruiting class and the rest need to be good players. Jason Phillips only had one other offer when he chose TCU, and I would have put him in that good player, great person, hard work ethic category. At the time, he wasn't what people considered to be a difference maker, but he was a guy who gets drafted by the Baltimore Ravens. Some of those guys grow up into difference makers, but if you have five of those guys after five years, that's 25 on your team who can play for anybody in the country."

On what has been the biggest change in recruiting in his 27 years of coaching ...
"Kids are bigger, faster and more knowledgeable of the process because of the Internet. They know everything that is going on. There are no secrets anymore, which I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. You have to learn how to use those things to your benefit."