The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Brown Pleased With Blazers' Recruiting Class
2/5/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
Feb. 5, 2003
UAB head coach Watson Brown addressed the media Wednesday afternoon in regards to the Blazers' 2003 recruiting class.
(On the size of class) "We signed a large class, but it's not the largest we've signed before. And really, several of these guys that are already here in school. They came here in January and were able to count against last year's numbers."
(Assessment of class) "I think that every class we've had has been a little better than the one the year prior and I think this one is, too. I think it's deeper. We were able to fill some needs with this class. We had some offensive line needs, we had some immediate needs. There are four junior college guys in the class. There's an outside linebacker, two offensive linemen and a defensive back in this class that will help us, we think, immediately. And then, I think it's a deep class for us to give this year. We had 25 scholarships to give this year and I think we hit every position.
The offensive line we had some needs, we needed another quarterback, we needed a pass-catching tight end who we thought would mix in with what we've got and I think we able to get that in Greer Barnett from Mountain Brook.
I think it's a need class and we able to hit every position. You're able to do that when you have 25 scholarships. Next year, we won't have 25 scholarships. This year, we did.
(On Russellville quarterback Jake Tompkins) "Jake is our style of quarterback. He's an athlete who is a very good thrower. We're a quarterback offense here. We need all of those that we can get. I don't think there's a better one anywhere than Jake. We're very excited about having him. He's very confident, he has a very strong arm. He passed for a very high percentage. In the big games, he came up big. I think we're really getting an outstanding player in Jake Tompkins.
(on capability to redshirt more than in the past) "I think it has. I think we've been doing that. We really had to play more freshmen last year because we had so many injuries. Again, we don't bring players in just to redshirt. We really play them by need and you don't know that until you get to two-a-days when you see who may get injured, if anyone has left the University. A lot of things come into play. I think we tell every player we'd love to have them ready to play when they walk in the door, but if there is any doubt, we try to redshirt them."
(on recruiting period coming to an end) "It's tough. Your program is made off recruiting. There's no doubt about that. I think that everybody thinks the season is the tougher part, but I tell you, as soon as the season is over, you hit the road. You have a very short period of time, but yet, it's a long period that you have to recruit these young men and fit them into what you need. I think it's the toughest thing we do and it is the most important.
