The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Tracking the Longhorns: Tom Herman signing day press conference
12.20.2017 | Football
Tom Herman addressed the media Wednesday on the afternoon of the first day of the new early signing period.
Opening statement: I will be brief, but appreciative. We're not done yet. This is all uncharted territory for everybody in America, but we feel like we've taken a very, very important first step in our 2018 class. We signed some unbelievable young men, some great players. Make no mistake, great players, but also really, really great young men with unbelievable families, unbelievable support systems, and unbelievable maturity. I can't thank the Texas high school coaches enough for opening their doors and arms figuratively for us and our staff from the time that we first got here. They made the transition pretty easy, and we are always and forever indebted to them.
I know you guys are going to ask me about early signing day. I think it is a good thing for the players that know where they want to go. I really do. It lets those guys wrap up recruiting and not have to worry about being hounded in the month of December, late December and January, and I think it's really, really critical for our mid-year guys.
We're anticipating nine mid-year guys. That's a lot. For them to be able to sign a piece of paper that says I'm done, I'm coming to Texas, and then us be able to treat them as Texas football players -- meaning, we can send them now playbooks, we can send them nutrition plans, we can send them weight workouts. So that when they get here in roughly three weeks, three and a half weeks, they'll have everything that our guys here currently on the team have.
The one thing that I think goes unnoticed is when you recruit as locally as we do, once those kids sign, the dead period doesn't apply to them. So they can be on our campus, we can visit with them off campus at any time during the year. So it just makes that transition a whole heck of a lot easier. So it is a bit of a grind for us, especially with bowl prep and official visit weekends as well as trying to do as many home visits.
I think this is an interesting stat. I think I counted eight of our 16 or seven of our 16 guys that we've signed, I have yet to be in their homes or at their high school. That's crazy to me, I mean, absolutely crazy. We have a young man where the best I could do because he was -- his high school was in a different city as his parent, so the best I could do was go see him because you're working on this three-week window, again with bowl preparation and kids and families on your campus every week.
So, we're going to get out and see all of the families in their homes and at their high schools in January, but I'm really, really excited for Texas football right now with these 16 kids that we've signed. We've got three or four -- I take that back, maybe two or three left to sign in this early signing period, as well as them taking another maybe eight in February.
So we are definitely not done. This will be a full, if not overfull, class of maybe 27, 28, 29 somewhere around there. With all these midyears we have coming back last year which was our plan with not signing a full class last year, knowing that this rule would be in effect, with this new signing rule where you can only sign 25 per class.
So now, technically, I think we can sign, because we were six short in last year's class, as long as these are mid-year guys, we can sign up to 31, I think, right now because we can count six backwards to last year's class, as long as we have those six are midyear, and like I said, I think we're planning on nine mid-year guys.
So this was a much bigger plan. This plan goes all the way back to when we first got here 13 months ago, and what we were going to do with the 2017 class in terms of being able to save a lot of these scholarships for this class and count them backwards.
So with that again, thank you to the families. Thank you to the young men that signed with us today. Thank you to the high school coaches for making our job here in the state of Texas the best one in America.
On what this class can do for the program: Yeah, just some more numbers. We went from signing none, signing zero players in the top 10 and the 247 composite rankings last year to ten of the top 15 in the state of Texas who either signed or committed with us. That's huge. That's huge.
We had to make sure that these players stopped leaving the state. That going out of state wasn't more attractive to them. I don't know that the University of Texas has changed. I don't know that we've changed much. Obviously, the facilities was a big point of emphasis for us when we first got here, and that helps kids deserve to train and be trained in the best facilities in the country.
But I think it is just unbelievable proof at the power of relationships in recruiting and that parents and kids don't want to go places where they don't trust their coaches. They don't want to go places where they don't trust their position coach or head coach or strength coach or academic coach or nutrition coach. It takes time to develop that trust. It takes time to develop that connection. It takes time to develop those relationships.
But given that time, I think our staff is as committed to loving our players. I didn't say don't hold them to high standards. I didn't say there not be consequences when they don't achieve those standards, but we love our guys very, very much.
It's very evident when you ask any of the parents in this signing class. They will tell you that that really stood out and I think made the difference. When you're allowed that much time to then foster those relationships, this is one of the top 25 public institutions in the country and the number one city in America to live in, with a rich tradition-laden program that I think everybody can see is headed in the right direction.
