Coach Al Golden summed up his thoughts on this year's recruiting class today, saying, "an exciting day for us. This was the most grueling six or seven weeks in my career in the business as a recruiter. I can't remember any time, even in what we were facing at Temple that we worked any harder than this. That means a lot of sacrifice on the part of our coaches. … just an incredible effort in light of everything that we've encountered, all the obstacles the last couple of months. Great effort. I'm really proud of this class. It personifies and embodies what we're looking for. A lot of guys that want to be Miami Hurricanes, what it takes to be part of the tradition - the toughness, a lot of captains, championship programs, a lot of tough guys. I'm excited about this group. I'm a little surprised that we are ranked as high (as we are) because so many of them came from the camp. A lot of the guys that come from the camp are under the radar. We've never been catalog shoppers.
"It's a class that we're real proud of."
Here's what else Golden was talking about:
Q: How many questions did you get from recruits and their families about probation? Were they worried?
Golden: I think so. There were a lot of kids that wanted to go (here). The thing about Duke Johnson, Malcolm Lewis, Herb Waters, they understand the University of Miami. For Duke - not only did he always want to play at the University of Miami, but he wants to be better than the guys in this building. He understands what it means to be a Miami Hurricane. And the guys that joined us late really understood what our core values are, gave us time to establish who we are. How we reacted to those allegation (helped with) Tyriq McCord, Robert Lockhart, certainly Tracy Howard, Dequan Ivery, Deon Bush, all those guys … a lot of guys that believed in us as people and coaches.
Q: Why do you say it's been the toughest job you've had these last weeks?
Golden: It's been a grueling year. We've been through a lot. The suspensions, distractions, lack of continuity if you will. And then we took the bowl game (ban) so we can move forward so we can put that behind us. So we've already encountered a lot. And we have to go out and compete. The thing I'm really proud of - we have a coaching staff, a program that tries to really on a daily basis work with class, with integrity, with honesty. We conducted ourselves like that throughout the recruiting process. I won't sit here and tell you we didn't get absolutely crushed by opponents (with negative recruiting), and we fought back. Our coaches did a great job, and our student-athletes did an even better job when they hosted kids making sure they knew what it was all about.
Q: How much help did you get from guys that were locked in as commitments recruiting other kids?
Golden: It's a great point. I would say not only did they do a great job, but our young people did a great job. The Chickillos Perrimans, Grimble, Dorsett, Rashawn Scott did a tremendous job. Having nine guys in mid year was big down the stretch because they went from recruits to student-athletes and they said what's happening in recruiting is happening every day (at UM). When those things are congruent you can have a great class. If we're getting the type of kids were' looking for, tough, disciplined, smart, we're going to be a really good football program.
Q: Who might play right away, start right away?
Golden: I think I answered the question in here the day after the last game. What's your needs? Our needs didn't change. In a lot of ways our needs became more dire when guys declared for the NFL. We got a lot of DBs, most particularly corner. The defensive ends will have to come in and compete. There could be someone in that group. The wide receiver position is the same way. Those guys are going to have to come and compete. Clearly the linebackers will have something to say, at running back we're not deep, the quarterbacks. Fifty of the 80 guys we line up with will be first or second year players. We're going to be a young team.
Q: Tracy Howard said before he visited here he had no plans of coming to Miami, was Florida all the way. When did you think he might actually come?
Golden: The last couple of weeks we started to build some momentum; he was listening more, and we had an opportunity. When we went in the home. I left out of there, felt good. I sensed something about the young man. This is hard for me to say - so many of you will say `coach is a good recruiter' - I'm not a salesman. We are who we are. If that's congruent with what's important to your family you can call me a salesman if you want. If you're going to sleep and play video games all day, this isn't the school for you. We're going to teach you life skills. The more we talked to Tracy about academics, core values, the more his family understood. They understood the football side, but for (his parents), they were looking for someone who would carry on what they already developed in the young man.
