Michigan State University Athletics
Football Signing Day Press Conference
6/21/1999 12:00:00 AM | Football
February 3, 1999
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Each year that you go into recruiting you have goals and objectives that you want to accomplish with your recruiting class. Obviously we always want to recruit the best football players available to us, especially the good football players in the state of Michigan. We also have to get players who satisfy needs for us in areas of our team where we feel we don't have enough quality football players or we don't have enough depth. I think the coaching staff did an outstanding job this year of not only recruiting the players, but also identifying our needs, going out in this recruiting class and being able to fill those needs for the most part. I'm very pleased with the results that we got.
We're very happy to have eight players from our own state, the state of Michigan. We're also very happy to have the kind of quality -- not only of player -- but I think the caliber of student and the quality of person -- this class I feel very comfortable with the balance that we have and the kind of players we attracted. The objectives that we really wanted to address with this recruiting class were number one, I felt like last year we were very thin in the line positions. We could not overcome the injuries that we had at those positions and I think that it affected our performance to some degree. We felt like it was very important for us to solve some of those issues on both sides of the ball. Offensive line was critical -- we brought in six new players at that position, one junior college player in Tupe Peko and five very good young freshmen prospects: Brian Ottney, Joe Patrick, Steve Stewart, DeMarco Monroe and Joe Tate. Three or four of those guys are very highly thought of, were heavily recruited, and certainly have the size and athletic ability for what we're looking for to give us a quality offensive line in the future.
The second area we were looking to address with this recruiting class is front-seven players on defense. To go through the history of it, we recruited a lot of defensive players early in our recruiting process here, in our first and second years. When we look at the board now, a lot of those players are seniors, have one more year. We felt like from a depth standpoint and a future standpoint we really needed to get some quality players in the front seven.
Obviously T.J. Duckett helps tremendously, being a linebacker of his quality as one of the top players in the nation. Not only in the kind of player he is, but this is as fine of a young man that I've ever had the opportunity to recruit. We are certainly looking forward to coaching him. If my own son, Nicholas, grew up to be this kind of guy -- not as a player but just as a person -- I would be very happy, pleased and proud. I think that kind of character and leadership, as well as the kind of ability he has, puts him in a good position to be a very well respected leader and to have an effect on other players in the program. I think there's a little bit of a positive force too in the fact that he is such a high-caliber quality player, and well-respected nationally. For us to be able to attract a player like that to our program is only going to open more avenues for us in the future to have future players of his caliber and quality consider Michigan State University.
We also in the defensive front seven implemented a couple of junior college guys. This is the largest class weve ever recruited here. We've always been a little young, but I felt that implementing a few quality junior college players in areas of need would give us some maturity. Kendall Daniels is a Julian Peterson-type of athlete. He was a linebacker in high school and very highly recruited. We recruited him in high school and followed him to junior college. Hes a guy who can stand up and play linebacker. He's a third-down defensive end, designated pass rusher type of guy. We actually get the same kind of player that Julian Peterson is in Kendall Daniels.
Jabari Hendricks, a defensive end, has the size and ability to help us immediately at that position. I think because of some of the players who we have lost we needed some maturity as well as some quality players. We feel like he is an outstanding player at his position. To be able to attract Dimitry Bernard, who is also a defensive end, and a quality player, we get three front seven players who give us a little bit more maturity. They can help us in an area which could be an immediate need.
The young players we got at those positions: Ellington Wills is a fine player as a defensive tackle. He has size and speed and very good athletic ability, a very good basketball player as well as a football player. Almost a perfect type of guy for us to play inside. Derek Stielstra is a quality player, Samalj Gordon we think is an outstanding player, has tremendous athletic ability from Atlanta, Ga. He can be a good pass-rusher, can run very well and is one of our favorites of all the freshmen at his position. Kyle Rasmussen can run, has good athletic ability and is going to have to work at his size and strength a little bit in order to play the position, but we are very excited about his future.
Those two objectives were key, critical objectives for us at offensive line and defensive front seven. We added 12 lineman-types in this class out of 25 guys. That was our goal and objective going in and we were pleased that we were able to accomplish that.
