Will Muschamp Signing Day News Conference

Opening Statement
“We got better today. There’s no doubt about that. As I’ll say every year, or I guess every signing period: we’ll know about this class in two or three years. It’s a developmental game, and that is the bottom line. You’ve got to get guys on campus and evaluate who you want: the film, the character, the transcript, the integrity, all of those things. Get them on campus and develop them, and that’s what our staff does a fantastic job of. (From) last year’s signing class, 16 played, five were starters, and two of them were named Freshman All-SEC, so that says a lot about the production we got from last year’s class. We signed 18 guys today; really, we signed 20, because Jamel Cook and Josh Belk both count in this class. Really, that’s kind of how we look at it, as far as initials are concerned. They’re counted in this class. (We signed) 16 guys from the footprint of what we recruit: South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida, and I would include Tennessee in that category. We’ve done a nice job there of getting some really good football players. (We’re) big, long and athletic. You’ve got 13 guys that are line of scrimmage players, 12 that we signed and obviously Josh Belk, who’s on campus. That’s a place we needed to continue to improve moving forward, on both lines of scrimmage. Seven of these guys played for state championships, and three won state championships, so being able to get guys and attract guys from winning programs I think is always important.

Coach Muschamp on Carolina’s Signing Class

Ryan Hilinski
“Ryan will be a mid-year enrollee. He won multiple national awards as far as the quarterback position was concerned and was an Elite 11 finalist. He can really spin it. We had him in camp. Dan Werner did a fantastic job with Ryan. Mark and Kym, his parents, are terrific people. It’s a great family. We’re really excited about him coming on campus here in January. He’s a great football player and has a lot of the intangibles you’ve got to have at that position. We’re looking forward to getting him to campus.”

Kevin Harris
“Kevin really came and earned his scholarship at camp. We really liked his film. We weren’t totally certain about his top end speed. He came into camp and ran 4.55 in the 40 and vertical jumped 34 inches, which is really good. He has a really big lower body and is a difficult guy to tackle, when you talk in terms of a power running game and getting better there and adding some toughness to that position.”

Keveon Mullins
“Keveon played for the state championship against Joseph Anderson and Oakland. His team lost in the state championship game, but he’s a big receiver: 6-3 and 200-plus lbs. He came to our camp and has really good ball skills. He’s a guy that we’re really excited about. His mom, Shirita, has been great in this process. We’re excited about getting Keveon on campus.”

Tyquan Johnson
“We signed Tyquan a year ago. He went to Fork Union and did a really nice job this fall. Again, he’s another guy who came to our camp a year ago and put up some impressive numbers. He had a 36 1⁄2-inch vertical leap and a 10-4 broad jump. He’s a very explosive guy, especially at that 6-3, 200-lbs. size. We continue to improve our receiver room, and I think he certainly is going to be able to do that.”

Traevon Kenion
“Traevon will be a mid-year enrollee. Tony, his mom, got a job in the Raleigh/Wake Forest area, and he moved up there and won a state championship. He’s a guy at the tight end position that we think is really gifted in the throwing game. He really added some things to their high school football team. When he came to camp, the thing I was most impressed with was his competitive edge. He really competes when he gets on the field, and obviously, you see what he did this past year. We’re really excited about him.”

Keshawn Toney
“Keshawn is a Shrine Bowl participant and a guy we had in camp. He’s 6-3, 240 lbs., and moves extremely well. When you get the feedback from the Shrine Bowl coaches, that’s one of the things they talked about: how impressed they were with him. I think this guy’s got a tremendous upside. I think we’re just scratching the surface of what he can do. He played mostly wideout for Williston-Elko, but now he’ll be more of an attached tight end for us. He’s another mid-year enrollee, a guy that I think has a tremendous upside.”

Mark Fox
“Mark was on a state championship team. They started the season, I think, 0-4, and ended up winning the state championship. They got things turned around. He’s a guy that we had in camp, ad he’s very athletic. We think he can be a three-position guy as far as center, guard or tackle. He gives you a lot of variety as far as his athleticism and length.”

Jakai Moore
“I saw Jakai play basketball Friday night. It’s pretty impressive to see a 6-4, 300-pounder run up and down the court. He starts on their basketball team. Jakai is a guy we’ve really pinpointed. We enjoyed Friday night sitting with Cynthia, his mom, at the game. He’s a guy that has tremendous upside as a football player. We think his genetic ceiling is very high, as far as a guy that’s got a lot sitting in front of him. We’re really excited about him.”