Q: How much do you sell UM vs. selling Al Golden?
Golden: We have a great product. This goes all the way back. When you have an athletic administration that will support as much as we're getting, when you have that kind of support it's hard to beat. We're a top 40 institution. We're the No. 1 school in the State of Florida, we've played for the most national titles. I don't know why we have to have an inferiority complex down here. We did a good job holding serve in Broward and Dade; we're going to be tough to beat (here). It's time we start acting like Miami Hurricanes. We beat some good teams down here (in recruiting); we have to get back to doing that on the field and we will.
Q: How do you project where a kid might be two or three years from now as a player?
Golden: That's why it's important to evaluate through their senior year. Character has a lot to do with it. There's very few kids out there that are so talented they don't have to adhere to a process, can overcome (not working hard). The other thing is the camp. Our guys, if they're under the radar guys, we really don't care. They came to the camp - Jake O'Donnell and Dwayne Hoilett come to mind. I didn't care if either one of them had any offers. What we saw at camp with their speed, the tenacity they exhibited. Those are guys we need to get in the program. Herb Waters is another guy who came to camp and did a good job. We're not worried about the stars. We're grateful we have the recognition that goes along with having a highly ranked class.
Q: You have a good group of kids from the west coast of Florida.
Golden: We've made a lot of progress in a short period of time. We had to do better there. Some we visited, just lost - we need to be in that mix in Palm Beach, the Space Coast, Treasure Coast, Orlando. We were much better in those areas. The talent in this state is unbelievable. We're very fortunate to not only have a national brand like the University of Miami, but we have a great recruiting base here in South Florida yet we have national appeal. We got a great player out of Atlanta, an excellent player from Louisiana, the Philly area. We'll continue to do that. We're very fortunate in the talent base we have here.
Q: Talk about Dequan Ivery and Jacoby Briscoe.
Golden: No. 1, Briscoe, the University of Miami was always a dream school for him. He always wanted to go to the University of Miami. I couldn't believe his size. He had an incredible playoff run. I had a chance to meet him, get to know him. We added him. Excellent size inside. We need that size inside. And Dequan Ivery, a lot of people chase stars down the stretch. I kept challenging the staff to find me another nose guard in this class or next class. He's on the strength team, over a 400 pound bencher already, has leverage, can bend. He wanted to be a Hurricane.
Q: Talk about the three Palm Beach kids.
Golden: It's great to have those guys and certainly (Jawand) Blue. It's great to have those guys join us. Angelo (Jean-Louis) had a great week at Under Armour. All the coaches said `Who is this kid?' He did a great job up there. Gabe Terry is one of those guys, finished runner up in wrestling in his weight class, has a 3.6 (GPA) and the tape that he had. A beautiful young man, had a chance to visit with him during the season. He'll play SAM for us. Jawand is a late addition for us today not because of his talent but because of scholarships that were promised before we got to him. He communicated with us down the stretch. We're grateful that he decided to join us. He'll help us at linebacker. and Robert Lockhart I think is going to be a really good player. He'll be with us in May. He brings us length. That's a really good group in an area we haven't done great in. We're very active there.
Q: Is Jean-Louis a receiver?
Golden: I think so. He also plays a little defensive back, but I think receiver.
Q: DB and WR, you addressed those in this class.
Golden: We're really thrilled. Every year you're going to have to recruit corners. But our focus this year has to go to safety now that we've addressed corners. Deon Bush and Tracy and Nate Dortch and Larry Hope and Vernon Davis - just a really good group. And Rayshawn Jenkins could play safety or wideout or running back if we wanted him to. (Ladarius) Gunter and (Larry) Hope are here now, so that will get us going. Hope is here as of last night. And we addressed both depth and talent at wide receiver.
Q: How did you address the possibility of NCAA sanctions with recruits?
