Quotes from Kyle Whittingham's NLI Press Conference

2/3/2016 12:00 AM | Football

Feb. 3, 2016

Opening statement:
"We're really excited about this class. Our assistant coaches did an outstanding job of evaluating and targeting the right guys. We won some crucial head-to-head battles with some stiff competition so that was good to see. We made more headway in that regard than any recruiting class ever, as far as competing with 'heavy weights' and coming away with some really good players. The primary areas of concern, if you had to talk about two areas of need, were quarterback and linebacker. We really addressed our quarterback situation with the early signees, the ones that enrolled mid-year with Troy Williams and Tyler Huntley. They're here in school and with us working and it should be a great competition in spring. We were able to sign a bunch of linebackers, which was a huge need after losing three senior linebackers [from last season] in Gionni Paul, Jared Norris and Jason Whittingham so that was obviously an area of need as well. We are excited about what we were able to put together as far as the class. Even those two areas were the most needed, we felt like we helped ourselves across the board at virtually every position. It appears to be a very good group of guys that will make us better as a football team."

On recruiting the state of Florida:
"Florida has been big for us. Dennis Erickson is really the short answer to that question. He's done a great job in Florida. We were able to sign five athletes out of Florida this year and that brings our total on the team to 10 or 11, right in that area. We feel that's been a very fertile area for us because of Dennis' reputation and the clout he has down there. He had a great run at Miami with national championships so he has instant credibility down there, particularly in the South Florida area. Those five players we were able to sign in this class should add to what we're doing as a program and as a team. That really is the long and short of it, the great job that Dennis has done down there."

On junior college recruits:
"It's actually eight because or classes are than the regular recruiting classes you see across the country where we have missionaries who are coming, going or in the process of leaving. We had some early signees, two JC guys in the class who were actually with us last fall and got pushed forward to this year's count. There are six new ones, but when you combine the two we already had, there are eight. That's a little heavy, a couple more than we usually have. Out of the 25 initials, we typically have five or six JC signees so just a couple more than usual. We've had good success with the JC players. We've had a lot of those guys become major contributors and a lot of those guys are in the NFL right now after coming to us via the JC route."

On last-minute decisions:
"There were a couple of guys who we weren't certain had made their final decisions and we were surprised in a good way. There were really no bad surprises today, which is a good thing. Probably the most notable was David Luafatasaga, a linebacker out of Arizona Western. It came down to a tough call for him. He had three schools that he was looking at and we were fortunate to get his NLI and we're ecstatic about that and there are a couple of other guys as well who if not today, than in the last 24 hours, who made their decision in our favor, which is a big positive."

On developing his wide receiving corps:
"[They're stacking up] pretty well. We have a lot of guys in the program. We know we weren't as productive as we need to be last year. That's the bad news. The good news is that there are so many of them who are still developing, who we think have high ceilings, that we expect to get much better in the next couple of years. When you talk about those guys combined with Alec Dana from junior college, all junior college players are not created equal because he is a three-to-play three junior college player which is obviously more desirable than a guy who only has two years left. He's a guy with three years left who is a big target, 6-2 to 6-3, 185 pounds, and has some length. He's a very long athlete so he is going to help us out. We have Demari Simpkins, who is another one of those Florida guys who is already enrolled. He came in with Tyler [Huntley] at mid-year. A quick slot receiver very similar to Britain Covey, that's the style of play he has. When you add those two guys plus Davir Hamilton, who is really a two-way guy, he may play some receiver for us as well, to the group we have coming back with Tim Patrick added to that group, who we missed sorely last year, he was a big part of what we were going to do and not having his services was damaging to us. When you put it all together, we think we can be much, much better. We have to be much, much better at receiver this year. There's no doubt about it. We have to be more productive and be more of a factor for us."