On signing another Australian punter: Well, obviously, he's our punter's cousin. I've had a long relationship with those guys down at Pro Kick. It goes everywhere from Cameron Johnston who I was on the same -- who was on the Ohio State team that I was a part of to Dane Roy at Houston, to now our punter currently here. So when those guys say, hey, this guy's the next whatever, you believe them because they're that good at their job.
Obviously, we're not going to take a kid to a full scholarship sight unseen. So we watched the video. We poured over it, and we analyzed it to say that any of us are anywhere close to being the punting gurus that those guys at Pro Kick Australia are, that's false. A lot of it is our trust in them and the different kids that we've seen that have come from their program and the success that they've had here in the states.
On if taking a punter reveals Michael Dickson's plans: I don't know, you know. We'll talk about his decision after the bowl game. But we wanted to make sure if he did decide one way, we were okay. We had the number to give, and if we've got two punters on scholarship next year, so be it. We'll red-shirt him and he's going to play four years one way or the other.
On if the freshman quarterbacks can compete to be the starter: Yes, they can. As long as we have quarterbacks they will all compete. It's a really unique year, man, really unique. I've never seen a Division I program have to go through a season with two scholarship quarterbacks, but we did. So we had to sign two because ideally you'd want four, sometimes five in that room. Now, ideally you'd like them all in maybe a different class and you're playing old guys or older guys, not sophomore and freshmen.
You can't just snap your fingers and wake up and Shane's a senior and Sam's a junior. They are what they are. So those guys will compete. I think maybe the misconception because they get labeled by recruiting services as dual-threat and pro style. I don't know what that means. Cameron Rising can run. He can run good enough to run our offense, I can tell you that. Casey Thompson can throw the football.
So I think it's good to have a balance in that room. I think if you have four guys in that room that are you knower athletes that can't run, you've got no shot. If you've got four guys in that room that can really spin the football but can't extend plays with their feet, then you've got no shot. So we've got the gamut in there. So I'm excited about them and their skillset. I think it fits our offense really well.
On the offensive linemen, especially Junior Angilau's potential mission: It's Angilau. I don't know what. We're going to continue to talk about that. He's undecided at this point.
But really excited. We've got to have numbers, plain and simple. We're going to go through spring, if we don't sign a junior college guy, a guy with nine offensive linemen. So even just signing one junior college and one that's critical so hopefully we stay healthy and can field two units for spring practice.
So these guys -- you never want to play an offensive lineman as a true freshman. But I think Rafiti might be, of the three, the most ready with junior. Being an unbelievable run blocker, and playing in that triple option offense has a little bit of work to do pass protecting.
Reese is a freak, man. He's 6'6". He's 282 pounds, I think, a couple weeks ago at his visit, and at our camp he ran a 4.9, 40, and the kid isn't going to stop growing. He's going to get bigger and stronger. Unbelievable parents. I mean, they've all got unbelievable parents. Leslie and Sione Angilau and Todd and Kathleen Moore, and Leah Ghirmai, it's no wonder those kids have achieved the success they have. Just really excited about those guys being part of our program.
On how you handle commits/prospects who haven't signed: The best word I've got is reevaluate. We've got to sit down, put our heads together and say the hard part is, again, the thing I heard Coach Meyer talk about coming in late on guys. That's almost impossible now. So the art of keeping a guy warm, I don't know if it exists anymore, and there is no shame in that.
At the University of Texas you're going to have guys that you offer, and you're going to have guys that if we don't get that guy, we're going to go offer that guy. Well, the problem is now you don't know if you're going to get that guy. Then all of a sudden the guy that you were going to put in that place, he's going to sign with ex-school in December, and you're left crossing your fingers because you put all your eggs in the basket of this guy. I don't know. We've got to be -- I don't know. I don't know the answer because we're never going to offer a kid and tell him he can't say yes. I don't like that way of business. It diminishes what the word offer means. If we offer you a scholarship at the University of Texas, you have the right to say the word yes before we even finish this sentence, and we're going to be doing -- if we have done that, we're going to be doing jumping jacks and cartwheels down the hall way if you say yes.
So now you've walked the fine line of, okay, do I offer more guys, and maybe some of the ones that you had ranked higher might want to wait. And the ones you had maybe ranked a little bit lower want to say yes. So it's a big-time balancing act. Again, these kids have really, really good places to go. Really good places.