Golden: We were honest with them. They understood we weren't responsible for it, but we are responsible enough to fix it. They know what we're all about. Since the Ohio State deal they know there's a shift in the NCAA in terms of going against the perpetrators; I think they'll do that. Our staff wasn't here and 93, 94 percent of the players weren't here. We served a big penalty last year, gave up a bowl game, got the rug pulled out from under us with the football team eight, nine days before the first game. We started 30 different guys on defense because of it. We've got a lot of that behind us and are moving forward.
Q: How important is it to have such a big class?
Golden: The guys leaving early had a lot to do with it. You can't take 40 guys. If we didn't have such a small year a year ago we couldn't have counted anybody back. We're stuck at 25; for guys to leave early, it was the worst possible year for guys to leave early because we're capped at 25. So at our very best we'll play at 80 (scholarship players) this year.
Q: What do you mean when you mentioned inferiority complex?
Golden: Are we not supposed to beat Alabama, Florida, Florida State down here? Five rings in that office down the hall … that's what we're trying to get back to. Add those guys together they don't have five rings. Let's be proud of who we are. We're not a large state institution. We're a private institution. We have everything you could want in a college town coupled with anything you can want from a cultural aspect of a city. Plus an education, 20 students in a classroom, small campus setting. That's hard to beat. We have to start thinking like we're the University of Miami again.
Q: Talk about the QBs you signed and David Thompson may be playing baseball?
Golden: That's David's choice. We want him to play football for us. He's going to help both programs out, is a tremendous young man. We'll see which way it goes. Coach (Jim) Morris and I have talked about how we'll manage it; we're both on the same page there. The wildcard is pro baseball, the draft. We'll see where that goes. Preston (Dewey) and Gray (Crow) are doing well. Those guys are doing a great job for us and we're really excited about them competing. I think we've improved that position.
Q: Was getting three quarterbacks important?
Golden: It was. You have to have five on campus. A year ago we were looking at having one quarterback if we didn't do something drastic. Now we have four. This time a year ago if we didn't get (Thomas) Finnie at the last second we would have had one cornerback on campus. We wound up with two, got one from Wake Forest, had to move a running back. The symmetry wasn't good.
Q: If David Thompson doesn't play pro ball, how would it work out with baseball? He would miss spring practice?
Golden: Yes. It would be the young man's choice whether or not he practices. He's not a pitcher; that would be hard to manage. He's an infielder, so that won't be as difficult as if he's throwing the ball for us, then pitching for them. It's going to be the young man's discretion.
Q: Football players aren't running track now?
Golden: The only one I know is Brandon McGee. Brandon came to me after speaking with his brother, decided he wants to focus on football. I've always supported that. Clearly David is going to play baseball; (walkon) Nantambu Fentress has interest, is talking about playing baseball. If that's something they want to do, I support it. As we look to next year there's a couple of track guys we're going to try to sign; I can't say names.
Q: It was important having nine guys enroll early?
Golden: It was important. As it stands we'll have four wide receivers with us all of spring, which is a low number. Having those nine guys come in; we have more corners now that can practice. That's going to help.
Q: You already had a junior day.
Golden: We had a great opportunity and wanted to seize that. We're much further along. I know the high schools now, the high school coaches. Coaches have done a really good job getting prospects down. That's how long it takes to get caught up. Some of the guys that are being recruited now were being recruited two or three years by other staffs. It's been grueling. They've done a really good job of getting this back so we're on equal footing, know where the prospects are and we're getting kids on campus.
Q: How did you manage to hold onto so many commitments?
Golden: Head coaches generally aren't out (on the road) every day. I was out every week. I went out every week, Monday through Thursday since the BC game. That ended up six weeks. That was hard. Even as a recruiting coach there's a night where you're off the road. I didn't have that this year as a head coach. I told the guys to grind me up, take me everywhere. They did. I can't thank alumni, fans enough in terms of getting us around, private planes, things we couldn't do commercially. So (the) support we had brought it all together.
