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Wednesday marked the first official day that Division I schools could sign players for the 2007 football season. Click the links above for extensive coverage of 2007 Signing Day.
PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES – FEB. 7
Head Coach Rich Brooks
On the early enrollees ?
?First thing, I?ll just talk a little bit about the three players who enrolled in January. Chris Cessna, very excited about his athletic ability, his range and the fact that he is getting stronger with the grayshirt. He had a knee injury his senior year and had to have that operated on and basically sat out to recover from the knee so we can work him full speed. We actually got him in about six practices before the bowl game. Cessna will be a major factor in the spring at the linebacker position. Two other players, Jess Beets from out in California – Saddleback Junior College – and Josh Winchell out of Southwest Mississippi Junior College. Both will bring competition to the offensive line, which I think we really need because our numbers are going to be thin in the spring because of some off-season surgeries on some of our returning offensive linemen. I think this will make it a very competitive spring in the offensive line with these two guys. I think they can both come in and have an immediate impact on the team, so I am very excited about that. If you look at the numbers of the high school senior offensive linemen, we brought in a lot of Kentucky offensive linemen and they all look the part, from the height, weight, and movement standpoint.?
On the class of offensive linemen ?
?I am very excited about that group of offensive linemen. Billy Joe Murphy is someone who is an outstanding athlete, a very good basketball player. I don?t think he has even scratched the surface on his potential. Once he gets in the weight room full time I think you are going to see a very talented offensive lineman. You look at Brad Durham and you know that he has the size and movement to be a factor and it wouldn?t surprise me to see some of these guys to play as freshmen out of this class on the offensive line. Some of them can certainly contend for backup duty and possibly press for more playing time. I think the really interesting guy from the offensive line group from out of state, Jake Lanefski, he played basically defense until the all-star game at the end of the year. We recruited him as an offensive lineman and he was very active on defense. I might have to take some lessons from him, I have to get some length back in my golf game and I think he is No. 5 in the world – in his age group in the long drive contest ? he hits it about 400 yards, so I think he might be able to teach me something that can help my golf game.?
On the class of skilled players ?
?You look at the skill guys, on offense and I think we really helped ourselves in play-making ability at running back and receiver. I am very excited about these players that we have signed. Brandon Jackson, coming out of the west coast from Eugene, Oregon, is a very talented young man and he has the size as well as the speed. He really lit the league up out there the last two year for Marist High School. He is also a talented receiver. Moncell Allen, we are glad to get him in here. He is what I call a bowling ball, he is short guy, but boy he can break tackles and he can get the ball down the field. Kyrus Lanxter, I believe if there was a surprise, this would be a surprise in our recruiting class because he had initially committed to another school and we were able to get that turned around. Randy Sanders did a great job getting him out of Alcoa High School in Knoxville, Tenn. He is extremely talented young man who can return kicks (and) punts and is very similar to in my mind Keenan Burton – just a very gifted athlete with good speed and playmaking ability. He is an outstanding basketball player as well. Defensively we got some guys on the back end that I think are really going to help us athletically in the secondary and in the linebacker area. I think we have some guys who can step up and be a factor this year, not only as maybe role players, but pushing for maybe even more playing time. Also, we have some pretty good students in this group.
On the scholarship numbers ?
?Chris Cessna counts toward last year as a grayshirt, the two junior college players coming in count against this year?s 25 and obviously there may be a player or two on here that may be placed for academic reasons. There are a few players that may be grayshirted but when it all shakes out here at the end of the year, we will determine probably by June at the latest who is coming in during the fall.?
On the rankings of recruiting classes ?
?I know how everybody looks at the ratings and how many stars these guys have and we don?t have any five stars and I think maybe one four-star. As I mentioned last year if Micah Johnson was a four-star, then what does it take to be five stars? I think this class is as talented as last year?s class, if not more talented. There are guys in this class that are clearly an upgrade for us. I think there are guys in this class – not only from the linemen but from the skill, DB-type guys -that when they get off the bus they look more like the type of player you see in the SEC. There is speed in this class, quite a bit of speed. I am very, very impressed with some of our defensive linemen from a speed standpoint.?
On recruit Charles Mustafaa ?
?[Charles Mustafaa] is another guy who is very athletic and very fast. His dad was an NFL player and a good one. The young man has a tremendous motor, he has very good speed. Right now I project him as a defensive end but he could grow into a defensive tackle at some point.?
On the LaGrange connection ?
?I think not only LaGrange but you look at Georgia and there are a lot of good players in the state of Georgia, obviously. When you get a player of Wesley Woodyard?s communicative ability, as long as with his playing ability, it does wonders for your recruiting. Braxton Kelley and DeMoreo Ford obviously played key roles for us this year and those young men at LaGrange HS could see that and they know those guys are comfortable here. They know those guys have been successful and have been treated well. It just makes it a lot easier when you have someone who is having success in your program and can turn right around and tell them, ?yeah that what it is, it is what they are telling you it is,?. They bring a pretty good work ethic, they are not shy from contact, they understand that it is a contact sport and it is a sport that you have to work hard in practice. I am very excited about the players we have on our team from LaGrange because they are never really the kind of players that I have to get on in practice and say ?pick it up, you?re not going fast enough, or your not practicing hard enough,?. That has not always been the case here and with some of the other guys that I have coached.?
On D.J. Stafford ?
?D.J. is a guy that I basically got excited about when he was just a freshmen or sophomore. I was actually at a high school game when we were playing Auburn, the night before I went over for a half of that game. I was looking at Braxton and DeMoreo and I kept asking, who is that skinny defensive end over there ? well he is not skinny anymore, he is fast and is very explosive, he is a big-time player. He is a big-time player.?
