Coach Willie Taggart Signing Day Press Conference

Q1. Can you talk about the overall scope of the class and the way things turned out, if you got the guys that you wanted?

A1. I'm very exciting about our class. We got everybody we wanted and everyone that wanted to be here, which is the beauty of it. As coaches, you go out and set a vision of what you want and to go out an accomplish those things is really gratifying. We filled a lot of needs in this class.

Q2. Did you fill some immediate needs with guys that can come in and help you now?

A2. We're going to give those guys an opportunity just like we gave the guys last year an opportunity to come in and compete and try to earn a spot on the team. I think these kids are capable of doing those things. We have a very talented recruiting class and each one of those guys are going to have an opportunity to compete for a starting job.

Q3. You had such a short window last year when you came in to go through this process, how much different was it and how much better was it for you this year?

A3. It was a lot better because if you look at the 23 high school kids that we recruited and got them to come on board, 19 were in our camp. And that's huge. It's so important to get guys in our camps so we as coaches can watch them and evaluate them ourselves rather than relying on someone else, so that was big for us.

Q4. Coach it looked like you put a premium on winning your backyard, the bay area. Twelve local guys that included Sarasota and Manatee, that was big for you?

A4. It was; you go back to day one. It's gratifying to go out and accomplish those things and to me that's how it has to be here at USF. We have to keep them here and develop those kids into great football players for us, which will ultimately make it a great program. Every year you're going to see the heart of our recruiting class is going to come from the bay area. Then we'll go out and get the arms, the legs, the ankles, the toes, and the feet, we'll get them all.

Q5. Coach can you talk about the challenges in the last 3, 4, 5, 14 hours trying to hold onto guys because there's constant pulls, there's constant calls, there's constant pressure from outside sources?

A5. I think that's the part of it that no one other than coaches realize. It's really competitive and that's the beauty of the process as well, getting a chance to go out and compete and keep these guys when you're competing against someone else. But, it is challenging because you're dealing with teenagers. You're dealing with guys that are trying to decide their future, something that is going to determine the rest of their lives and you never know what's going to happen. You never know what or who is going to influence that kid to go one way or another, but we were confident in our guys. Like I said, the guys that wanted to be here are and we had some guys fighting towards the end, which was great to see the kids hold on and really want to be a part of it. That gets you fired up as a coach to really want to coach those kids up when they really want to help turn this program around and that's what we need here is guys that feel that way about our program. They could have gone to a lot of other places but they chose to be here at the University of South Florida and spend their next 4-5 years in great weather, a great city, and build a great football program.

Q6. Did Vincent Jackson make you anxious coming down to the wire?

A6. No he didn't. Vincent and I talked and have had a great understanding and great relationship. I was very confident that Vincent Jackson was going to be a Bull.

Q7. Where do you see him projecting; defensive end or at linebacker?

A7. I think that is one of those things that we're going to have to see when he gets here. He's such a versatile player and a great athlete. We've seen him this year and he played linebacker, but he's also a kid. You look at his body and he has a chance to get bigger and can possibly play defensive end and be a rush end for us, but I think those are things we'll see once he gets here. He's a talented kid that will help our football team out.

Q7. I think people are curious about Quinton Flowers.  He's not rangy or a pocket passer like Mike White.

A7. Neither is Russell Wilson or Johnny (Manziel) Football. Those guys aren't rangy either but they're football players. They're tough, smart, and highly competitive people. That's what we're looking for and I think that's what you get out of Quinton Flowers is a tough, highly competitive, smart, athletic kid. I hope he's like Russell Wilson or Johnny Football. That's what we're banking on, him to be like those guys. 

Q9. Coach can you talk about the playmakers that you have coming in on offense, granted no one has taken a snap yet, it is all about potential, but you have some guys who are explosive that can make some plays and make some things happen, are you happy to have them?