Q: Do you scale back the expectations for a guy like Duke Johnson given his hype?
Golden: Duke is a good player. Mike James and Eduardo (Clements) are not going to roll over. They're going to compete. Dallas Crawford is going to give us a run there too.
Q: Any other moves beside Dallas to RB?
Golden: Not right now. There might be, but we're pretty squared away right now.
Q: Why Dallas to running back?
Golden: Dallas was a wildcat quarterback, (in high school). We ran him on scout team, will take a look at him (at running back) in the spring. We can always move him back to DB.
Q: You said earlier you were absolutely crushed in recruiting?
Golden: There was a lot of negative recruiting. We don't have a lot of Achilles' heels. They saw a soft spot and they took it, went after it. Guys took a shot at it. They did. It's okay. Get your licks in now. That's how I feel.
Q: When you get negative recruiting, hear who is doing it, how do you handle that when you see those coaches later on?
Golden: We take the high road. We try to deal with the facts. We're proud of who we are, our lineage, the type of institution we have. We take the high road, try to have integrity, class. We look at it like we have a lot more respect for the parents than to do that - here's our graduation rate, guys in the NFL, average class size, what it costs to go to our school. We lay it out, let them decide. To negative recruit, I don't want to be associated with it.
Q: What do you think about your DE's in this class?
Golden: Jelani (Hamilton) is going to be a really good player for us, a big, powerful end. It's a good group. Add them to what we have on campus already and we'll let them all compete. We're building depth. We have a long way to go. I don't look at it like `this is it.' I don't want to be a one-hit wonder. We want to build a program. This is how we recruit, how we operate and will continue to operate. We've made a lot of progress, have a long way to go.
Q: You have some versatile recruits.
Golden: Vernon (Davis) can play corner, is a great kick and punt returner. Who is to say he can't play slot in games for us? Rayshawn Jenkins is the same way. Jean-Louis was mentioned earlier. I don't think there's any question there's some versatility. Our job is going to be to put the team together.
Q: How bad did the negative recruiting get/
Golden: At times it can enter in the realm of vicious. I heard that happened today. You give them enough rope, they hang themselves - let them say all those nasty things. At the end of the day when you're in the pressure cooker, how you react in front of recruits and their parents says a lot about you and the program. You lose kids, we wish them good luck.
Q: Is tight end a concern?
Golden: We're getting to work on it right now, the 2013 class.
"It's a class that we're real proud of."
Here's what else Golden was talking about:
Q: How many questions did you get from recruits and their families about probation? Were they worried?
Golden: I think so. There were a lot of kids that wanted to go (here). The thing about Duke Johnson, Malcolm Lewis, Herb Waters, they understand the University of Miami. For Duke - not only did he always want to play at the University of Miami, but he wants to be better than the guys in this building. He understands what it means to be a Miami Hurricane. And the guys that joined us late really understood what our core values are, gave us time to establish who we are. How we reacted to those allegation (helped with) Tyriq McCord, Robert Lockhart, certainly Tracy Howard, Dequan Ivery, Deon Bush, all those guys … a lot of guys that believed in us as people and coaches.
Q: Why do you say it's been the toughest job you've had these last weeks?
Golden: It's been a grueling year. We've been through a lot. The suspensions, distractions, lack of continuity if you will. And then we took the bowl game (ban) so we can move forward so we can put that behind us. So we've already encountered a lot. And we have to go out and compete. The thing I'm really proud of - we have a coaching staff, a program that tries to really on a daily basis work with class, with integrity, with honesty. We conducted ourselves like that throughout the recruiting process. I won't sit here and tell you we didn't get absolutely crushed by opponents (with negative recruiting), and we fought back. Our coaches did a great job, and our student-athletes did an even better job when they hosted kids making sure they knew what it was all about.
Q: How much help did you get from guys that were locked in as commitments recruiting other kids?
