KIRK FERENTZ: Welcome, everybody. Hopefully you guys can get out of here before you get trapped in here, but good afternoon, and again, thanks for being here.
Just like Steve said, we'll hit a little bit about the bowl preparation, the Music City Bowl preparation, and then comments about recruiting, and then Tyler can give you all the details he has. They do an awful lot of work. Everybody does. But let him cover the fine points there.
First of all, just about the bowl game, it's always interesting with bowl preparation. You go through a series of phases early before you even know who you're playing or where you're playing, you start practice a little bit to keep the guys fresh and obviously going through some phases now.
We gave the guys a couple days off. They're back in this afternoon, and certainly we're eager to get it going here as we look toward Kentucky.
First thing is the roster postseason. We had some movement, and I think that's just standard operating procedure right now in college football. That movement sometimes goes through December and even later.
I think right now as we move into this next phase, I think we're firm with our roster, feel good about the guys, and give us a chance to start focusing on preparation and also work together as one team. Again, I think this is just going to become and continue to become a more fluid process as we move forward in the years ahead.
The good news is guys that have been training with us have been doing a great job. Whether it's the strength and conditioning work or the times we've been on the field, the energy has been good, and I feel like we're making good progress, and it benefits both the younger guys, obviously gives them a chance, a real opportunity to get some quality work that they haven't done, and certainly older guys. Our real purpose is to try to keep them sharp but also get them refreshed and recharged and give them a chance to be ready to play as the bowl game appears.
That's kind of where we're at right now. We'll introduce Kentucky, start that work today. We haven't done a thing on them yet with the players, so we'll begin that, and it's been a little bit of a different phase, if you will. Last year, last several recruiting years when our guys have been in finals, the staff has been off the road. It gave us a real chance to get our preparation jumped up and moved on.
This year was a little different with the calendar. I don't know if the recruiting calendar was longer or just the way it fell, but we were on the road last week. It has been a busy couple days for everybody, just trying to get ready for Kentucky.
The bottom line is we'll get some guys out there, start practicing, and start to turn our sights toward there, and again, as I mention, it's good for the old guys, good for the new guys. I think about certainly Joe and Carson; they've been doing a good job, but they need each and every snap they can get to try to bring them up to speed.
That's kind of where we're at right now. The good news, I just think you've got a bunch of guys that love football. They respect the opportunity in front of them. They respect what it takes to beat an opponent like Kentucky, and they work hard. So that part is all good.
Just not to get into great detail about Kentucky, but they're a good football team, excellent program. Mark Stoops set a record this year for career wins, I believe, and it's a real testament to him and the work he has done and his staff has done. They have a good coaching staff. They're well-coached. Big, athletic football team, like we saw last year, and we've got a big challenge on our hands.
Look forward to that, and just kind of turn the page now.
Yeah, today is signing day, and needless to say this has changed a little bit, too, going back from when we just had it in February. It's not totally new, but recruiting just continues to be almost a day-to-day process, if you will, and it's really ongoing. With that, certainly the challenges that come with that are a little bit different, trying to coach your players, also recruit and do a good job of that.
As you might imagine, it takes a lot of effort by a lot of people. I'll start out just by thanking our coaching staff and obviously the recruiting staff for the work that they do. It's really extensive. It is nonstop and takes a lot of hard work, not only time but hard work.
That's where it all starts, and then obviously when players come on campus, prospects come on campus with their families, there are a lot of other people involved, our support staff, people on campus, faculty members, all kinds of people, and just generally the community, the community and the state. The feeling people walk away from I think is really, really important for us, and it's a great advantage.
So we try to expose them to as many people as we can and just appreciate everybody helping out in that regard.
Just in general, really pleased with the '23 class. Each and every player involved in this class I think has a good appreciation or understanding of our program, our history, the traditions here, and really happy about that. I think two things that probably are attractive to them are the stability of the program over time and that's certainly unique, and then obviously the opportunity, mostly the opportunity to develop, grow and develop in the program. That's what we ask our players on our team to do and focus on.