Vincent Murphy
“Vincent is from St. Thomas Aquinas in Fort Lauderdale, one of the best programs in the country. They were state runners-up. It’s interesting, Vincent was one of the first underclassmen ever in St. Thomas history to be named a team captain. You talk in terms of leadership ability, we think he’s a guy that can be a center or a guard. Bill and Michele, his parents, have been great. The visited on one of the spring visits we had this past spring, which I thought went extremely well. We’re excited about having Vincent as a part of our program.”

Jaylen Nichols
“Jaylen is from another outstanding program at Myers Park. Scott Chadwick does a fantastic job with their program. He’s a big guy that we had in camp. He’s right at 6-5, 315 lbs. I watched him practice. His team was in the playoffs, I think third round. You watch him athletically, his feet, changing direction, his lower body flexibility – it was extremely impressive, with Jaylen. This guy’s got a huge upside. He’s a mid-year enrollee, so he’s going to be able to go through spring, which I think is really beneficial for any player.”

Joseph Anderson
“Joe is a transfer from Siegel, where Max Iyama went to school. He went to Oakland where they won the state championship. He dislocated his elbow in the first game of the year and never missed a snap. He is guy that’s got some toughness about him. Coach (Kevin) Creasy and his staff rave about Joseph and his leadership ability. I think he is a guy that tremendously improved throughout his senior year and played at an extremely high level, especially in the playoffs, and was a very difficult guy to block. We had some coaches at the state championship game, and they were extremely impressed with Joseph and what he did on the field. Joe and Teresa, his parents, were outstanding throughout this entire process.”

Devontae Davis
“This one goes back about two years. This is why you have camp. You find guys like this. Devontae was at Silver Bluff High School over in Aiken. You see his length and athleticism. He went to Georgia Military and did a fantastic job there. He’s actually practiced with us the last two days. You have to go through an NCAA period where you acclimatize yourself so he’s only been in helmets and hasn’t been able to get in pads yet. He’ll be in shells tomorrow and Friday and we’re only going to have helmets practice on Saturday. He’s big and athletic and has great length. I’m really excited to finally have Devontae here.”

Zacch Pickens
“Zacch led T.L. Hanna to the state championship game this year. He did about everything for them, close to 1,000 yards rushing, a fantastic defensive end that is bringing a lot to our program. He won about every award there was in the state of South Carolina as far as high school awards and was the Player of the Year in the state. He could have gone anywhere he wanted to go and stayed right here at home in the state of South Carolina and to play for his state school. We’re really excited about Zacch. His Mom, Felicia, has been great. His brother, Kevin, is a walk-on on our football team right now, and he’s been outstanding, so we’re excited about getting Zacch back on campus in January.”

Rodricus Fitten
“Rodricus is a twitch guy on the edge. He’s very similar to Bryson Allen-Williams. He gives you a faster twitch on the edge. He was our first commitment in this class, I think it was September of 2017, and has stuck with us ever since. He had an outstanding senior year. We think he has a tremendous upside as a mid-year enrollee here on campus in January.”

Derek Boykins
“Derek was a guy that played wildcat quarterback, he played running back, he played linebacker, he played safety. He’s a very explosive guy. We had him in camp and saw his movement skills. We’re really excited about him and the upside his has. He’s originally from Beaufort, South Carolina and grew up a Gamecock so we’re excited to have him come home here.”

Jahmar Brown
“Jahmar is another guy from St. Thomas Aquinas, a state runner-up, and I was really impressed with him at camp. He’s got 33-inch arms and 11-inch hands and is a guy we think has a tremendous upside as far as his structure is concerned. He’ll be a 215, 218, 220-pound guy in a year or so. He has really good athleticism and is really smart. He directed the defense the last three years and Jason Taylor is the defensive coordinator, who I coached at the Dolphins. Jason thinks he’s a really smart player and is a guy that gets everyone aligned and can really command the defense, which is obviously something that excites me.”

John Dixon
“Two years ago, we had John in camp and we felt like he was one of the best cover corners that we’ve seen in our camps. He had a patella issue with his knee to start his senior year and really didn’t play a whole lot and wasn’t healthy through the entire season. We know what John can do when he’s healthy. We think he’s a lockdown corner, a guy that has a tremendous upside and we’re excited about having John in the program.”

