Opening Statement
First of all I apologize again to Gamecock fans for our bowl game. I compliment our coaches for overcoming it in recruiting. Our coaches did a super job of coming out and spreading the world of what we hope to do here the next four or five years. This is a solid recruiting class, it really is, highlighted by the two Parade All-Americans from the state of South Carolina in Marcus Lattimore and Kelsey Quarles. They’re the only two players from our state that made it, and fortunately they’re both coming to South Carolina.

On signing South Carolinas two Parade All-Americans
Jay Graham did a super job and Brad Lawing in recruiting these two players. I’d be remised if I didn’t compliment Eric Wolford. Although he’s long gone, he got these guys committed early, these offensive linemen – six of them. Shawn Elliott did a super job of keeping them here. We think it really is a good strong group of offensive linemen that will really help us. We’re fired up about that. We probably had a few more offensive players this year than defensive. We didn’t lose many defensive guys from last year’s team. We’ll sort of accentuate the defense next year.

On quarterbacks
(We signed a ) couple good quarterback prospects in Connor Shaw and Dylan Thompson. It’s a good solid group. Probably several of them will have a good chance to play some this coming year. Most of them should contribute in the near future for us.

On an improved emphasis in the running game after signing Marcus Lattimore
Hopefully. We tried to emphasis the running game a bit last year. Again our running game was hurt a lot by sacks and snaps over the quarterback’s head. Kenny Miles actually averaged 5.4 (yards) a carry. We weren’t quite as terrible as the stats ended up. We know we have to run the ball more and we know Marcus Lattimore will get an opportunity to run it. He’ll be here in June. He’ll certainly be able to learn the offense by then. He’ll have an opportunity to even start. We’ll see how it goes in preseason practice.

On what signing a player like Marcus Lattimore says to the current running backs
It says you have an opportunity to start also. The same thing it would say to a quarterback, wide receiver or whatever. Our job is to recruit the best players available to help our team. Every year if you become a starter it doesn’t mean you’re a starter forever. You have to keep earning it year after year. Competition is always good. We need competition for playing time here at a lot of positions.

On Marcus Lattimore’s family
Wonderful family. Yolanda is a very warm, caring person. She’s the type that after we drove up (to his house) on that snowy, rainy day that Saturday, she called to make sure we got home safely. She’s a caring lady that has done an excellent job of raising Marcus. So is his step dad, Vernon smith. Those are the fun recruiting parents to get to know.

On the recruitment of Marcus Lattimore
We started recruiting Marcus a good year ago. Through the summer Jay (Graham) spent time with him. He always had a good smile on his face when he came to our games. He was here for the Clemson game. Fortunately we were able to overcome that last game we attempted to play in Birmingham. Hopefully we’ll never have one quite that bad again around here.

On Ace Sanders
Ace, we’ve been recruiting him all year. He’s probably a little bigger than Bryce Sherman. He’s a 5’8″, 5’9″ really quick wide receiver, kick returner type of guy. His highlight tape is impressive. He can juke around and make guys miss, something we haven’t had since Kenny McKinley left.

On the team outlook
Our outlook is to play better than the last game we attempted to play. You’re supposed to get that out of your system, but that’s one hard to get out of your system. We have some coaching to do. That’s what it tells me. We have a lot of coaching to do. We’re looking forward to spring ball and see if this offense can play a lot better than they’ve played recently.

On positional depth in college football
It’s a fact that every guy you sign doesn’t end up playing a lot at any school. You try your best to utilize your scholarships and use the best players. Just like we tell recruits that go to Alabama, Florida, (etc.), you all won’t play when you go down there. The one’s that do have to wait for their time on the field. Sometimes you get to a place and get stuck behind guys. That’s why some players do transfer. That’s a fact of college football. We’re not overloaded with ball players, I can assure you that right now.

On signing in-state players
We’ve done a really good job. Shane Beamer and our coaches have done an excellent job emphasizing to in-state players that we can win big here. After that last game it wasn’t the easiest thing to do. We did have a lot of good games last year. With these players coming in, I do believe we have a chance the next four or five years to be a lot better than we’ve been here.

On the offensive line class
If some of these guys develop and the line comes around, we have some freshman that we think are big enough and strong enough to play next year. A couple of guys will probably need to redshirt – a couple of big, tall, lanky guys that need to fill out, which is normal for the offensive line. A.J. Cann, Ronald Patrick, Tramell Williams and maybe Du’Von Millsap, those four are a little bit stronger and will have a chance.

On if Coach Spurrier dancing swayed Marcus Lattimore
Marcus had a wonderful report with Coach Graham. He knew a lot of players committed to us and so forth. He’s been visiting here a long time. (Dancing) was a small part of having fun at that house the other day.

On Dylan Thompson
Dylan was one of the guys up for Mr. Football in the state. He was one of five guys. Of course Marcus (Lattimore) got about every honor imaginable he was up for in the state and nationally, but Dylan was up for Mr. Football. He had a spectacular season at Boiling Springs. They were ineligible to get in the playoffs, so we didn’t’ get a chance to see him in the tournaments, but they played Byrnes and Dorman – they play at the highest level up there.

On if he follows team recruiting rankings
I never used to. When I was coaching at Florida I never did get that much involved. We used to always say we’ll find out how good the class is three or four years down the line. When I was at UF we only had one or two (great classes) … Recruiting is very important but probably what’s most important is what they do after they come on campus, how they develop and become whatever type of player they will become.

On if everyone will qualify academically
There’s a few that have some work, although there’s probably only one or two we don’t think will make it. We signed one knowing he’s probably not going to make it and will place him in prep school or junior college.

On defensive backs
We’re also fired up about the DB’s coming – Victor Hampton, Brison Williams, Cadarious Sanders, and Sharrod Golightly. Coach Lorenzo Ward was instrumental in recruiting all four of these guys. We think all four can play next year, can help on special teams. We need help on special teams. We have to get some fast guys that can go down and tackle and hit. These are four really good athletes right there.

On the Dodie Academic Center
The Dodie gives us the academic enrichment center that is good, maybe better, than most in the SEC and the country. Most big schools have a center similar to this, but this is first class. Dodie Anderson from Greer was a major contributor to this building. It was nice to see her there today.

On if Patrick Fish will compete for a starting spot
We’ve told him to come in and try to beat Spencer Lanning out. I don’t’ know if he can or not. If he can’t, we’ll redshirt him.

On the impact the freshman class will have in 2010
There’s a good chance seven, eight or 10 of them will play. Who knows? We’ll bring them all in and let them compete with the players we have here. We didn’t have many seniors last year and were able to redshirt a bunch of guys last year, so we have some good young guys ready to go play.