.png&width=32&height=32&type=webp)
The University of Mississippi Athletics
Head Football Coach David Cutcliffe Press Conference
6/21/1999 | Football
February 3, 1999
OXFORD, Miss. - Opening Remarks:
At first, I'll say this. It's a great pleasure to see Coach Vaught here this afternoon. I got to see him earlier today sitting in the office and since it was national signing day, I thought he had a prospect when he came into the office, but he told me it was time someone else did some work around here. We're really proud to see you here, Coach Vaught, and thank you very much for being here.
I'll go ahead and read the names of the signees: Ian Bass, Nashville, Tennessee, Brentwood Academy; Les Binkley, Memphis, Tennessee, Northwest Community College; Josh Cooper, Marietta, Georgia, Marietta High School; Lanier Goethie, Baxley, Georgia, Appling County High School; Barnabas Harris, Birmingham, Alabama, Ensley High School; Theo Harris, Decatur, Tennessee, Meigs County High School; Kimario Hentz, Batesville, Mississippi, South Panola High School; Michael Hollinger, Metairie, Louisiana, Archbishop Rummell High School; Von Hutchins, Natchez, Mississippi, Cathedral High School; Lee Jackson, Marietta, Georgia, Marietta High School; Tommy Kelly, Jackson, Mississippi, Provine High School; Eli Manning, New Orleans, Louisiana, Isadore Newman High School; Kevin McKenzie, Whiteville, North Carolina, Arizona Western Community College; Jesse Mitchell, Moss Point, Mississippi, Moss Point High School; Jamil Northcutt, Tullahoma, Tennessee, Tullahoma High School; Brandon Roddy, Peoria, Illinois, Richwood High School; Justin Sawyer, Centreville, Mississippi, Centreville Academy; Wes Scott, Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis University School; Dannie Snyder, Eudora, Arkansas, Eudora High School; Tremaine Turner, Springfield, Tennessee, Springfield High School; Justin Wade, Jackson, Mississippi, Jackson Prep; Robert Williams, Gadsden, Alabama, Gadsden High School; Cliff Woodruff, Oxford, Mississippi, Oxford High School; Marcus Woodson, Moss Point, Mississippi, Moss Point High School; Demetric Wright, Courtland, Mississippi, South Panola High School.
The first thing I want to say is to thank our staff. You guys can't imagine the hours and the time and the energy that our staff put into this recruiting class. I want to thank the people in our office. They were tremendous. We had a lot of people who had to bridge a lot of gaps and a lot of time, and the people in our office did a fabulous job helping put this recruiting class together.
I can say that the people on the campus and the people on the recruiting weekends and the students and the players who got to meet the prospects as they came in--all of these people were a big part of the success we had. I also want to make a comment about the town of Oxford. It was my first chance to put your best foot forward and show off what you have to the prospects as they come to your campus, and the people of Oxford have a great reception and great hospitality and a great community we have to sell. All of those things entered in helping us put together an outstanding group of young men. I wanted to make sure that we got that down.
I want to get to the football part of it. I think it's important that we discuss how we wanted to address our needs. The first thing that I wanted to see was to address our team speed. I'm a big believer in that the field gets smaller and smaller the bigger and faster these guys get, and I think particularly on the defensive side we needed to address some speed and some explosiveness. I think we did that on both sides of the ball.
Another thing I thought we needed was a very balanced class. It's hard sometimes to not always be trying to get the best player available. You've got to be sensitive to your needs positionally. I think we were able to do that extremely well. I think it's a very balanced class by position, that we met needs at all of our positions and didn't leave anything where we would get to the end and say, "Good gracious, we're going to be short here and short there." There's a lot of balance.
I think we did a great job of finding versatile athletes. There's numbers of people in this class, but I couldn't speculate on exactly where they are going to end up, but I know they'll end up being valuable members of our football team. There are guys that are talented enough to be linebackers or ends or receivers or backs or defensive backs.
I thought another thing we did a really good job of was finding football players, playmakers. That's something that I believe in, and we tried to scramble and tried to have some method to our madness. You guys know we were behind and got off to a late start, but we watched hours and hours of tapes and obviously spent a lot of time talking to people. Late at night, even during bowl practice when we'd be finished in the evenings we would head back and watch tape as a staff, but I think we did a really good job of finding football players, guys who make plays--not just athletes, not just numbers, but guys who were good football players and guys you could count on as being playmakers. I think that goes a long way. I think it's real easy to address this group from that standpoint.
Just a couple of observations and comments before we open this up for questions, I really want to comment on the parents and the support people of the prospects that we signed today. We had an inordinate amount of parents who attended official visit weekends with their sons. Whether they had to drive eight hours or eight and a half hours or six hours or two hours, we had parents who came from all over to be there with their sons. I was extremely impressed every weekend. It created the family atmosphere that we had the parents and the right kind of people, and that's important to me.
I want to know what kind of support these young people have at home because it's tough enough to go away to college with the demands of being a college athlete today, without great support at home and the tough responsibilities of an 18-year-old. When you have the kind of support I've seen with this group at home, I can't say enough about our parents that we just recruited to our football program.