Then those schools are then telling them, if you don't sign with us and Texas has an offer, we've got to move on and we've got to go then sign whatever that position is. So the kid gets nervous and is not going to have a spot at either place. So that was a long answer to what the question really at the end of the day was. We've really got to reevaluate where we're at, reevaluate what's left, and what hasn't been signed in those positions too.
On the difficulty of recruiting defensive linemen in this state: This state, it has been difficult the last two years. You guys know. You cover recruiting. It has been difficult. Next year we have to knock it out of the park next year, especially on the defensive line. We feel good. We feel good about what we have committed at defensive line currently. We feel good about a couple of the offers that we put out there. In February we're going to sign a really good defensive line class. But we also know we're only losing one in Ford, and next year's class, especially in the state of Texas is loaded. So we can be a little bit selective, much like we were last year, and you see the dividends paying off this year.
On the expectations for this class: Yeah, I think Michael Huff and Aaron Ross and those guys might have a little bit of something to say. I know they weren't all in the same class. But there were some -- with the University of Texas, especially I don't want to get into the DBU and who is not DBU, but I would put our DB history among anybody in the country.
I think Jason Washington and Craig Naivar have an unbelievable track record of developing talent. I mean, we're talking about a guy in William Jackson at the University of Houston, when he put his papers in to the NFL, he was a fourth or fifth rounder. In 11 months of being in our program with Todd and Jason and Craig, he's a first rounder. That's not coincidence. That's development.
I think we've got the best corners coach in the country. You look at the kids that he's put in the National Football League from Texas State and from Rice, and from Houston, and where they were coming out of high school in terms of all the experts that they were. We're talking two stars and no stars that developed into NFL corners. So now you take that developmental ability in the secondary as a coach and you put it with what is coming into that meeting room with four and five-star talent and I'm excited to watch how these guys grow in the next couple of years.
On recruiting a kicker like Cameron Dicker and the position group that can make the biggest impact immediately: Recruiting specialists is interesting because you're going to keep three, at the most four, of your 85 scholarships devoted to specialists at any time. You're going to want a kicker, punter, deep snapper and maybe a swing year kicker or punter. So a lot of it is timing for these kids. Does my dream school even need a kicker at this point? It just so happened that the stars aligned that we were in the market for a kicker and one of, if not thee best in the country, was right around the corner in Lake Travis High School and grew up a Texas fan and wanted to come here. So that was exciting.
Who has to come in? I think the corners are probably the ones that stick out to me. Just all the DBs, probably, with DeShon leaving and Holton leaving, and there being in spots back there as well as even the ones that are coming back. Most of them are going to be seniors, too. So those guys need to play and play well early.
On who might be this year' under the radar player: I looked at Reese Moore, from when we met him to what he looks like now, he's just a different kid in a year's development to think about what he's going to look like when he gets into May or June, and what he's going to look like in a year with Yancy and that crew down there. I just it's hard for me to wrap my head around what the ceiling is for that young man, because I think we haven't even come close to it yet. I'm excited to watch him develop.
He was a really, really highly recruited guy, so to say any of them were steals, I don't think we were seeing anything in any of these guys that nobody else did.
On how they got the best players to stay in Texas: To me, I didn't think we did anything superhuman, but I grew up in a world where that's supposed to happen. Maybe not the top six, I guess, since it's the first time ever, then it's the first time ever. But I felt like this was bizarro world on signing day last year when all of these kids are going out to the Midwest and out of state, and I'm going what's going on? Timeout. We're here for a reason, our staff.
So I really, again, I can't say it enough, and I know it gets tossed out flippantly at times, but relationships, man. These coaches love their recruits just like they do their own players they have earned the trust of the key decision makers in that person's family. Not just the young men, but the parents, and the coaches, and the grad parents and the uncles and the people that raised them and everybody. You've got to have time to get your tentacles around all those different people and get them to trust you. And we were able to do that and plan to continue to do that.
I will tell you this, one group of people I didn't thank, and I should have in my hoping deal, and I hope everybody's listening. I want to thank our players. Our players are unbelievable recruiters for us. They're unbelievable recruiters for us. Because, again, it is my job, it is our assistant coaches job, it is everybody's job at the University of Texas when a recruit is around to make sure that the best of the best is shown to that recruit.
