Assistant Coaches Signing Day Coverage
12/20/2017 12:00:00 AM | Football
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State football introduced the Spartans' 2018 recruiting class Wednesday afternoon at a press conference inside the Izzo Family Media Center at Spartan Stadium.
Following head coach Mark Dantonio's press conference, the Michigan State assistant coaches spoke to the media about the 2018 Signing Class as well as the Spartans' upcoming Holiday Bowl game vs. Washington State on Thursday, Dec. 28.
For a complete look at MSU's 2018 recruiting class, including bios, quotes and highlights, please visit MSU's Signing Day Central.
The following is a selected transcript from Michigan State assistant coaches at Wednesday's press conference:
Quarterbacks Coach Brad Salem:
On the recruiting class sticking to their commitments...
"There's been a good track record here for the past 10-12 years, and obviously the history of Michigan State, but (they're) really good kids. I think, too, it's the way we go about it. We don't force a kid to commit. If they feel good about it, they do and it's awesome, they're committed and they're here, let's go. They're athletic. They're competitive, so excited to get some of these guys here to camp this year and a couple others (later)."
On the new early signing rules...
"I think there's positives and negatives to any change. For us, I see it as a positive. They're committing and they want to come here, so why not sign them? Why drag it out through January? That's where other teams can maybe come in and try to take guys, and that's part of the recruiting that happens. It's positive. We're excited that we're able to do that and be here today."
On if the Spartans will match Washington State's throwing offense...
"Washington State is a very good defensive team. Speed, fast in those positions and they're very aggressive with how they play defense and so we've got to be physical at the point of attack and be able to get separation."
Associate Head Coach/Co-Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Backs Harlon Barnett:
On narrowing down their needs for spring recruitment...
"We can all focus on that as well as get an early jump on spring recruiting. The 19's are young guys, to get to know the young guys and who they are through their coaches. It's a combination of focusing on that one position as well as getting a jump start on the next class."
On defensive back Kalon Gervin...
"What everybody talks about is fast, and to play corner here, you have to be fast. That's one of the problems you must have to play corner here, to be able to run. We get up and press you so much and play you, you got to be able to run and he (Gervin) can do that. He gives himself a chance in that way. I've also seen him move around in different camp situations where he can transition, change direction extremely well. He's got some toughness to him, so by him coming here early, he'll give himself a chance to play."
On the incoming defensive back class as a whole...
"You see guys that are very athletic, as Coach (Dantonio) mentioned this class is an athletic class. Very athletic defensive back class that seems to understand the game, good tackles, that changes directions, all the basic things that we always talk about to defensive backs so, excited to have them come."
On the recruitment of brothers at MSU...
"As (Coach Dantonio) mentioned up there, it says a lot about how we treat them, you know, how we treat them and their parents feel good about sending their sons here. Obviously, their sons aren't going back and saying `Don't send them there!' (laughing) They must be saying pretty good things about us, and like Coach said, we are going to treat everybody fair and honest. Everybody may not play, but they're going to say `I've been treated fair and honest.' Best players play, period."
Co-Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers Coach Mike Tressel:
On the challenges from Washington State's offense...
"You have to play in space. They force linebackers, even defensive ends, to play in space more often than you're used to. Their tailbacks get the ball so often, but in so many different ways. I don't know that I've ever played against a team that has two tailbacks with 60 catches each. That's unbelievable. Even once you drop back into coverage, you can't lose track of where that tailback is because they do such a good job of getting the ball to the outlets. The bottom line is just discipline, not chasing routes. Our linebackers are so aggressive, when they see something they want to go get it. They have to be able to pass things off, communicate and be disciplined. They throw it so often that it's going to be a little bit of a change of pace for our guys, but I think they're sort of excited about the challenge."
On the athleticism of the incoming linebackers...
"That's the challenge in football in 2017 is the fact that you're going to have to play Michigan and Iowa where you'll have to be in the box as a linebacker. They're going to try to beat your brains out, and you're going to have to play a Washington State or a Northwestern or something like that, that's always going to have you spread out and trying to put you in space all the time. It makes recruiting for that position a little bit more difficult. You have to be careful, if you're recruiting all athleticism, that you don't lose the linebacker mentality and the toughness in the box. It's a challenge, but you have to find guys that can excel in both areas."
Executive Director of Player Personnel & Recruiting Sheldon White:
On the impact of Coach Dantonio's success on recruitment...
