Meet the Press: Al Golden on Signing Day
Al Golden met with the media Wednesday afternoon to share insight on the new recruiting class and answer questions on the events of National Signing Day.
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Recruiting Class Overview…
“It’s a class that we’re proud of. It’s obviously a classthat we really had to fight hard for. I don’t think anyone outsides this roomunderstands what we were up against the entire year fighting for this class,and I’m really proud of our coaches for not making any excuses, for hanging inthere and really bringing in a class that we think is not only excellent, butis going to be a great complement to the class that played so well and so oftenfor us a year ago.
“By numbers, we started out targeting 16 guys – which is areally low number, as you can imagine. Obviously some of that is in partbecause of the self-imposed penalties, so it was a tight number to begin with.
“As you break it down, we went searching for a big time pro-stylequarterback and I think we got one of the best, if not the best, in the countryin Kevin Olsen.
“We sought out to get one wide receiver in this class, and that’stough when you’re in South Florida, that means you’re letting a lot of good onesgo. I think we got the best one down here in Stacy Coley – that was a really goodget for us. I’m really excited about bringing him in, he’s one of the morefluid wide receivers that we’ve seen in a long time.
“We sought out to get one or two running backs. Obviouslywe’re still uncertain of Eduardo Clements’ future in terms of his injury, and Idon’t want to be premature with that. But that number is set at one and now itmight be one or two based on that. We brought in Gus Edwards, we needed a bigback this year. We think Gus fulfills that at 6-1 and 230 pounds, and a guy whocan run between the tackles.
“We sought out to get two tight ends in this class and Ithink we got two of the best. We have the number one junior college tight end inthe country coming in, Beau Sandland. He’s here right now at 6-4 and 255pounds. Standish Dobard [is] also in this class from Louisiana. Two big timetight end prospects. I’m real proud of Coach Carroll and then Mario [Cristobal]for bringing in those tight ends.
“We sought out to get three offensive linemen. We got AlexGall from Moeller, Hunter Knighton from the Hun School who is going to playcenter or guard for us, and then one we’re really pleased with in Sunny Odogwu,who comes to us from Hargrave Military.
“On the defensive side, we sought to try and get two defensiveends and we accomplished that. Number one, a pass-rusher on the open side – Al-QuadinMuhammad from Don Bosco Prep. We think he is one of the premier pass-rushers inthe country. [He is] 6-3, 230 pounds, long, rangy, animated, plays withpassion, and a young man that we’re excited to bring here. Another young man I’mequally as excited about, especially when I met him – Ufomba Kamalu, a 6-5,275-pounder who is also a defensive end prospect. We needed someone with alittle more maturity, so we went to Butler Community College to get Ufomba andI’m grateful we did.
“We wanted to get three or four linebackers in this class.Obviously we missed out on a highly sought-after young man locally, but we didget Jermaine Grace, who was one of the two premier linebackers in the state of Floridaand the one of the best ones down here. We also got Devante Bond, SAMlinebacker and someone I’m really excited about from Sierra Community College, andAlex Figueroa enrolled with us in mid-year.
“We sought out to get three defensive backs, and we feel wegot two guys who are proven defensive backs in Artie Burns, who can play corneror safety, and Jamal Carter. We think they are phenomenal. We also got a guy inRay-Ray Lewis who can play corner, slot receiver or running back. We’re excitedabout that.
“There’s no question that today we lost on defensive tackleand that’s something we have to address moving forward.
“That should give you an overview of the class, so youunderstand, because you can caught up in the numbers. We took 32 last year,we’re very pleased with that group, and really out of the last two years, 30 ofthe 48 that we signed, or 63%, hail from the state of Florida, so I think we’reright on with that.”
