Feb. 4, 2004

Head Coach Lou Holtz Signing Day Press Conference Quotes
February 4, 2004

(on the 2004 class)
“Most recruiting analysts put us in the top 25 nationally. We’ll see what happens, but we have the potential to be awfully good. We did a good job of balancing our needs at various positions. This class is as good of an academic class as we have had and it probably has the most personality.”

(on the recruiting process)
“There was a lot of negative recruiting by other schools and negative press, but we went out and sold the positives of this university. We have a lot to offer here, including a beautiful city and an excellent university. Our coaches did a great job of selling that.”

(on the defensive line)
“Defensive line is a critical position. In this day and age you need to be able to get a pass rush from four people and also have some ‘anchors’ on the defensive line. We are very blessed to have signed the caliber of defensive line that we did.”

“Most recruiting analysts put us in the top 25 nationally. We’ll see what happens, but we have the potential to be awfully good. We did a good job of balancing our needs at various positions. This class is as good of an academic class as we have had and it probably has the most personality.” -Lou Holtz

(on the impact of the signees)
“We have group of people all around who could make a strong impact in a short period. I do not like to get too optimistic or single any one at this time. Recruiting analysts recognize the talent that we have coming in.”

(on Sidney Rice’s basketball career)
“He really impressed me as a person and an athlete. He has size, athleticism and is wonderful young man and very mature. We have high hopes for him. As far as basketball goes, he is an excellent player and has a desire to play both here. We will give him that opportunity to do that as long as his academics can handle that and in high school he has shown that he can.”

(on moving into the next phase of the season)
“Now that signing day is behind us we can move on into our winter workouts and then into spring practice. Recruiting is your focal point through signing day and now we move into a different segment of the season. We plan to start spring practice on March 20 and end on April 17.”

(on the new coaches involvement in recruiting)
“Our new coaches jumped in and did an excellent job recruiting. They had great enthusiasm and made a very positive impact. It was a team effort and the new coaches did a tremendous job with coordinating things.”

(on current players and their injuries)
“Eric Stroman had foot surgery around Christmas break. Kris Mick had surgery and will miss spring practice. Robert Pavlovic broke his foot and will miss spring practice. Chad Walker is questionable to play again during his eligibility. We’ll have to wait and see on Preston Thorne and Josh Malloy. Jonathan Alston is still battling knee problems, but is not scheduled for any surgery.”