BullsInsider.com covered South Florida head coach Jeff Scott's 2021 Early National Signing Day press conference. Below is a summary of what coach Scott said to the media.
Summary of opening statement by Coach Scott: The players just finished their exams and have gone home for a couple of weeks with their families.
Scott said he met with every player before the left to review the season and what will be needed to do when they come back in January.
Scott is looking forward to getting a true off-season with his players. All 13 scholarship seniors chose to come back for an additional year. Very pleased with that.
Scott wanted to let everyone know about how excited he is about getting his team back in January.
He said the 2022 class is a bit of a mess because of the extra year. They have 10 scholarships as of today for that class, but it will change through attrition. He said the numbers problem will be big for 2022 across the country. They are hoping to see a change in rules.
They added quarterbacks to increase competition in the QB room and he said that was a key building block at Clemson. He wants someone to separate themselves from the rest of the pack.
Jeff Scott: There's really three phases, when you're taking over a program that maybe struggled recently, and, and really trying to get that turned around, like we're trying to do, I think the three phases that are really important, the first phase is really to change the culture, and really set the standard for your program. The second phase, it's important anytime you're, you're trying to, you know, change the success is obviously talent acquisition. I just coaches we're only as good as our players. You know, sometimes the coaches get too much credit for success. Because really, it's the players that are out there making the plays and you know, you can't have talent and depth to your roster in the middle of the season. And then the third phase is developing the talent that you have on your team. Right in again, we talked about that the development process, a lot of that comes from that January through July. And so that's, that's one thing that I'm really looking forward to is being able to develop these guys in the weight room, and in continued meetings that we're able to have, and then obviously, spring practice will be very valuable. I think, you know, this class is a very talented class, many of these young men had legitimate opportunities to play in the sec, the ACC, the big 12 different places. And they chose South Florida. And there was a lot of different reasons for that. I think the biggest thing is a lot of these young men want to be a part of something special, they can feel the energy, and they can, they can see what's coming here these next couple years at South Florida, but even more than just the talent. You know, I'm just so excited about the character, the integrity, the work ethic of the guys that are we're adding to our locker room. I think when we talk about changing the culture, you know, a big way that you're able to change the culture as you uproot the culture, you recruit the top of young men and the top of families that you want to ultimately, you know, be in your locker room and be your your future leaders and you know, being a great player with that.
You know, we have 11 defensive players, 10 offensive players and one specialist. on the defensive side of the ball, we signed two defensive ends, two linebackers, four corners and three safeties, you know, really felt like we needed to add some depth and talent in length and everything to our secondary and feel like we've addressed that very well in this class. Offensively, we signed two quarterbacks, three wide receivers, three offensive linemen, one running back one tight in, and then we signed one as a specialist. So just really excited about that. Coach went on to thank the many people who make today happen, starting with the University President.
On being active in the transfer portal, especially with Jarren Williams and then you also get a kid like Timmy McLean...
Jeff Scott: Yeah, I'm really excited about both of those young men. I mean, I think, for us, you know, we want to bring in the very best talent that we can. And, you know, I've told our team right before we left said, Hey, we got zero returning starters coming back next year. You know, where everybody's got to start over. We got nine months to go earn so we're gonna bring as many talented young men as possible to help. I mean, I can't tell you how many of our current players I've received positive text messages from today excited about some of the these signings and transfers that are coming in to be a part of the team. But you know, Timmy McLean's, a guy that we identified very early on, and I really liked his skill set as as really a dual threat quarterback, and I mean, he's just a winner. Bottom line, he's playing in the state championship this Saturday and Doak Campbell stadium has had an outstanding season and, and, you know, he, he might not have, you know, been quite as known at the beginning of the year, but I really believe he's developed into being the best quarterback in our state in this class. I feel like we're going to be able to have a great answer for our quarterback situation going into the 2021 football season.
On how much recruiting was he able to do with this being his first year and having to deal with all the challenges that this year brought and what kind of challenges did he deal with in recruiting, like, maybe not being able to meet with recruit face to face or something like that...
Jeff Scott: Okay, so to the first day of school, I was very involved. You know, again, I'm not one of these coaches that we as coaches have these magic plays, and you just can put anybody in there and run the play and you're gonna win games. I mean, at Clemson, you know, we haven't we again, we had a great culture, right coach Sweeney did a great job of that staff development, a great culture, brought in talented players that were made the right things had the right attitudes, work ethic, all that and then those guys got developed. And that's how you have the success. And so, again, my first seven years at Clemson, I was the recruiting coordinator. That was the first seven years that coach Sweeney was the head coach, and so I was able to see our team at Clemson go from you know, an underachiever to really become a championship program through multiple successful recruiting classes. So, again, I know that recruiting is the lifeblood of any successful football program. So I've been very involved really weekly. But the challenges I think the biggest challenge was the fact that we were not able to have the players come and visit in the spring. We're not able to have players come to camp in the summer. And you say, Well, everybody had the same thing. Well, that is true. But only the first year staffs, you know, didn't have any of these guys come through where all the other staffs that were there for two or three years, they would have had these guys come through for the last couple years. So just the fact they couldn't come through the spring, they already had him on campus they met on they saw him, you know. So it's the first time in my career that I'm having to ask for commitments from young men and their families who have never been able to shake my hand and be able to see and meet the coaches in person and never been able to see the campus or visit and walk through your facilities in person. So that was a challenge, but at the end of the day recruiting is all about relationships. And at the end of the day, the young man and their families want to know, can we trust the person that we're going to play for and we're sending our son to play for and, you know, I think a good coach is very genuine and about the right things, you know, families can see that even if it's through FaceTime or zoom or anything, so, you know, we were able to work around some of those issues that we had.