A9. I am. They have not shown us anything in a USF uniform, but they've shown us enough on a football field in their videos that they can make plays. I think that's one reason we and other schools were recruiting these kids because they can make plays and they're competitive. That's something we need was more playmakers. You look at any team that is winning out there. They have a lot of playmakers and now we have more, but we have to develop those guys to be able to come in and make plays for us and they have to want to. They have to want to come in to make those plays and we have to give them the opportunity, which we will if you look at our track record.

Q10. As a former running backs coach, you didn't get a running back commit to come in until the last 10 days and then you got two of them, so what happened within these last two weeks?

A10. We put a hard court pressure on those guys. We wanted to make them understand that this was the place for them to be. We knew we had a chance, we always had a chance with them and we put the hard court press on them and they stuck with us. They became part of what they call themselves “The Dream Team” and they wanted to be here, which is important. They understand what we're doing schematically and what our vision as a football program is and they wanted to be a part of it. With D'Ernest (Johnson) he's kind of like Vincent Jackson, I had a great relationship with D'Ernest and I knew we had a great chance with him. I didn't sweat at all until today, making sure they all came in.

Q11. Speaking of those two running backs, their physical talents, what do they bring, and what do you like about them?

A11. What I like about both of them is that they're thick, solid kids. I mean some big backs. When I call them big backs I can only imagine how big they're going to get once they get here in our weight room. Both of them have great vision and really good feet, but they're strong kids. You watch them and they hardly ever get tackled by the first guy and you have to have a back that can break tackles, especially with the kind of football we want to play. They're not the small guys and it's not that we can't have them; you need small backs too, but have some bigger, athletic, faster guys who can go the distance as well.

Q12. You got a couple of big tackles kind of late in the process in (Benjamin) Knox and (Zach) Hudson. How big was that?

A12. That was huge. That was a need for us to get some tackles. We have two guys that are going to be seniors this year, so it was huge that we get some more not only from a depth standpoint but to bring some competition at that position. That was huge, and more importantly not only filling needs in this class, I think we're going to create a lot more competition on our football team which ultimately make us better.

Q13. Coach you kind of addressed the defensive back situation, you know at some point you need to stop the big game type players and you always need a guy like that who can stop them?

A13. Yes. You always need a playmaker. If you watch Devin (Abraham) all throughout the year all he did was make plays and likes scoring touchdowns on defense, which is pretty cool. Devin's a playmaker. You look at Tajee Fullwood from here in town. Josh Black is another one, but in the defensive secondary, Mazzi Wilkins, guys like that who can make plays and are long and rangy who can help us in the secondary. If you look at teams that we played, they play with a lot of receivers so you have to get guys who can cover those receivers, and not only cover but be physical in the run, and I think we have guys who can help us in those areas.                 

Q14. Coach talk about Jimmy Bayes?

A13. I think he's one of those kids the entire Bulls Nation is going to love his four or five years. Talk about a kid who's committed. I know you question a lot when kids say they're committed, but this kid understands we're a commitment and he's been with us from day one. He's been selling the USF football program from day one, never waivered, didn't take any other visits. He's been all Bulls. That's the commitment we need in this football program, guys like that. We appreciate Jimmy because not only was he committed, but he was getting other kids committed to us.  And Jimmy was the first letter to come in today, and I said, “What a coincidence!”  It's great to have someone like that in your program and it spreads. But you look at our other guys and a lot of them are like Jimmy. They're passionate.

Q14. What does it mean to be the highest rated class in the conference?

A14. I think that's big for our fans.  I think it's big to see some progress and for us to continue to make positive progress. That's what we have to constantly do and that's how it should be at USF, and that's the expectation. We said that from day one and we need to be that way. So it's good that we're holding up that part of the bargain and now we have to continue to build on that. I think that's part of building this football program back to where we need it to be. We have to get some really good football players in here and then you have to develop them, but we can't sit back and think we're going to rely on these freshmen to do it for us. We have to do a good job on developing the guys that are here with us now and help them become better football players.

