Quotes from Rick Stockstill on Football Signees

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Did more players than usual go down to the wire this year?

For me personally it did. Three kids didn't make decisions until today. And

I think was probably even more so through the South. I thought there were a

lot of kids that didn't make decisions until today when usually it's done

over the weekend. That was the trend this year in the South. It started out

looking like everybody was going to commit early. Then they couldn't make up

their mind.

Did having fewer scholarships help or hurt you?

I thought having less scholarships helped us be more selective. If you had a

class of 25, you could take a chance on someone that we though could become

a player. We'll use the two we've got left over toward next year's class.

Or somebody may qualify late that you don't know about. We filled our needs. We needed tailbacks. We needed receivers to replace Brian and Mal. I think we filled our needs. It's just different in the fac

that it's not as many people.

Is there anyone left on your board?

Everybody that we were waiting on has made decisions.

How do you feel you did in the state of South Carolina?

We are always going to recruit the state of South Carolina. That's our home

base. We did better than last year. Last year we lost them to Tennessee and

Georgia. This year we lost them to Florida State. We've got to get them out

of this state next year. To take this program to the next level, we're

going to have to compete for the same players that Florida State and Florida

and Alabama are recruiting.

Do you think the excitement level today would have been different if Keith

Kelly and Derrick Hamilton had waited until this week to commit?

I think it's a natural reaction by people. Back in December when Derrick and

Keith and Ryan committed, everybody was excited. By January 1, most of our

class was done. A couple of weeks went by when we didn't get a commitment.

You forget how excited you were about those others. If those guys would have

waited until this week, everybody would have thought this was a great class.

That's just natural. As soon as somebody commits, you forget about them.

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