This isn't the entire press conference transcribed, but it's pretty close...
On Riley Lees potentially playing QB: No, not at all, no. Maybe throwing the ball back to the quarterbacks. We recruited Riley as a wide receiver, we were very clear to him early on in the process. Dynamic athlete, explosive athlete. Not only a great football player, but great multiple sports, great family. Excited about what Riley’s going to bring. I like all three of those wideouts… That’s one of the areas where we need to add competitive depth. We feel good about the two classes prior to this coming in. That’s an area we definitely need to improve on our squad, and I think these three guys – Riley and Ben and Ramaud – I think add really good, solid competitive depth.
On the benefit of the bowl game: Absolutely. First, having 19 guys already committed, I’d love to say that nobody else (other programs) tried to call them and still recruit them during their senior year (implied: they did)…
More important you look to the future. We already have four guys committed for the 2017 class. I think it speaks to where we’re at and where we’re going.
Sweating out hanging onto commits until NSD: There’s a little bit more light shed on the process now (than when he was recruited)…
We’ve been pretty consistent for over a decade on how we approach this process. We’ve been as transparent as we can, really looking for young men that fit our program academically and socially, with the decisions they make… And young men that are gonna come here and compete to win a Big Ten championship.
The way the system is has changed a little bit. The way it’s covered has changed a lot.
The way we recruit guys is pretty simple. When we offer you a scholarship, it’s commitable scholarship offer. If you decide to commit, we’re going to take your commitment unless you change your academic character, your social character. We’re not going to change from that. That’s the way we philosophically believe in going about it.
If you wanna look somewhere else, we’re going to look somewhere else. You’ve seen very minimal decommitments from our program in over a decade. I think you build a relationship on trust, you build on honesty. Each family and each process with each young man is unique, but we have a philosophy that fits who we are and what we believe as a program.
On players’ parents: Any indication of their future success comes from home.
(About player chat group) The’ve been in constant communication as a group of young men. And the Parents have created a Facebook page for each other. It’s nuts. It’s really great to see.
Increasingly larger part of the process for us is evaluating the parents. It’s a big part of the evaluation.
When we talk about our fit, were evaluating the parents too. And if the parents don’t fit, then we might punt on the player and not end up offering a scholarship. That has changed over a decade. Ten years ago, I’m not sure it was as big a role. Now it’s a big part of it.
We've had very little attrition, if any.
On TV coverage: (Just a couple snippets) Awareness level of our program is an all-time high. I think BTN is a big part of that. BTN is phenomenal for Northwestern football (especially outside the Midwest, in Texas in particular).
On recruiting Illinois: (Just a couple snippets) I think we’re a dominant recruiting power locally for the kids who fit our program. Unfortunately, some kids don’t fit our program. That is what it is.
On whether bowls really make a big impact on recruiting: (Says focus with media is on a game, a play) Recruits get caught up in how a program can make a difference in my life.
What kind of fit does a program make for me in my undergraduate experience, what are my opportunities for professional growth and individual growth while I’m there, what are my opportunities to compete and contribute and how do I fit the schemes, how do I fit the system, what kind of relationship do I have with the coaches, with the players, most importantly…How do I look at the next 10, 15, 20, years of my life.
To a recruit I don’t really think they care (about a bowl, a play). They look at do I fit, and how I’m going ot be developed and grow.
Young people that fit our program don’t get caught up in that…they look at the bigger picture.
One of my favorite lines, on the increased media attention on NSD: There will be no cameras or cakes at our workouts on Monday morning.
On recruiting tough, physical OL: I think there’s gotta be a toughness, period, with anybody we recruit. We play with a grit as a squad anyways, and that’s a big part of our evaluation. You look at our three games this year when we wound up on the short end, we lost the LOS. All three games. Ten games, we won it. That’s the Big Ten, and that’s who you play when you’re at Northwestern.
So we’ve gotta always improve our competitive depth there, we’ve got to improve our size. Cam’s a big man, 6-4, 6-5, 270 right now…he’s had a good offseason and has put on good size. Jesse is a young man with I think a huge ceiling. Originally from Canada, played prep school ball. He’s going to get a lot stronger and he’s already got really good size, 280 pounds. Nik is a guy who’s down a little big in weight right now but that’s because he’s one of the top wrestlers int eh state of Ohio. You want to talk aobut touchness, you have to look no further than Nik. And Gunnar, you know, Gunnar’s a massize man. He’s all of 6-6 and I think closer to 290 now… Great size there with all four, great functional strength.
And now it’s gonna come back to being the biggest guy on the line and playing against 205-pound defensive line and playing against a D-Line…those guys will find out where they’re at right away when they get to go compete against our D-line at Camp Kenosha this summer.
On recruiting Jango at IMG: I really like Jango’s video from last season, junior year. I thought he was active, I though there were some areas he was going to improve just because he was a year older. But…Paddy and Travis played with the No. 1 high school team in the country. I put a lot of stock in that. You go undefeated in Texas high school football , playing the best defense, you go down to Katy and they’ll tell you it’s the best defense that Katy High School’s ever had. We’re bringing the top linebacker and safety to Evanston, I get really excited about that. But a specific school like IMG, I think Jango was already in the boat before he went down there. He got great competition every day in practice. It’s a unique situation (at IMG). We’ll see how that progresses. I know it’s not the most liked high school program in the country by high school coaches. But Kevin Wright and I have a great relationship.
I’m really excited to have Jango join our program. He’s a terrific young man. He’s got a big ceiling, too. He’s gonna get bigger, he’s gonna get stronger.