Some other areas of concern, although probably not as big a concern, but areas that we wanted to address:
Sedrick's situation coming out early definitely affected what we felt like we needed at running back. We wanted to get a big back and a speed back who had big-play capabilities. I think in Mike McConnell we got a guy who is I think the fastest guy at the combine in Atlanta. We had him in camp last year, he's a fine athlete but not a little guy -- he's 6-foot and almost 200 pounds. He's an outstanding running back who has big-play capabilities and speed, probably more in the Shawn Foster mold as a player. Mike Labinjo is a big back, has played fullback but also has outstanding running skills and can be a tailback. He has very good strength, 6-1, 250 pounds, has great lower-body explosion and leg drive and is going to give us a power-type of back that we really havent had for a while around here in terms of size and short-yardage situations.
I addressed T.J. Duckett as a linebacker, but he also has the ability to play an offensive position. I think running back is probably an area where we are going to try him. This is not a controversy over where we are going to play him -- he sees himself as a linebacker, we are going to play him as a linebacker. His alternate position is to contribute on offense somewhere if he can, which would be as a running back. It may start out as a limited role and grow into something as time goes on and he gains knowledge and experience and is able to handle it. That is a plan for him and it is something that we want to do. The running back position we felt good about what we were able to attract and accomplish there.
From a quarterback standpoint, we went into this thinking that we wanted to recruit two quarterbacks. I think that was a difficult situation, because any time you have a guy who has a national reputation at that position everybody looks at who they have to compete against. With Ryan Van Dyke here from last year's class that made it a little bit more difficult to get two quarterbacks this year. We felt very fortunate to get Bradlee Van Pelt, Brad Van Pelts son, who has good size and speed for his position. He has good arm strength and I think is a little more athletic foot-speed wise and so-forth than the quarterbacks we have here right now, which was an objective of ours. We are very pleased and happy that Bradlee is going to come and we hope that he can have the same kind of success here that his dad did.
Dan Larlham was an outstanding quarterback. We recruited him as an athlete who could probably play running back, defensive back and we'll probably give him a chance at quarterback. A lot of people were concerned about his size, but the one thing we liked about him, we think he's a true winner. They won the state championship a year ago, they got beat in the finals this year and they didn't lose a lot of games in between. He's been a very successful quarterback at a very successful program at Walsh Jesuit in Ohio.
The skill players who we recruited: Three wide receivers in Josh Lenaburg who has outstanding speed from Medina, Ohio, Durocher Miller, who is from Henry Ford High School in Detroit and Joe Savage who is an outstanding player from West Caldwell, New Jersey. We don't feel like we have an immediate need at wide receiver, but Gari Scott will be a senior next year and Plaxico will be a junior. We feel like we have some good skill players below them, but we always want to recruit size and speed guys who can play wide receiver, defensive back, corner and those types of positions in the future. I think team speed is important and I think you get it when you recruit wide outs, defensive backs and running backs, so we wanted to recruit a fair amount of players at those positions.
The defensive backs, we didn't recruit any corners in this class. I think we have some pretty good young corners on our team. Sorie Kanu and Lemar Marshall are leaving, both those guys were safeties for us, although Lemar did play some corner. Aric Morris is the only returning safety. Drew Young is an outstanding safety as a junior college player to give us some experience at that position. Thomas Wright is also a very good prospect from Lake Wells High School in Lake Wells, Florida, which is right next to Paul Edinger's high school. We feel very good about those two prospects at that position.
Dan Orner is an outstanding kicker. He's only a kicker, he can punt, but he really is a kicker. We looked to take a specialist in this class because we knew we had numbers. Instead of getting in a situation like we were in with Craig Jarrett this year where we needed a punter, he had to come in and punt as a freshman and did a nice job for us but also had some ups and downs because of that lack of experience. We felt that we would go ahead and take a kicker this year. Maybe not kick him -- we could redshirt him -- but we would have a guy with a little more seasoning if he ends up being our kicker a year from now if he ends up being our kicker when Paul is finished with his career. We felt very good about taking Dan Orner.
We recruited not probably from all over the world, but four players from Ohio, four from California, three from New York, two from Florida, two from Georgia, one from Jersey, one from Indiana and one from Canada. We like to do a good job in our own state and in our own area in a four or five hour radius. We recruited very heavily and hard, and our coaches did an outstanding job. We seem to become more and more national as we go, but we feel good about the players we have been able to attract from those areas.