Same thing with our recruits. That's what we're looking for, guys that are really hungry to do that.
Needless to say in recruiting, you're looking at athletic ability, measurables, things like that. Certainly skill levels are important, but I think beyond that, it's the kind of person, the character that we get exposed to. That goes beyond the player. A lot of times you learn about the player's family, people that have been influential in their lives, impact that they've had, and I think that tells you a lot. It tells you a lot about the entire picture, and just, again, feel really good about the guys that we have.
College football is changing. I alluded to that. The portal is out there; it's growing and will continue to grow I think as long as the rules stay as they are, and we're not blind to that or against that, but I do want to just say our goal is to grow our own team, to have the core of our team be guys that we recruited to the program and have them in the program so they can develop to the maximum.
Yeah, if we have our opportunities, as I think I've said in the past, you look at guys like Mekhi Sargent, look at guys like Zach VanValkenburg, Jack Heflin, that joined our program and had real positive impacts, those are the kind of things that we're looking for, and if we get those opportunities, certainly we're going to pursue them and follow them.
But again, I think the core of our team hopefully will be built on campus here, and with that comes a chance to watch guys develop and develop relationships that go beyond. That's really what we're looking for.
The bottom line, our goal is to provide a real true team experience for all the players in our program where they join us for one year or they're here for four or five. That doesn't change, and to do it with the values that we think are really important.
I think we've communicated that well with the prospects and just, again, really happy with the class. Again, different than years past where a lot of guys were already -- a lot of prospects were committed back in June or even earlier and then you move forward and think about things as recently as this weekend, a guy like Terrell Washington coming up basically for not quite a 24-hour visit. Got in real late Saturday night, Sunday morning, and left here Monday morning via car. We weren't allowed to have any contact with him. All kinds of twists and turns, stories there, and Tyler can fill you in on some of those, but again, just really pleased and appreciative about this class.
I'll throw it out for questions and go from there.
Just like Steve said, we'll hit a little bit about the bowl preparation, the Music City Bowl preparation, and then comments about recruiting, and then Tyler can give you all the details he has. They do an awful lot of work. Everybody does. But let him cover the fine points there.
First of all, just about the bowl game, it's always interesting with bowl preparation. You go through a series of phases early before you even know who you're playing or where you're playing, you start practice a little bit to keep the guys fresh and obviously going through some phases now.
We gave the guys a couple days off. They're back in this afternoon, and certainly we're eager to get it going here as we look toward Kentucky.
First thing is the roster postseason. We had some movement, and I think that's just standard operating procedure right now in college football. That movement sometimes goes through December and even later.
I think right now as we move into this next phase, I think we're firm with our roster, feel good about the guys, and give us a chance to start focusing on preparation and also work together as one team. Again, I think this is just going to become and continue to become a more fluid process as we move forward in the years ahead.
The good news is guys that have been training with us have been doing a great job. Whether it's the strength and conditioning work or the times we've been on the field, the energy has been good, and I feel like we're making good progress, and it benefits both the younger guys, obviously gives them a chance, a real opportunity to get some quality work that they haven't done, and certainly older guys. Our real purpose is to try to keep them sharp but also get them refreshed and recharged and give them a chance to be ready to play as the bowl game appears.
That's kind of where we're at right now. We'll introduce Kentucky, start that work today. We haven't done a thing on them yet with the players, so we'll begin that, and it's been a little bit of a different phase, if you will. Last year, last several recruiting years when our guys have been in finals, the staff has been off the road. It gave us a real chance to get our preparation jumped up and moved on.
This year was a little different with the calendar. I don't know if the recruiting calendar was longer or just the way it fell, but we were on the road last week. It has been a busy couple days for everybody, just trying to get ready for Kentucky.