Golden: It's a great point. I would say not only did they do a great job, but our young people did a great job. The Chickillos Perrimans, Grimble, Dorsett, Rashawn Scott did a tremendous job. Having nine guys in mid year was big down the stretch because they went from recruits to student-athletes and they said what's happening in recruiting is happening every day (at UM). When those things are congruent you can have a great class. If we're getting the type of kids were' looking for, tough, disciplined, smart, we're going to be a really good football program.
Q: Who might play right away, start right away?
Golden: I think I answered the question in here the day after the last game. What's your needs? Our needs didn't change. In a lot of ways our needs became more dire when guys declared for the NFL. We got a lot of DBs, most particularly corner. The defensive ends will have to come in and compete. There could be someone in that group. The wide receiver position is the same way. Those guys are going to have to come and compete. Clearly the linebackers will have something to say, at running back we're not deep, the quarterbacks. Fifty of the 80 guys we line up with will be first or second year players. We're going to be a young team.
Q: Tracy Howard said before he visited here he had no plans of coming to Miami, was Florida all the way. When did you think he might actually come?
Golden: The last couple of weeks we started to build some momentum; he was listening more, and we had an opportunity. When we went in the home. I left out of there, felt good. I sensed something about the young man. This is hard for me to say - so many of you will say `coach is a good recruiter' - I'm not a salesman. We are who we are. If that's congruent with what's important to your family you can call me a salesman if you want. If you're going to sleep and play video games all day, this isn't the school for you. We're going to teach you life skills. The more we talked to Tracy about academics, core values, the more his family understood. They understood the football side, but for (his parents), they were looking for someone who would carry on what they already developed in the young man.
Q: How much do you sell UM vs. selling Al Golden?
Golden: We have a great product. This goes all the way back. When you have an athletic administration that will support as much as we're getting, when you have that kind of support it's hard to beat. We're a top 40 institution. We're the No. 1 school in the State of Florida, we've played for the most national titles. I don't know why we have to have an inferiority complex down here. We did a good job holding serve in Broward and Dade; we're going to be tough to beat (here). It's time we start acting like Miami Hurricanes. We beat some good teams down here (in recruiting); we have to get back to doing that on the field and we will.
Q: How do you project where a kid might be two or three years from now as a player?
Golden: That's why it's important to evaluate through their senior year. Character has a lot to do with it. There's very few kids out there that are so talented they don't have to adhere to a process, can overcome (not working hard). The other thing is the camp. Our guys, if they're under the radar guys, we really don't care. They came to the camp - Jake O'Donnell and Dwayne Hoilett come to mind. I didn't care if either one of them had any offers. What we saw at camp with their speed, the tenacity they exhibited. Those are guys we need to get in the program. Herb Waters is another guy who came to camp and did a good job. We're not worried about the stars. We're grateful we have the recognition that goes along with having a highly ranked class.
Q: You have a good group of kids from the west coast of Florida.
Golden: We've made a lot of progress in a short period of time. We had to do better there. Some we visited, just lost - we need to be in that mix in Palm Beach, the Space Coast, Treasure Coast, Orlando. We were much better in those areas. The talent in this state is unbelievable. We're very fortunate to not only have a national brand like the University of Miami, but we have a great recruiting base here in South Florida yet we have national appeal. We got a great player out of Atlanta, an excellent player from Louisiana, the Philly area. We'll continue to do that. We're very fortunate in the talent base we have here.
Q: Talk about Dequan Ivery and Jacoby Briscoe.
Golden: No. 1, Briscoe, the University of Miami was always a dream school for him. He always wanted to go to the University of Miami. I couldn't believe his size. He had an incredible playoff run. I had a chance to meet him, get to know him. We added him. Excellent size inside. We need that size inside. And Dequan Ivery, a lot of people chase stars down the stretch. I kept challenging the staff to find me another nose guard in this class or next class. He's on the strength team, over a 400 pound bencher already, has leverage, can bend. He wanted to be a Hurricane.