I want to say that I'm extremely pleased with the kind of character that this group displays, and I saw that and felt that on weekends and I felt that when I went into their homes and had a chance to sit down in their living rooms and look at them eye-to-eye and hear what they had to say about what their dreams of the future were.
Also, I was extremely pleased with what I saw academically in this group. They are people who are highly-motivated and are far more than I can remember are much farther along and are doing what they are supposed to be doing academically with this group. I think all those indicators are positive indicators.
I will say this about recruiting nowadays: there's no reason to speculate on one individual over another. People are going to transition differently to college football from high school football. That's going to happen. We certainly think we are going to get immediate help, but we think this group will be a great help for us. To speculate on who's going to do what or how this is going to impact this, I think it's far too early to tell, but I do think we can hang our hat on the kind of young men that we signed and brought in here.
I know they are going to be with us in the long run, and that's important to me that we establish the kind of people who are going to come in and be in our program for the long run and the long haul and develop themselves to be the best they can be and display the kind of leadership you expect third and fourth-year players to be. I think this class grades very high from that standpoint, and not to rehash, but I think we met so many needs from a football standpoint that we've got to get out on the field with them and all our answers will be found after they're on the field.
To get into any kind of specifics about very many individuals, I'm really not going to do that--not to try to disappoint anybody, but I'm not going to put the pressure on any youngster and say this one has to do that. If we can keep our questions more to a general nature, I'll be much better at answering them. If you try to pin me down to telling you that a guy's going to be great or this one's going to do this, I'm not going to give you a very good answer so at least I'm honest in telling you up front.
Questions:
Q: What do you think is the most outstanding aspect of this class?
A: I think we have balance. When you break the team down, you're going to look at yourself up front on offense, you're looking at the running backs, you're looking at receivers, you're looking at quarter backing help, you're looking at tight end help. On defense, you're looking at people up front, people who can come off the edge, linebackers, secondary cover people. I think that we hit every category.
A lot of recruiting classes you get involved with for whatever reason, you feel like at the end and you're a little short here and a little short there. We've got great balance and guys who can play the game. They're playmakers. I think we added some pass rush ability with this group. I've really been impressed with what I've seen in some of these guys in their ability to rush the quarterback. We watched the Super Bowl Sunday, and you see how important it is to put pressure on the quarterback and be able to play defense the way Denver managed to play defense. The way they forced errors was basically the story of the game.
Q: You signed some players from the state of Tennessee. Is that any indication that you are going to continue to recruit Tennessee?
A: We're certainly going to recruit Tennessee, number one for the proximity. We're not very far away, and we're going to recruit Tennessee. I've got some good relationships in that state, some long-time relationships, so we'll be up there again and if we can do as well as we did up there this year we'll keep going back. Anytime you go out of state, that's tough, but it's an area where we'll continue to recruit in a big way.
Q: What are the differences recruiting as a head coach as compared to an assistant?
A: The difference is that I only get to see them one time out of campus, and that's a little hard to get used to. Anything other than that really wasn't different. I don't think I really worried any more or less than I would this time of year. I love the competitiveness of recruiting. It's fun. It's something that gets your juices flowing. I say fun; some of it is not so much fun, but it's a lot happening fast, and so it's a lot of fun from that standpoint. It was kind of Grand Central Station at night for me a little bit, trying to keep all the news together of the day with people out there in different places gathering information. That part of it was a little different. It was just a little frustrating not being able to go back into a school more than one time.
Q: Comment about coaching another Manning quarterback and how special that will be for you.
A: Like I said, I'm not going to get into any detail, but we're certainly proud to have Eli on board. I've had a good relationship with that family, and it's exciting for me and exciting for Peyton. We were talking about that the other day. I guess he's wondering if I'm going to be as nice to him as I was to Peyton. He's a competitive young man, and I'm sure he's looking forward to getting up here and getting a chance to compete at that position.
Q: What was the reaction of the Mississippi high school coaches? Were they helpful and receptive to you in the short period of time you had?
A: They were outstanding. We had a great response from the high schools, and they knew we were scrambling and trying to make up ground. Everywhere we went we were received in a big way. I had the chance to see a lot of coaches when I was involved in a clinic down on the coast, and it drew coaches from all over the state. I got to meet a lot of coaches, and everywhere we went we got great responses. There's a lot of dedicated men and a lot of outstanding coaches in this state, so it was a lot of fun for me to meet those guys. Some of them I had known for a while, and I'm certainly looking forward to getting to see more of them and getting to know more guys from the state. We certainly had a great response.
Q: Talk a little bit about your physical condition. You said it would be a long road recruiting, and now you get to take a little bit of a break. Talk about your health and what you'll do now.
A: I'm feeling really good. I haven't gained all my weight back. I'd like to get out and do some exercising and get some conditioning in myself and build back some endurance, but I'm looking forward to getting started in football. We had a team meeting yesterday, and we've got 6:00 in the morning runs with our football team, and I'm looking forward to that. I was excited to see our current squad there yesterday. I told them I don't know how happy they were to see me come back to town, but I was awful glad to get back in town, and we're anxious to get back to work and start spring practice.