On announcing recruits leaving for church missions:
"It's not really about whether or not we wanted to [in past year's classes], it's about whether you can or can't. If they don't sign a National Letter of Intent, and the rules have been changing on National Letters of Intent for the last few years, they keep modifying the rules, so what we did this year is that we had the opportunity to sign most of our athletes who are going to go on missions. There are six all together who will not be attending this fall, who are not going to be with us. Five of those are going to sign National Letters of Intent. Only four are in right now and there's one that we can't mention, but if you have National Letters of Intent left over, you get 25. The first priority is to sign the guys who are going to be with you in the fall because if a guy is going on a mission and not going to be with you then you don't want to waste a National Letter of Intent because it becomes null and void so in essence you're just wasting that number. Long story short, we had some extras this year. We were able to sign a handful of those missionaries who will not be with us in the fall, but we'll get them back in two years. That's why I say we're a little more unconventional with our list and press release on signing day than a lot of schools.

"Let me just list the players who are going to serve missions and won't be with us in the fall. They'll be with us in the season of 2018, two years from now: Fua Pututau from Cottonwood High School, Semisi Lauaki from Leuzinger [High School] in Southern California, Keaton Bills from Corner Canyon [High School], Cole Fotheringham, a big, good-looking tight end from San Clemente [High School] and Johnny Maea, a tremendously talented offensive lineman from right here in state. There is one additional but we don't have the letter and can't make an announcement, but we're really happy and pleased. That's as good of a group of outgoing missionary signees that we've ever had. They could be the best, potentially, but we'll see how they play when they get back."

On reasons for increased recruiting success this period:
"Ten wins will do the most good. You hear the term 'winning solves everything,' that certainly helps your cause in recruiting. We attribute a lot of our success to the way we're trending. We won nine games two years ago, won 10 games last year so the players and recruits understand that we're trending in the right direction and a lot of those guys want to be a part of what's coming next."

On continuity of the coaching staff as a factor:
"It certainly helps your cause. There was far less turnover this year. Going in house for a coordinator spot will give us continuity on defense. We brought in Guy Holliday as our receivers coach, who is an outstanding recruiter and really not as big of an impact on this class because we got him on board so late in the process, but down the road we expect him to be a major contributor for us recruiting-wise. We brought on Fred Whittingham, Jr. early in the year right when we had the opening so solidifying those openings early gave us the full complement of man power going through the final stretch recruiting. You're spread thin as it is when you're at full strength, but when you're recruiting with two or three spots vacant, that just makes it all the more difficult. Being at full strength and getting those hires made quickly without missing a beat attributed to a lot of our success."

On linebacker David Luafatasaga:
"He is a long defender, 6-3 or 6-4, about 235 pounds, and he is exceptional at rushing the passer. He can also play inside linebacker. His real strength is coming off the edge. That hybrid position that we've had so much success with, Trevor Reilly, Nate Orchard, Paul Kruger, Koa Misi, all of those guys who have played that linebacker/defensive end spot, is something that he can play as well as inside backer. When you talk about the other inside linebackers that we recruited, Davir Hamilton might be a two-way guy, we'll see. We have him in the long term at linebacker. We have Kurtis Taufa from Snow College, a JC linebacker who is a talented kid, and then a young freshman Donavan Thompson, another Florida guy. Those guys are really going to bolster that group. That group is really thin after losing those seniors."

On Garett Bolles and the offensive line unit:
"We do [have an embarrassment of riches on the offensive line]. You can never be too good up front. We think we're going to be as good as there is in the Pac-12 on both sides of the ball at the line of scrimmage, which is a great starting point to try to be a good football team. Garett Bolles is arguably the best junior college prospect in the country coming out this year, a lot of publications have him as No. 1. He is a big-time left tackle. He has great feet. He has physicality. He's smart. He's tough. That was a great 'get' for us. You hate to single anyone out because you never know who is going to become what, but he's a guy that we feel is going to help us immediately in a big way. It was a tough battle. He probably could have literally gone anywhere in the country. He had very high-profile guys calling him all throughout the process. He's a really down-to-earth and squared-away kid. It was a pleasure recruiting him. He is one of those guys you fall in love with during the recruiting process."