Q: Talk about the three Palm Beach kids.
Golden: It's great to have those guys and certainly (Jawand) Blue. It's great to have those guys join us. Angelo (Jean-Louis) had a great week at Under Armour. All the coaches said `Who is this kid?' He did a great job up there. Gabe Terry is one of those guys, finished runner up in wrestling in his weight class, has a 3.6 (GPA) and the tape that he had. A beautiful young man, had a chance to visit with him during the season. He'll play SAM for us. Jawand is a late addition for us today not because of his talent but because of scholarships that were promised before we got to him. He communicated with us down the stretch. We're grateful that he decided to join us. He'll help us at linebacker. and Robert Lockhart I think is going to be a really good player. He'll be with us in May. He brings us length. That's a really good group in an area we haven't done great in. We're very active there.
Q: Is Jean-Louis a receiver?
Golden: I think so. He also plays a little defensive back, but I think receiver.
Q: DB and WR, you addressed those in this class.
Golden: We're really thrilled. Every year you're going to have to recruit corners. But our focus this year has to go to safety now that we've addressed corners. Deon Bush and Tracy and Nate Dortch and Larry Hope and Vernon Davis - just a really good group. And Rayshawn Jenkins could play safety or wideout or running back if we wanted him to. (Ladarius) Gunter and (Larry) Hope are here now, so that will get us going. Hope is here as of last night. And we addressed both depth and talent at wide receiver.
Q: How did you address the possibility of NCAA sanctions with recruits?
Golden: We were honest with them. They understood we weren't responsible for it, but we are responsible enough to fix it. They know what we're all about. Since the Ohio State deal they know there's a shift in the NCAA in terms of going against the perpetrators; I think they'll do that. Our staff wasn't here and 93, 94 percent of the players weren't here. We served a big penalty last year, gave up a bowl game, got the rug pulled out from under us with the football team eight, nine days before the first game. We started 30 different guys on defense because of it. We've got a lot of that behind us and are moving forward.
Q: How important is it to have such a big class?
Golden: The guys leaving early had a lot to do with it. You can't take 40 guys. If we didn't have such a small year a year ago we couldn't have counted anybody back. We're stuck at 25; for guys to leave early, it was the worst possible year for guys to leave early because we're capped at 25. So at our very best we'll play at 80 (scholarship players) this year.
Q: What do you mean when you mentioned inferiority complex?
Golden: Are we not supposed to beat Alabama, Florida, Florida State down here? Five rings in that office down the hall … that's what we're trying to get back to. Add those guys together they don't have five rings. Let's be proud of who we are. We're not a large state institution. We're a private institution. We have everything you could want in a college town coupled with anything you can want from a cultural aspect of a city. Plus an education, 20 students in a classroom, small campus setting. That's hard to beat. We have to start thinking like we're the University of Miami again.
Q: Talk about the QBs you signed and David Thompson may be playing baseball?
Golden: That's David's choice. We want him to play football for us. He's going to help both programs out, is a tremendous young man. We'll see which way it goes. Coach (Jim) Morris and I have talked about how we'll manage it; we're both on the same page there. The wildcard is pro baseball, the draft. We'll see where that goes. Preston (Dewey) and Gray (Crow) are doing well. Those guys are doing a great job for us and we're really excited about them competing. I think we've improved that position.
Q: Was getting three quarterbacks important?
Golden: It was. You have to have five on campus. A year ago we were looking at having one quarterback if we didn't do something drastic. Now we have four. This time a year ago if we didn't get (Thomas) Finnie at the last second we would have had one cornerback on campus. We wound up with two, got one from Wake Forest, had to move a running back. The symmetry wasn't good.
Q: If David Thompson doesn't play pro ball, how would it work out with baseball? He would miss spring practice?
Golden: Yes. It would be the young man's choice whether or not he practices. He's not a pitcher; that would be hard to manage. He's an infielder, so that won't be as difficult as if he's throwing the ball for us, then pitching for them. It's going to be the young man's discretion.