Q: Talk about the position of your recruiting coordinator and what you're planning to do there.
A: Well, we lost Jerry Colquitt, as you all know, in a sudden twist. It was an opportunity that I felt like he didn't need to pass up. I had helped him get an internship with Mike Holmgren with the Packers, so I guess it came back to shoot myself in the foot, so to speak. He impressed Mike a great deal, and when Mike went to Seattle it opened up an opportunity to bring him in. Jerry's young and single and moving to Seattle, and he didn't have to go home and ask anybody about it, so it's a good opportunity for him. We're going to move rather quickly, to be honest with you, trying to get something done, but thank goodness we got through this time of the year.
Q: Are there geographical areas that you didn't hit hard this year that you'll hit in the future?
A: We're right in the process of talking about that. We met yesterday and talked about recruiting areas, and we're trying to review what we would do and what we wouldn't do differently. We're critiquing what we've done, and we're looking at what the future holds. I think it's too early to say the direction we're going, how hard to hit Texas, for example. Sometimes that goes into the strength of the people on your staff, where their connections are. Geographically, the closer you stay, the better chances you have in recruiting. I think geographically is the beginning spot for most athletes. For most of them, not all, the closer they are, the better percentage you have of getting them. We'll work that out, and we'll certainly take care of this state first and foremost. We're looking at that, and we really couldn't tell you exactly which directions we'll go.
Q: How much further along do you think you'll be at this time next year?
A: We'd better be a lot further along, or else someone's not doing their job. We had a meeting yesterday on junior recruiting, and the guys are anxious to get started. It's a never-ending process. We've been in place, so we've had time to develop relationships that we should to develop and be able to take this state and evaluate it like it's got to be evaluated. We're excited about what the opportunities are in recruiting. We've got a competitive staff and a staff that likes to recruit, so those guys are anxious to get started on next year already.
Q: How long have you known Eli and watched him develop into a quarterback?
A: I've known Eli since we recruited Peyton. I'm trying to remember. I guess we recruited Peyton in 1993-94, so that would be my first time to really be around Eli. It's a few more years ago now than you would think. I don't know what age that puts him. Eli was very quiet. At first I didn't know if he liked me. He wouldn't say a whole lot. But I found out later that was pretty much Eli. Eli's not really a quiet guy as you get to know him, he just chooses his friends carefully. I'm just glad he chose me as his friend.
Q: Were you surprised at the intensity level of the recruiting as a head coach as opposed to an assistant? Did you run into anything negative that surprised you while you were recruiting?
A: No, not at all. We've seen a lot of battles in recruiting, and recruiting is a tough business. At times, it rears its ugly head, but that's just the nature of the beast, so to speak. There were no surprises, and I certainly wasn't disappointed in anything. It was exciting. We didn't have time to be disappointed in anything, we were so enthused about so many things. We didn't spend our time on anything negative. We tried to spend our time on the positives and think positively. Like I said, our staff was so outstanding, and the weekends were so outstanding, and our support people. You didn't have time to feel negative. Our office was tremendous. Everybody there accomplished so much, setting up the weekends and getting organized. There really wasn't a spare moment for anything but positive thoughts.
Q: It seems like a lot of the kids are qualifying now. Do you think kids are qualifying more now than in the past?
A: I hope that's the case. I couldn't tell you that statistically, but this Ole Miss class is certainly the case. I don't know if across the board what you're saying is true, but once we put a system in place and people understand the system, how it works, and what is expected of them, we're now reaping the benefits of youngsters who were ninth and 10th-graders when we started to set the standard as they are now. I think they knew what they had to get done. There was more emphasis from home and more emphasis from high school to get it done, and that's a tribute to the families, the teachers, coaches and high schools across the country. I hope that's a continuing trend, because all these things need to be set as standards to help people succeed, not to prevent people from succeeding.
Q: I'm not sure how many junior college kids you have on this list, but do you set aside a number you want to pursue or does it vary year to year?
A: I think that would certainly vary year to year, the best players available and the numbers on your squad and where you are. I have a philosophy that you've got to look and have an idea of how you want to replace your squad. We're not going to talk about our philosophy in detail, because that's not something to share, but I do think there's a formula to look at and you'll know when you need immediate junior college help as opposed to certain other years. I think you have to be prepared to take the best players available and know how to fix the need you have.
Q: How many junior college kids are on the team?
A: I think we've got two, and one in school already, so that's three.
Q: Did you see speed at the wideout as something you needed to upgrade, and do you feel like you did that?
A: We always look at speed, and looking at the speed on the present squad you need to upgrade the speed you have. We're looking for speed every year when we're recruiting at wide receiver. There's no secret that makes a difference, and I think we signed some people who can run. I don't think, I know. It's going to competitive, and that will be interesting and challenging. I think we're always looking for speed. I'm looking for guys on our squad who can improve their speed, and I think it can be done. That's something we need to address.