"I've followed this program for a long time, and a lot of freshmen have not played at certain times, but with the last couple of years and me being around (Coach Dantonio), he doesn't care where they come from. He doesn't care if you're a walk-on. He doesn't care if you're a starter, if you're a scholarship guy. It doesn't matter. He's constantly evaluating the players and he'll put the players out there that he thinks are going to help him win the game. I think that resonates to the kids who are coming in because they want to try and find out where their opportunity comes and with him, the opportunity is every week in practice. We're in the middle of this year and Andre Welch is a walk-on guy who came here to run track, and decided at the last second that he wants to play football, and all of sudden he's returning a kick-off against Michigan. He will definitely play the best players that are out there and he's constantly evaluating."
On having an early signing day...
"The biggest thing for us as an organization, number one, part of my role is evaluating our team so I watch play and those guys play eight games. I'm watching every one. With that though, it's not just evaluation. You have to know your team, number one. Number two, you have to really get to work and make sure we get all the work in prior to that time frame and make sure that we evaluate these players not even their sophomore and their junior years but also into their senior years and make sure that we've done our work and our homework prior to the earlier signing day, so it's a matter of just making sure we've got our t's crossed and our i's dotted with that."
Co-Offensive Coordinator/Tight Ends Coach Jim Bollman:
On Trenton Gillison...
Yeah, he is one of those kind of guys. The kind of guy that we would like to have here because we are -- for lack of a better word -- old fashioned in that regard. He's done a lot of blocking in the offense that they run, he's not afraid of that. He's really a good athlete. Most of this year he weighed around 240 pounds. Not many of our guys have come in being that big. He's a really good athlete. He's really a good baseball player, he plays a lot of first base and he plays in the outfield too. He really, more than anything, he sticks the ball. He's a great hitter.
Assistant Head Coach/Offensive Line Coach Mark Staten:
On Washington State penetrating the gaps...
They'll penetrate the gaps, they'll go from the c-gap all the way down to the a-gap. They'll send the line one way and the linebackers another. So they're very sound in what they do, but likewise it can make it difficult.
On Washington State's style of play...
They'll stem before the snap, stem back, then slant to the way they first stemmed. So you'll see a lot of it come the 28th. A lot of times you'll see stemming, to stemming, to slanting, and then sometimes you'll see a stem where they come together and then they spread back out. So it's very unique. It'll be a unique challenge. So it'll be a quick, fast, twitching eyes which I'm sure their motto and what they're thinking is, `hey we're going to run around those big Midwesterners.' And our guys' idea is, `hey, let's go after these, maybe lighter than the normal Big Ten d-lineman.'
On Dimitri Douglas...
His sister is here, she's on one of the dance teams here. Wonderful family -- mom and dad, I enjoyed a lot of fun conversations with them. He's going to be whatever he puts in, from what I've gotten to know about him, he's an all-in guy. He's going to put both feet in and he's going to go with it. I'm going to expect a lot out of him, especially with him getting here in January.
Wide Receivers Coach Terrence Samuel:
On Javez Alexander...
It's just kind of easy because if you look at what Cody (White) was able to do, that blueprint -- tall, rangy, really good speed -- you might not respect his speed, but he gets on you. And the kid is just going to get better. As Cody is getting faster, Cody is getting more technique, it's just kind of been a blueprint for us to see the same thing out of Javez. So I really see a lot of good things coming for him.
On Julian Major...
Oh man, that kid can probably play anything. You talk about a wide receiver that could play DB -- he's got the length, he's got the quickness, the change of direction -- I really think he was under-recruited and I was glad that he kind of committed to us early and not blowing up a little bit later on. I just think his ball skills and just his ability to change direction, he's going to be a really good wide receiver for us as well.
Defensive Tackles Coach Ron Burton:
On preparing for Washington State and the run game...
Well the key thing is we stick with our motif of stopping the run, stopping the run, stopping the run -- keep forcing them to throw the football. Yes, they throw it a lot but they do have the ability to run it, too. I think he'll find a way to do that.
On seeing a team like Washington State...
Oh there were a lot of teams, I mean, I was at Indiana, I coached at Kentucky -- who had the big air-raid offense too. And then Texas Tech. So we'll probably go to the old Kentucky team.
Defensive Ends/Special Teams Coach Mark Snyder:
On the 2018 signing class...
They are smart football players. They've played a lot of football so they're very intelligent football players.
On the recruiting process...
I think that goes back to what I just said -- they are very intelligent football players. They've been playing since they were this big. Obviously they've got to get stronger and faster and learn our system and all those things, but from a knowledge standpoint I'm going to expect a lot out of these guys because they have the ability to pick it up pretty quick.