On Mychal Bailey and Randall Burden ?
?I think in Bailey, we are recruiting him as a linebacker/safety but this guy is unbelievable ? he will knock you into next week. He is extremely fast, he returns kickoffs, he runs the ball from scrimmage, he has tremendous speed, and great explosion. Burden is a guy that really will hit you as well. He is one of those tall, long, lanky guys, kind of like a Trevard Lindley, but maybe a little more physical with his play then Trevard was in high school, but real long and athletic.?
On the ranking of prospects ?
?I think you could see that this year, even though our classes haven?t been ranked extremely high, we have closed the gap on the field with athletes that can play and win in this league. There are a lot of athletes that can do that and we have to continue to evaluate well and make sure that we are continuing to spend the time on the right guys in the recruiting process. I am hopeful that we will identify some four- or five-star recruits and maybe we will get some of them in the future. I can guarantee you that some of these three stars are as good as any four stars in the country – they just don?t have that star next to their name. They are going to play and they are going to start and they are going to be good performers. All you have to do is look at a Wesley Woodyard and look at his recruiting ranking, or even Keenan Burton and look at his recruiting ranking and you will understand what I am talking about.?
On Brad Durham ?
?We are just excited to get Brad. We had still tried to recruit him just like we did with Kryus Lanxter did when he committed to West Virginia early on and as long as they are willing to talk to us then we will continue the recruiting process to a point. Brad really wasn?t all that receptive after he made his initial commitment but all that changed and he came up to a game and changed his mind obviously the next week. He decided to come to Kentucky in about a two-week period after he had been told he didn?t have a scholarship (at Louisville).?
On getting the good offensive linemen prospects in the state ?
?We are just trying to recruit good players and one of the things that I am real clear on is that if there are linemen in this state that have that kind of size and athletic ability then we need to do whatever we can to get them to come to Kentucky. Offensive linemen of that stature are hard to find, that also have those strength levels, feet and grades. We are excited about Brad as we are excited about the other linemen that we signed this year.?
On quarterback Matt Lentz ?
?We are as excited about Matt Lentz as we are anybody. This is a really good athlete that can run and throw. We had him in our camp, we know about his arm velocity, we know about his athletic ability, we know about his leadership abilities, we know he is a good student. We are really excited about what he can do at quarterback. While that is not an immediate need for us right now, we know that we have a guy now separated from the other quarterbacks in our program in terms of eligibility. In all likelihood he will redshirt and we have set up a real good battle when Andre? is done. I would never want to have more then five quarterbacks on scholarship and I would be comfortable with four. What I am not comfortable is with two or three and that is what we have had my first several years here.?
On still possessing a genuine excitement for recruiting, going to see high school games, etc. ?
?It is football. If you are coaching football and you can?t like it or get excited about it then you need to get out of it. I think I have mentioned before that I get excited about doing something that hadn?t been done before or doing it better then it?s been in recent years at a particular place and I am totally convinced that these young men can help us come and do that.?
On upgrading the defensive line ?
?I would say that that is one of the biggest upgrades in the last two years that we have made in the recruiting process, bringing in what I would call SEC-caliber defensive linemen with explosion, size and speed. I think you are going to see more of that evidence when we get on the field this next fall.?
On defensive lineman Greg Meisner ?
?Greg Meisner?s is a little undersized at this point, I am hoping that he will grow as much as his dad did when he went off to college. His dad played in the NFL with the Rams. He is a very good technique guy, very high energy, good high motor guy, a good student, and just a good solid football player. He is not going to jump off the chart at you in height and speed but you put on the film and you are impressed with how he plays the game. He is a football player. I am really, really excited about him because he is going to bring great work ethic and really solid fundamentals with him.?
On Duran Jefferson and Kryus Lanxter ?
?Jefferson is a great athlete. He is currently recovering from an injury – he had surgery on his ankle late in the season. He is missing most of the basketball season, I think he has indicated that he will come back and play in the middle of the year if his ankle is recovering. He is a very explosive, playmaking athlete. He has played a lot of positions. He has played whatever they needed ? receiver, quarterback ? you know whatever they need. And he is a guy that can make plays, athletic plays. We have all seen this past year if you want to win football games in this league you have to have athletic players and we have had more guys be able to do that this past year then we have in previous years. He is a guy that can come in and do that. Lanxter is clearly a guy that has better size. He is a taller receiver that can return punts and kickoffs. He is an exciting player, and you talk about a playmaker. I think he has returned six kickoffs for touchdowns and one punt in his career, he is an athlete.?
On kicker/punter Ryan Tydlacka?
?Here is another guy that I had here in camp and was able to work with him firsthand. Ryan?s technique punting the ball is well advanced of most high school punters. He is a technician at what he does, it probably comes a lot with his older brother who punted at Louisville. He is also a kicker. I think he can bring instant competition to both positions on our football team, both as a kicker and as a punter. Witnessed on what he averaged in high school, his hang time, and his technique I am excited about getting him in here and letting him compete.?
On Stuart Hines ?
?Stuart is a guy that we wanted from day one. He was very methodical about the recruiting process was interested in visiting some other schools and took the time to do that. His mother is an English teacher and she is very interested in the education process, which they all should be. It was a very matter of fact (process), before he let us know he was going to become a Wildcat and we were very excited about it. He is a very good student. Excellent athletic ability with very good feet and played both ways, played on offense, played on defense. I really think he will be a guy that really develops into an outstanding offensive lineman.?