On scholarship count for the 2016 season:
"If we have everything work out as anticipated, no one has a slip-up in grades or anything like that, we should be at maximum capacity in the fall with all of the scholarships allotted and guys penciled in." "We don't figure the [2016 signees who are leaving on missions] on the list. If those guys were going to be here in the fall, we'd be way over. But we project them as 2018 class guys. We will very seldom add up to 25 [the NCAA limit of NLIs that can be signed each year] because when you have missionaries coming back and missionaries leaving, it skews the numbers, but the net result is no advantage to us. The net result is always that you have to be within NCAA parameters, which is 25 NLI signees in any one given year, new guys who actually show up and play. If a missionary guy signs a letter and leaves, then he doesn't count in that initial count. He signs and NLI count so he counts in the NLI count, but not the initial count. There are three of four counts you have to be aware of, but the two things you really have to be tuned into are the overalls and initials. We'll be right at 25 with our initials this fall, which is the limit, and right at 85 with our overall, which is the limit, barring unforeseen things."

On head-to-head recruiting battles:
"We always have a few head-to-head recruiting battles, particularly on the in-state athletes. That's where you come across them most often. You're really recruiting against a university, not a person you're recruiting against. We just continue our process and how we go about things. Our main concern is our head-to-head battles in the Pac-12. Those are the guys are the guys that we play and have to try to win a conference championship against. That is the primary focus, but there are always going to be head-to-head battles in state."

How has being nationally-ranked the last two seasons helped recruiting?
"It has given us an advantage, I can tell you that. It's all relative. If you have success on the field, you're able to get in the door of higher-profile athletes with stiffer competition. As the bar is raised in the area of who you're targeting, the bar is also raised in the competitive aspect of it. It goes hand in hand. Like I said earlier, we felt really good about the number of wins we were able to get in this class against those brand name programs."

On the defensive line signees:
"Leki Fotu is a big-time player. We're ecstatic about Keaton Bills. He's an in-state kid from Corner Canyon High School. He's going to be going on a mission so he will not be with us this fall. Bradlee Anae will be with us. The defensive linemen who will be with us this fall are Keaton Bills, who I obviously just mentioned, Leki Fotu, I just talked about him, Fua Pututau is going to be going on a mission, but his brother Howard will be coming back and joining us, we signed him two years ago so he'll be coming back this year and joining us as a defensive lineman, Pita Tonga was sent on a mission two years so he'll be coming back and joining us as well. There are five linemen who will be with us this fall. Keaton Bills is a great 'get' for us and he's going to flourish in our program. There's no doubt about that."

On his contract extension being a positive in the recruiting process:
"It did [make an impact]. We were starting to hear some coaches using that against us. I think I was down to three years after getting extended a year last year. It's been in the works for several weeks, in fact probably over a month, but it got to the point where we needed to make an announcement just because it was affecting recruiting and it seemed to wrap up at the same time as well. Everything got done at the same time, but it definitely gave us a boost, particularly with a couple kids who made their decision late. That's really what it's all about. The extension is really all about recruiting. Contract security is not about anything but recruits know that more than likely, you're going to be coached by the same staff that recruited you during your entire time at the university. That was a positive."

On the geography of this signing class:
"We had nine guys from California, which is pretty typical of our recent footprint, I guess you could say in recruiting. Nine from California, seven from in state, five from Florida, again, Dennis Erickson doing a great job there, a couple from Washington, a couple from Hawaii, one each from Arizona and Texas and one from Australia. You're going to like our new Australian punter, by the way, Mitch Wishnowsky, Tom Hackett part two. He's not quite the quote machine yet that Tom is, but I think he'll work into that. He has a stronger leg than Tom, if you can believe that. He's exceptional so we're excited about him. He's one of those junior college players who had three years of eligibility left from Santa Barbara College."

On Troy Williams:
"He is dynamic. Coming out of high school, he was in the top three or four in the nation for dual-threat quarterbacks who were coming out that particular year in his graduating class. We think he's a tremendous talent. The numbers he put up at Santa Monica College were outstanding as was his win-loss record there, he won a ton of games this past year. He carries himself exactly how you want a quarterback to carry himself. He has charisma, an air of confidence and leadership about him. I'm very impressed with him. He got here in January and has taken charge in that QB-receiver group and got things going."

On increased in-state recruiting:
"We feel good about how we did. You're never going to get every kid in state. It's just not realistic. I don't know anyone who gets every kid in state and keeps everyone at home, but we certainly we feel like we came away with a bunch of talent in state. That's our first priority every year. We want to make sure we comb the state of Utah, don't miss anyone and give everybody a fair evaluation. We felt we did that this year and we came away with a bunch of good players in state. It was a good year in the state of Utah for sure."