Q15 Talk about recruiting players from winning high school programs

A 15I think that is huge. You look at our class and almost all of them come from winning programs.  Where we're at with our football program, I think you have to add guys that understand those ways, understand those principles, understand how to practice and do all those little things it takes to win, and have that attitude to win. I think that helps with us and the guys that are here. It helps the whole facilitation of getting everybody on the same page of having that winning mentality. I think that's really important in this class too.

Q16 Talk about tweeting Drake lyrics during the day and relating to the players

A16. That was pretty cool, huh? I think it's good. I think it is great to be able to relate to young people. I think that's all of our jobs as coaches, is to be able to relate to them in a lot of different ways. That was something that just came to me this morning and I said I want to do something a little different. I also thought I wanted to do something that would be cool for them. I got a lot of good feedback from those guys and I just think it's always great to relate to them. Plus, we've been there. We understand what they've been through. It's only right that we help them.

Q17. Talk about relating tweets to certain players

A17. Some of them were pretty tailored to some of them. There was the one on Marlon Mack and I said, “Somewhere between I want it and I got it.”  I wanted both of those guys, him and D'Ernest Johnson and I got them both. It's pretty cool.

Q18. Talk about relationship building within the football program

A18. It all goes back to work and being on the same page and having a plan. I don't think any of these things would happen without a plan, and I thought Paul (Gonella) did a good job of putting together a plan and our coaches did a great job of executing the plan. Our coaches went on the road and worked their tails off. It's not always easy to recruit after having the kind of year we had, but our guys did a great job of selling our university and working tirelessly to go out and get these kids to be a part of that. I'm up here talking about our program, but our coaches and administrative staff and our student workers that don't get a lot of credit, put in a lot of work to help make this happen. Everybody played a role in it. Some big, some little, but all of it was important. I think that's ultimately what it takes to put a class together like this. We didn't just do it by ourselves. I appreciate everyone that was a part of this and all of the Bulls fans that was a part of this – big time.

Q19. Talk about recruiting from junior college ranks

A19. I think if we recruit from junior college, it is out of necessity. It's guys that come in and we think need to help us now. I think when you see us do that, that's a big reason why we're doing it. But ,I think every year you're going to see the majority of our class come from high school. I think that's how you build a football program and that's how we're going to do it here.

Q20. Talk about following up on the recruits

A20. You heard me say before, recruiting is like brushing your teeth and combing your hair.  As soon as you stop, you start to look bad. Just because it's signing day does not mean it's over. We have to do a good job of staying on these kids. Some kids will do a great job up until Signing Day like that's graduation. Signing Day is not graduation. That's a big day for your accomplishment, but you have to finish strong and that's what we're looking for in our kids. That's part of our jobs too though, as coaches, is to stay on those kids to make sure he's holding up his part of the bargain. That's part of recruiting and that's part of it that doesn't stop, and none of them are eligible now until the clearinghouse makes them eligible, and that's at the end of the year. So we all have to do a great job to make sure these kids finish like they're supposed to.

Q21. Do you plan on any more signees?

A21. I think we're done. You never know. I'm pretty happy, I hope we're done. I'm tired. I have some things to do today. I have to speak tomorrow in Bradenton. It doesn't stop, baby. You have to keep going! That's how it has to be. I'm enjoying this right now. It's a great day for us. Good things happening. Positive vibe going on and it's something we need. We have to continue building off of it. It's great to get back out and talk about our football program. I think it's great to see our fan base get excited. It's something that they need and that they want, and we need to continue that excitement.

Q22. What is your comfort level this year vs. last year?

A22. I'm pretty comfortable with everything now. I understand the way things go around here and I understand our players better around here. I think recruiting as a result of us being here a whole year and knowing exactly what we want and going after those guys early and building relationships early. I think all of that is a big part of us being here for awhile. I expect continued success because of that, because of us being around. Our players understand that, our coaches understand each other, but more importantly everyone in the organization coming together, depending on each other, trusting each other, and having each other's back. That's a big part of what we're going through now, and when we get that, watch out!