On Riley Lees potentially playing QB: No, not at all, no. Maybe throwing the ball back to the quarterbacks. We recruited Riley as a wide receiver, we were very clear to him early on in the process. Dynamic athlete, explosive athlete. Not only a great football player, but great multiple sports, great family. Excited about what Riley’s going to bring. I like all three of those wideouts… That’s one of the areas where we need to add competitive depth. We feel good about the two classes prior to this coming in. That’s an area we definitely need to improve on our squad, and I think these three guys – Riley and Ben and Ramaud – I think add really good, solid competitive depth.
On the benefit of the bowl game: Absolutely. First, having 19 guys already committed, I’d love to say that nobody else (other programs) tried to call them and still recruit them during their senior year (implied: they did)…
More important you look to the future. We already have four guys committed for the 2017 class. I think it speaks to where we’re at and where we’re going.
Sweating out hanging onto commits until NSD: There’s a little bit more light shed on the process now (than when he was recruited)…
We’ve been pretty consistent for over a decade on how we approach this process. We’ve been as transparent as we can, really looking for young men that fit our program academically and socially, with the decisions they make… And young men that are gonna come here and compete to win a Big Ten championship.
The way the system is has changed a little bit. The way it’s covered has changed a lot.
The way we recruit guys is pretty simple. When we offer you a scholarship, it’s commitable scholarship offer. If you decide to commit, we’re going to take your commitment unless you change your academic character, your social character. We’re not going to change from that. That’s the way we philosophically believe in going about it.
If you wanna look somewhere else, we’re going to look somewhere else. You’ve seen very minimal decommitments from our program in over a decade. I think you build a relationship on trust, you build on honesty. Each family and each process with each young man is unique, but we have a philosophy that fits who we are and what we believe as a program.
On players’ parents: Any indication of their future success comes from home.
(About player chat group) The’ve been in constant communication as a group of young men. And the Parents have created a Facebook page for each other. It’s nuts. It’s really great to see.
Increasingly larger part of the process for us is evaluating the parents. It’s a big part of the evaluation.
When we talk about our fit, were evaluating the parents too. And if the parents don’t fit, then we might punt on the player and not end up offering a scholarship. That has changed over a decade. Ten years ago, I’m not sure it was as big a role. Now it’s a big part of it.
We've had very little attrition, if any.
On TV coverage: (Just a couple snippets) Awareness level of our program is an all-time high. I think BTN is a big part of that. BTN is phenomenal for Northwestern football (especially outside the Midwest, in Texas in particular).
On recruiting Illinois: (Just a couple snippets) I think we’re a dominant recruiting power locally for the kids who fit our program. Unfortunately, some kids don’t fit our program. That is what it is.
On whether bowls really make a big impact on recruiting: (Says focus with media is on a game, a play) Recruits get caught up in how a program can make a difference in my life.
What kind of fit does a program make for me in my undergraduate experience, what are my opportunities for professional growth and individual growth while I’m there, what are my opportunities to compete and contribute and how do I fit the schemes, how do I fit the system, what kind of relationship do I have with the coaches, with the players, most importantly…How do I look at the next 10, 15, 20, years of my life.
To a recruit I don’t really think they care (about a bowl, a play). They look at do I fit, and how I’m going ot be developed and grow.
Young people that fit our program don’t get caught up in that…they look at the bigger picture.
One of my favorite lines, on the increased media attention on NSD: There will be no cameras or cakes at our workouts on Monday morning.
On recruiting tough, physical OL: I think there’s gotta be a toughness, period, with anybody we recruit. We play with a grit as a squad anyways, and that’s a big part of our evaluation. You look at our three games this year when we wound up on the short end, we lost the LOS. All three games. Ten games, we won it. That’s the Big Ten, and that’s who you play when you’re at Northwestern.
So we’ve gotta always improve our competitive depth there, we’ve got to improve our size. Cam’s a big man, 6-4, 6-5, 270 right now…he’s had a good offseason and has put on good size. Jesse is a young man with I think a huge ceiling. Originally from Canada, played prep school ball. He’s going to get a lot stronger and he’s already got really good size, 280 pounds. Nik is a guy who’s down a little big in weight right now but that’s because he’s one of the top wrestlers int eh state of Ohio. You want to talk aobut touchness, you have to look no further than Nik. And Gunnar, you know, Gunnar’s a massize man. He’s all of 6-6 and I think closer to 290 now… Great size there with all four, great functional strength.
And now it’s gonna come back to being the biggest guy on the line and playing against 205-pound defensive line and playing against a D-Line…those guys will find out where they’re at right away when they get to go compete against our D-line at Camp Kenosha this summer.
On recruiting Jango at IMG: I really like Jango’s video from last season, junior year. I thought he was active, I though there were some areas he was going to improve just because he was a year older. But…Paddy and Travis played with the No. 1 high school team in the country. I put a lot of stock in that. You go undefeated in Texas high school football , playing the best defense, you go down to Katy and they’ll tell you it’s the best defense that Katy High School’s ever had. We’re bringing the top linebacker and safety to Evanston, I get really excited about that. But a specific school like IMG, I think Jango was already in the boat before he went down there. He got great competition every day in practice. It’s a unique situation (at IMG). We’ll see how that progresses. I know it’s not the most liked high school program in the country by high school coaches. But Kevin Wright and I have a great relationship.
I’m really excited to have Jango join our program. He’s a terrific young man. He’s got a big ceiling, too. He’s gonna get bigger, he’s gonna get stronger.