Marcus Watters is a guy who is a phenomenal athlete, has good size and speed. He has actually played safety and wide receiver, he has that kind of speed. I'd love to have a safety that size, but were projecting him a little bit to be a linebacker. James Smith is an outstanding player from Edgewood High School in Hamilton, Ohio. Hes more of an inside linebacker, has good size potential, and has played down before so he could be a guy who is a potential down guy as well.
We do have a couple of other players who have made committments to come to Michigan State and we have made some kind of committment to as a school. This is an NCAA rule, though -- if those guys didn't sign today an actual letter of intent, and we could only sign 25 guys, I'm not supposed to comment about them because they are still technically prospects.
I think there are a lot of quality players in this class. Two things usually happen when a guy has a chance to play early. I think more and more because of numbers freshmen have an opportunity to play, but we've always taken the approach that we want to play our best players, so we do give our freshmen an opportunity to play. The most difficult thing comes not relative to physical ability but maturity and being able to handle things that are happening relative to adjusting to school, the freedom they have as college students and the responsibility that goes with that so they can stay focused on the task and the important things. That becomes somewhat of a problem for a lot of guys. Until we get them here and we actually see how they handle the situation they are in and how they can learn the system, it's hard to determine how many actually can. But with our situtation in the offensive line, for example, I think a couple of these guys have a chance to be in the two-deep. Maybe we can have a situation like we have when Dave Sucura was a freshman or Shaun Mason was a freshman where they were in the two-deep but we still redshirted them. We worked them every day and developed them but we didn't play them in the games. Hopefully that can be the case maybe with the offensive lineman. I think the three junior college guys in the defensive front seven are all guys who can contribute to the team next year. I hope that Tupe Peko is going to be someone who can do that in the offensive line where we need some immediate help. We get Shaun Mason back, Mike Shutz just had another knee operation, hopefully we will be able to get him back, but we need some help there and some maturity and depth the freshmen can give to us and also a junior college guy could help us with. There could be an opportunity for a running back depending on the guys we have here right now and how they respond to the challenge that they have. I don't think there is any question that Drew Young might have a chance to contribute with us losing two of our top three safeties. We like to give all the guys an opportunity to play. Again, this is the largest class we have had, but we have more football players returning on our team than maybe we have had in the past. If we can keep those guys here and not have attrition problems with them, relative to academics and other things I feel very fortunate about the guys we have coming back and the experience we have coming back.
I think that every class we have recruited since we've been here in some ways was an outstanding class. I think probably this is the most outstanding class in numbers of players, quality of people, balance in the class and satisfying needs, especially when it comes to being able to recruit lineman, which is one of the most difficult things to be able to find in terms of numbers.
(On not being in a bowl game): I think it helped us get ahead a little bit in recruiting on some guys. We had a lot of guys in early and had a lot of commitments early. Other than TJ we haven't had a commitment in the last 10 days or so, weve been full for a while. There were a couple of guys who we continued to recruit and would have found a way to take had we gotten them, but I think it helped us get ahead a little bit.
Tupe Peko is the only mid-year transfer of the bunch. He was a tight end before he became an offensive lineman. I would say one of his greatest strengths is his athletic ability, his ability to move his feet. That makes him a true tackle prospect. I think we were fortunate to get Greg Robinson-Randall last year, and he helped us a lot. He was a true tackle prospect and I think Tupe is a true-tackle prospect. I think that's the thing that we need the most. We have an adequate number of inside players, and maybe a few players who are playing tackles but could be moved inside to help themselves -- not necessarily starters, but guys who may be more effective inside.
Two things did. I think the numbers and I think identifying areas where you had need. Especially when you've been here long enough and you track guys who you knew as high school, you are more apt to take them from junior college because you feel like you know them, and you know why they are there and what their problems are. I think its a good source for us to satisfy a few needs each year. That was not our philosophy coming in. But I think with the effect of the number effect being what it's been, I have tried to look at the overall picture and balance the classes by numbers. The classes that are getting up there now in age were limited in numbers when we were recruiting them.