But when you get around our players, and this is true in any program, in any program, when you talk to the players, they're going to tell you the truth. They're going to tell you the truth as a recruit and as a parent. And our players were off the charts in terms of their glowing remarks for our program with these recruits. I think what you saw too is a group of kids that, especially even the young ones, the 31st ranked recruiting class in the country, they understand they're not going to achieve the things that they want to achieve individually if they don't have great players around them.
So they really got into the recruiting. They want it. Coach, have we got the number one class yet? Is it number one? Is it number one? That's our players. Our current players. We're bringing basically essentially kids in to try to take their jobs in most cases. But they know that the only way for them to achieve the results they want on the field is if they have great players around them, and I can't thank them enough.
So, yeah, it's just relationships, man. Again, this needs to be the new normal, and I'm committed to making sure that it is.
On if this class was what the staff wanted it to be: Yeah, because I think we've walked away from some really good players, too. We're hopefully never going to be in a position where we're going to have to take character risks, culture risks, academic risks just because a kid can run fast or jump high. We were very firm in our patience and had to walk away from guys.
But I think to steal a line. I think it was Chris Peterson is where I read it. He talked about OKG, our kind of guy. We talk about it with the staff all the time. Is he a culture fit? Is he a culture fit? Is he going to come in here and do the things necessary in our program to succeed and thrive? When the answer is yes, these guys are all that. Just, the one word everybody is asking about this class thus far is mature. These are some grown dudes, man.
Brennan Eagles, when you talk to him, you think you're talking to a 30-year-old businessman, not some 17-year-old high school kid. You just don't. These are unbelievably mature guys that are really, really committed to not just, hey, I want to win, but, hey, I want to do all of the dirty work necessary to win.
On Byron Hobbs' family and their impact on this class: Yeah, Byron, the sky is the limit. Another kind of potential guy right now. At 6'4", 209 pounds, I don't think anybody thinks you can play outside linebacker in the Big 12 at 209 pounds, so he's going to need to put on some weight. We had a bunch of guys in on their official visit the second to last weekend, and they were all kind of walking together. The new thing now is to put the whole uniform on and take pictures. They were all walking together, and you're looking at Reese Moore standing next to Rafiti Ghirmai, standing next to Malcolm Epps, standing next to Byron Hobbs, and you're like, whoa, these guys are long and big.
So that's a thing I think about Byron a bunch is his length, and when he filled that frame out and gets to be 245, 255 somewhere around there, that that's going to be a beast. And then parents, does it get better than Mother Hustler? She's like the lynchpin in this whole outfit, right? She might be our best recruiter.
But to have one like that, BJ's mom is the same. I mean, just unbelievable communication with some of these kids that were uncommitted at the time and their parents. Because, again, some of these kids that commit early, they do so because they feel like they have gotten to know you and your staff enough. They've had the time.
Why does a kid not commit early? Well, maybe he hasn't had that same kind of time or exposure. So the parents of those young men are critical. When a parent of an uncommitted kid has a question, call (Indiscernible), she can tell you. Even the parents of our current players have really, really helped too. I know Willie Young and Connor Williams parents a bunch, Malik Jefferson's parents a bunch. Malcolm Roach's dad has been phenomenal in recruiting. I'm sure I'm forgetting some.
But the current parents do a great job recruiting for us too. I'm sure I'm leaving some out. You put me on the spot. But the queen of Twitter, Mother Hustler, it's hard to leave her out.
On what he's looking for in a recruit: The culture fit, would be two words, competitiveness and toughness. If you're worried about depth charts, you're worried about guaranteed playing time, you're worried about how many guys are ahead of me and how many pairs of shoes do I get and all that stuff, we're good, man, we're good. You can go some place else. We want guys that can come in and compete because they know great teams are made from competition and toughness.
I think that's one of the things I look at those three safeties if there are three harder hitting safeties in the country, I don't know. I haven't watched them all. But those three will hit you. We've seen around here, if you're willing to play really hard on defense or really physical, you're going to have a chance.
Then on leadership, the biggest thing we ask, was he captain? Was he on a winning team? So I've seen those teams that have four or five Power Five kids signed, and they go 4 and 6. Why is that? They're playing teams that have zero Power Five signees and getting beaten by them. So there is something wrong there from a leadership standpoint.
Your best player should be your best leaders and your hardest workers. So if a kid, a young man is good enough physically to play at the University of Texas, we feel like he should also be the hardest worker and the best leader on his team.