The bottom line is we'll get some guys out there, start practicing, and start to turn our sights toward there, and again, as I mention, it's good for the old guys, good for the new guys. I think about certainly Joe and Carson; they've been doing a good job, but they need each and every snap they can get to try to bring them up to speed.
That's kind of where we're at right now. The good news, I just think you've got a bunch of guys that love football. They respect the opportunity in front of them. They respect what it takes to beat an opponent like Kentucky, and they work hard. So that part is all good.
Just not to get into great detail about Kentucky, but they're a good football team, excellent program. Mark Stoops set a record this year for career wins, I believe, and it's a real testament to him and the work he has done and his staff has done. They have a good coaching staff. They're well-coached. Big, athletic football team, like we saw last year, and we've got a big challenge on our hands.
Look forward to that, and just kind of turn the page now.
Yeah, today is signing day, and needless to say this has changed a little bit, too, going back from when we just had it in February. It's not totally new, but recruiting just continues to be almost a day-to-day process, if you will, and it's really ongoing. With that, certainly the challenges that come with that are a little bit different, trying to coach your players, also recruit and do a good job of that.
As you might imagine, it takes a lot of effort by a lot of people. I'll start out just by thanking our coaching staff and obviously the recruiting staff for the work that they do. It's really extensive. It is nonstop and takes a lot of hard work, not only time but hard work.
That's where it all starts, and then obviously when players come on campus, prospects come on campus with their families, there are a lot of other people involved, our support staff, people on campus, faculty members, all kinds of people, and just generally the community, the community and the state. The feeling people walk away from I think is really, really important for us, and it's a great advantage.
So we try to expose them to as many people as we can and just appreciate everybody helping out in that regard.
Just in general, really pleased with the '23 class. Each and every player involved in this class I think has a good appreciation or understanding of our program, our history, the traditions here, and really happy about that. I think two things that probably are attractive to them are the stability of the program over time and that's certainly unique, and then obviously the opportunity, mostly the opportunity to develop, grow and develop in the program. That's what we ask our players on our team to do and focus on.
Same thing with our recruits. That's what we're looking for, guys that are really hungry to do that.
Needless to say in recruiting, you're looking at athletic ability, measurables, things like that. Certainly skill levels are important, but I think beyond that, it's the kind of person, the character that we get exposed to. That goes beyond the player. A lot of times you learn about the player's family, people that have been influential in their lives, impact that they've had, and I think that tells you a lot. It tells you a lot about the entire picture, and just, again, feel really good about the guys that we have.
College football is changing. I alluded to that. The portal is out there; it's growing and will continue to grow I think as long as the rules stay as they are, and we're not blind to that or against that, but I do want to just say our goal is to grow our own team, to have the core of our team be guys that we recruited to the program and have them in the program so they can develop to the maximum.
Yeah, if we have our opportunities, as I think I've said in the past, you look at guys like Mekhi Sargent, look at guys like Zach VanValkenburg, Jack Heflin, that joined our program and had real positive impacts, those are the kind of things that we're looking for, and if we get those opportunities, certainly we're going to pursue them and follow them.
But again, I think the core of our team hopefully will be built on campus here, and with that comes a chance to watch guys develop and develop relationships that go beyond. That's really what we're looking for.
The bottom line, our goal is to provide a real true team experience for all the players in our program where they join us for one year or they're here for four or five. That doesn't change, and to do it with the values that we think are really important.
I think we've communicated that well with the prospects and just, again, really happy with the class. Again, different than years past where a lot of guys were already -- a lot of prospects were committed back in June or even earlier and then you move forward and think about things as recently as this weekend, a guy like Terrell Washington coming up basically for not quite a 24-hour visit. Got in real late Saturday night, Sunday morning, and left here Monday morning via car. We weren't allowed to have any contact with him. All kinds of twists and turns, stories there, and Tyler can fill you in on some of those, but again, just really pleased and appreciative about this class.
I'll throw it out for questions and go from there.