(On TJ Duckett): When we talk about getting a player of that caliber and quality, that will help attract other players because they will see your program, your institution, your school, as a place where it's OK for them to go because other great players have chosen to do that in the past. I think also when you get a guy of this caliber, who have a great chance to turn out to be significant leaders who can make other players play better, that's something that we need on our football team, too. I think the entire staff did a good job of recruiting him. I think sometimes when people think you are the favorite it makes it even more difficult. I honestly believe that his family means a lot to him, and that helped us. There were other schools close by that he could have gone to as well. In fact, there was some talk at one point that he didn't want to go where his brother went, he wanted to go somewhere else. But I do feel that he took the challenge of coming to MSU in a positive way. He wants to be a winner, and I'm just happy that we attracted somebody who wants to be a winner and wants to and is willing to affect other people to win a championship.
If we don't have attrition in the program, we will be very close to 85 scholarships. We couldn't take anyone else immediately because we decided to fill up. We didn't leave anything open and would have taken the other players we weren't able to. We feel like they are a part of this class as well even though I can't comment on them personally. We did recruit them with the idea that they could help our program and they are going to be a part of our program. I'd like for everybody to treat them like a part of our program.
Joe is a big body guy who is a very good athlete. He's a good basketball player, can move his feet very well. Sometimes you don't know when guys come from smaller schools how it will affect them in terms of coming here, but Joe's a very mature guy, he's pretty articulate and pretty intelligent. He seems to have the personality type that would be able to make a transition. Again, that goes back to when they get here, how they fit in, how they feel, how they are able to mature and grow until the point where they are able to contribute positively You don't really want to put guys in situations where they don't have a chance to be successful. I think we did that to Ryan Van Dyke last year -- force fed him, because we needed him to be ready to play if something happened to Bill Burke. I think in the long run that's going to benefit him, but I'm not sure that benefitted him last year all the time.
Brian Ottney is a big guy who's got a lot of power. He's a road-grader type I think as an offensive lineman. We need some guys who can knock people off the ball and create some movement up front. Brian was our first commitment in this class -- an outstanding player, we're very pleased to have him and I can see him making a contribution early as well. DeMarco Monroe is a very athletic guy, he's got great feet for a guy of his size. Again, a pretty good student and a pretty sharp guy. Steve Stewart is a really good player and a good athlete for a big man. We needed to upgrade the quality of offensive linemen that we have been able to recruit here. We've recruited some good ones but not enough in numbers, and that's what created our lack of depth at that position. As soon as we lost a couple of guys last year, we were really, really thin. I'm really pleased about that part of this recruiting class.
Each one of these guys played tackle. It's difficult to recruit a center who played center, because the high school coaches take the best player that they have and they always play tackle, which is smart, because it's probably harder to play tackle and you can get good performance out of an undersized guy playing center. You usually have to get a guy and make him a center. Casey has played center before. I think we're going to take a guy like Josh Smith, who is a really good athlete, a young guy, and try to make him a center. We may try to make one of these guys a center, but a) we've got to find out if they can snap the ball and take a step and we've got to see if they have the personality for it. I really don't have a good feeling about which of these guys can play guard and which will stay at tackle. The ones that stay at tackle will be the ones who play in space the best.
I think our coaches are doing a good job of developing relationships in these areas. For us to get two players out of Georgia that are both quality players and pretty highly recruited is a real plus. For a long time the only place we got players out of Florida was in south Florida and we've made a dent in Sarasota and Lakeland and this year we got two. Once you get players from an area you have a better chance to attract more players from that area. One area we'd like to do a little bit better job is the midwest west of us, the greater Chicago area. That is recruited heavily and hard by the Big Ten, we've recruited it hard, but we just haven't gotten the results that we would like.
I think the fact that over the last two years we've beaten two teams that are the so-called teams to beat in our league gives us enough credibility that players think that we have good enough players to beat these people. The question is can we do it on a more consistent basis. I think that helps us. Number two I think the facilities that we have, because this facility is unique (Smith Center), not only in structure but also in the quality of people we have that run it. Roger Grooters and Chris Helms do an outstanding job for our players. A building alone doesn't make you successful. We have a good system, we have good people, and they work hard to make our players successful. The facilities in general help us in recruiting. It shows a commitment not only to being good athletically but also to being good and making sure people succeed academically and I think that's beneficial for us.