Q: Football players aren't running track now?
Golden: The only one I know is Brandon McGee. Brandon came to me after speaking with his brother, decided he wants to focus on football. I've always supported that. Clearly David is going to play baseball; (walkon) Nantambu Fentress has interest, is talking about playing baseball. If that's something they want to do, I support it. As we look to next year there's a couple of track guys we're going to try to sign; I can't say names.
Q: It was important having nine guys enroll early?
Golden: It was important. As it stands we'll have four wide receivers with us all of spring, which is a low number. Having those nine guys come in; we have more corners now that can practice. That's going to help.
Q: You already had a junior day.
Golden: We had a great opportunity and wanted to seize that. We're much further along. I know the high schools now, the high school coaches. Coaches have done a really good job getting prospects down. That's how long it takes to get caught up. Some of the guys that are being recruited now were being recruited two or three years by other staffs. It's been grueling. They've done a really good job of getting this back so we're on equal footing, know where the prospects are and we're getting kids on campus.
Q: How did you manage to hold onto so many commitments?
Golden: Head coaches generally aren't out (on the road) every day. I was out every week. I went out every week, Monday through Thursday since the BC game. That ended up six weeks. That was hard. Even as a recruiting coach there's a night where you're off the road. I didn't have that this year as a head coach. I told the guys to grind me up, take me everywhere. They did. I can't thank alumni, fans enough in terms of getting us around, private planes, things we couldn't do commercially. So (the) support we had brought it all together.
Q: Do you scale back the expectations for a guy like Duke Johnson given his hype?
Golden: Duke is a good player. Mike James and Eduardo (Clements) are not going to roll over. They're going to compete. Dallas Crawford is going to give us a run there too.
Q: Any other moves beside Dallas to RB?
Golden: Not right now. There might be, but we're pretty squared away right now.
Q: Why Dallas to running back?
Golden: Dallas was a wildcat quarterback, (in high school). We ran him on scout team, will take a look at him (at running back) in the spring. We can always move him back to DB.
Q: You said earlier you were absolutely crushed in recruiting?
Golden: There was a lot of negative recruiting. We don't have a lot of Achilles' heels. They saw a soft spot and they took it, went after it. Guys took a shot at it. They did. It's okay. Get your licks in now. That's how I feel.
Q: When you get negative recruiting, hear who is doing it, how do you handle that when you see those coaches later on?
Golden: We take the high road. We try to deal with the facts. We're proud of who we are, our lineage, the type of institution we have. We take the high road, try to have integrity, class. We look at it like we have a lot more respect for the parents than to do that - here's our graduation rate, guys in the NFL, average class size, what it costs to go to our school. We lay it out, let them decide. To negative recruit, I don't want to be associated with it.
Q: What do you think about your DE's in this class?
Golden: Jelani (Hamilton) is going to be a really good player for us, a big, powerful end. It's a good group. Add them to what we have on campus already and we'll let them all compete. We're building depth. We have a long way to go. I don't look at it like `this is it.' I don't want to be a one-hit wonder. We want to build a program. This is how we recruit, how we operate and will continue to operate. We've made a lot of progress, have a long way to go.
Q: You have some versatile recruits.
Golden: Vernon (Davis) can play corner, is a great kick and punt returner. Who is to say he can't play slot in games for us? Rayshawn Jenkins is the same way. Jean-Louis was mentioned earlier. I don't think there's any question there's some versatility. Our job is going to be to put the team together.
Q: How bad did the negative recruiting get/
Golden: At times it can enter in the realm of vicious. I heard that happened today. You give them enough rope, they hang themselves - let them say all those nasty things. At the end of the day when you're in the pressure cooker, how you react in front of recruits and their parents says a lot about you and the program. You lose kids, we wish them good luck.
Q: Is tight end a concern?
Golden: We're getting to work on it right now, the 2013 class.
