Feb. 7, 2007

Head coach Joe Novak met with the media Tuesday afternoon to discuss his recruiting class on National Signing Day. Below are selected statements from the coach.

Opening Statement
"We are pleased. We had 20 scholarships to work with. I am pleased with the kids we brought in. I think they are all talented and I think they all have a good chance to be successful."

On the Coaching Staff
"Our coaches did a great job recruiting. Another thing was with having some coaches leaving, I appreciated the coaches keeping those kids in the program."

On Recruiting From Seven States:
"It's Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri, Indiana, Michigan and then the one JC (Junior College) kid out of Kansas. That is our recruiting base and that is where we send coaches actively. We do not focus on a kid from South Carolina or Georgia unless it's a special case."

On the Position Concentration:
"Every year you look at your current roster and how many players you have at each position. I have formula that I work from. We also look at the quality of players to make sure they are developing."

On Potentially Playing as True Freshmen:
"We will give them all an opportunity. That is what we tell them when we recruited them. If it turns out that they can help us win a championship and make us a better team then we will play them. Some positions have a better chance than others, but we will not know for sure until we get them into practice."

On Recruiting From Junior Colleges:
"We take a look at our team and if we think that our young players are not ready to play, then we will take a look at Junior Colleges. That has been rare for us. We have the philosophy on bringing kids in and having them in the program for all five years."