Cameron Smith
“Alicia, his Mom, took a job up in Maryland and they moved back to Columbia, thank goodness, for his senior year. Cam is a guy that came from camp and ran a sub 4.5, 36 vertical, 10-5 broad. Those are NFL numbers in the combine as far as explosive power to be a 6-1 corner at 185 pounds. Cam’s got a huge upside. He will be a mid-year enrollee. He doesn’t have anything wrong with his shoulder. There were some claims out there that he had all kinds of shoulder injuries, but he doesn’t. He will actually be playing in the Army game in January.

On the impact of signing high-ranking recruits
“The first thing you’ve got to be able to do is own your state. We offered four guys from the state of South Carolina, and all four came. Zacch (Pickens) was certainly a high-profile player in our state and also the country. He could have gone anywhere he wanted to. He wanted to stay home and play for the Gamecocks. Ryan (Hilinski), obviously, being able to go national and sign a guy from the state of California that was attracted to come to South Carolina. He came to our campus multiple times on unofficial visits and then (made) an official visit last spring. He and his parents were extremely impressed with the things we’re doing with the program. He saw a great opportunity here. Again, it’s all about fit. At the end of the day, you go through the recruiting process with the student-athlete. Do they fell like they fit what you want to do athletically, academically, socially and spiritually? Both of those guys are really good fits for us.”

On the importance of signing players from Tennessee
“The football is really improving there, a lot. Number one, Nashville, with the Titans, it’s one of the fastest-growing areas in the United States, so there are a lot of people moving in who are necessarily tied to the state. It’s kind of like Atlanta and Charlotte a little bit. Bobby Bentley has really done a nice job up there, making some inroads in that state to help us recruit better there. Eldridge Thompson is also from up there, went to White State High School by way of Coffeyville Junior College. We feel really good about the areas to be able to recruit. Nashville is an easy flight to Charlotte, and it’s an hour drive, so for a family, that’s an easy drive to come see their son play. To me, you draw five hours around your campus and figure out where you can recruit the best.”

On the emphasis with the remaining roster spots left to be filled during the February signing period
“We’d like to add an offensive lineman in this class. I feel like we need to add some defensive backs. I feel good about our numbers on our roster right now, where we are. It’s kind of like when I was in the NFL; you get in the draft, when you get into the late rounds, you take the best available player. That’s really what I told the staff this morning. You look at whatever number we have on the board, of guys we feel like we can sign in February. Let’s take the best available player right now, as opposed to targeting a need. That’s how I look at it.”

On the smoothness of Signing Day
“It actually was very smooth, unusually so. Usually you do have a brush fire come up the night before or that morning. We had a couple of things flare up on us, but it was nothing that was alarming. We practiced this morning. We started on Virginia this morning, so we had everything done before our 9 o’clock meeting for the most part except for maybe two, and we were waiting on those, but we felt very comfortable and very confident in both of those situations.”

On signing Zacch Pickens, the Mr. Football from South Carolina this season
“We’ve that the last two years with Dakereon Joyner as well. Again, the first thing you want to do is take care of your state and sign the best players in your state. The only four guys we offered in the state, we signed. We feel good about that. I think Zacch is a really good football player. I think he gives us some short-yardage and goal-line options. You get a big back in there. I know that’s been frustrating. I get most of the emails from our fans. (laughs) So hopefully he’ll be able to answer some questions there for us too.”

On the positions where Cameron Smith will be used in the defensive backfield
“We’re going to get the best four out there, the best five, and then the best six. He’s going to start out at corner.”

On the positions where Devontae Davis will be used on the defensive line
“We’re going to start him out at defensive end and then see where it goes from there. He’s a guy that has length. He’s got athleticism. How big is he going to get, growth-wise? I think we had Devontae listed at about 280. That’s probably what he’s at, about 280, 285, so again, we’ll evaluate that, but he’s going to start out as a defensive end for us.”

On the role the Jahmar Brown will fill
“Jahmar is a guy we were excited about, that we feel can play the dime position for us. We may not have to sub in some situations. He can cover and play in space. He does a lot of that at St. Thomas. That was a target for us, a guy that, athletically, we felt could play in space and do a lot of different things coverage-wise.”