On how do you you ask somebody to trust you, based on not having a previous year to point to. Did you tweak your pitch from what you did at Clemson to, some of these kids that you're trying to bring to USF...
Jeff Scott: Well, I think you do talk about your track record. That is something that I do talk to the players about....that's why I'm so proud of this class right here is that, you know, they don't they haven't been able to see our success we're gonna have here. Yeah. So they truly are stepping out in faith. They truly do have to believe. But that's the type of young men that we're looking for the ones that do believe in what we're doing, where we're going, and they're willing to come be a big part of that. So I definitely appreciate this class for believing in myself, our staff and where we're headed as a football program.
On some states didn't play football this fall, how lucky does he think he is that in Florida there was a high school football season so he could evaluate some of these guys...
Jeff Scott: Absolutely. Right. We could talk about all the difficulties and the challenges that we had and everybody did. But at the end of the day, you know, these high schools and even us got to play football this year. And back in March and April, there was no guarantees of that. So I'm very pleased. And I can remember, right there in August, there was a lot I was keeping up with it on Twitter and Social Media, when the Florida board was trying to make a decision on high school football this year. And I really was sitting there praying that they were going to let these young men play and I'm so happy that they were able to, and there's no no question that the evaluation that we got from some of the video from this year. And then also for this, we've already got a big head start on the 2022 class. So the guys that are juniors, that's really important video for us to watch. We spent the last three weeks really digging into that. So I'm very pleased and happy that that our guys got to play football here in the state of Florida.
On when he is evaluating a recruit, what's the most important thing or next thing he's looking at after talent...
Jeff Scott: I'm looking at who is he as a person. So, that's why I love to see him in person and have a conversation. But if we can't, I can get on FaceTime and within three minutes on FaceTime. I can usually know. Is this guy going to be a great fit in our program? Does he have great energy? Does he love ball? I mean, you can just tell very quickly. And so kind of that list that I went through a little earlier, those that the the separation is not with talent. There's a lot of talented players. There's a lot of talented players that we bypass that maybe didn't sign today. But the differentiator is that character, the integrity, the academics, like when I look at someone's transcript, and their test scores are really their transcript. I don't look at it and think that it really reflects their intelligence. To me, it's a reflection of their work ethic, their discipline, their commitment, to put their best in whatever they're doing. Like that's really what when I look at a transcript, and I see, you know, over a 3.0 I mean, you take a guy like Gunner Greenwald I think he has over a 4.0. I mean, this guy is going to put in his absolute best and whatever he does so already known he gets in the weight room when he goes on the practice field. I know he just that's who he is. And so we want to add as many players like that we have many in this class to our team, and all of a sudden you do that for a couple years, then you really get that that that uh, that that differentiator in your locker room that really helps you have the on field success that we ultimately are going to have.
On the process of recruiting Jimmy Horn Jr. and how instrumental was having Timmy McLean as his quarterback through the whole thing...
Jeff Scott: If we had a hour and a half. I could give you all the whole stories. I'll give you the cliff notes version. You know first of all, say this. One other thing that I love about recruiting is there's a lot of different ways that things happen. Different timing some, sometimes you may know some about somebody, you know two years in advance, and sometimes it can be really late so, Jimmy horn, he broke his wrist, his junior year only played in one game. Okay. And so really nobody knew a whole lot about him. And then he transferred to Seminole this year. And, you know, again, it was an advantage we were able to find out about him pretty early from Timmy McLean and from Timmy's dad, Tim senior. They were keeping us up to date, hey, we got a guy showing us some video. At the time we technically were full with our wide receiver positions. And then later in the year when we saw our scholarship numbers and and were able to see more of his tape, it became one of those wow moments. And so we decided a couple weeks ago that he was oversized worthy for us. Even though we were technically full with our high school class. We offered him at the same time, literally while I was on the phone offering him I think Georgia was trying to beat through they were offering him and from that point on, it was it was like a year and a half recruiting in two and a half weeks. And, you know, I got to give a lot of credit to Xavier Dyer, wide receivers coach, was able to develop a great relationship with him very quickly that I think had a big impact. There's no doubt that Timmy MacLean being a great friend of his being his quarterback had a tremendous impact. But you know, it was, it was it was a battle. I mean, I think there were moments if you asked him, there was moments where he thought he was going to Georgia. I think Deion Sanders did an excellent job, Jackson State and really, there were certain times that that he was thinking he was going there. And then Oklahoma came in yesterday and made the offer and then I believe, Tennessee last week, and then Ole Miss this morning, call it and trying to trying to get him so you know, to me. He's a guy that mean he has a chance to be ultra ultra special in my opinion. If he would have played last year. He may be at Clemson or Alabama, to be honest, if he had had the video but the fact that he missed all year and that things just kind of worked out the way they did to give us a chance. And then uh, you know, like I said, I mean we were up the last two nights. I've been on the phone with him after midnight, several nights and then early in the morning, Coach lodge has head coach who was a great help for us as well. And I mean, he has the potential to, I don't know what the record is for touchdowns and all that in our school history. But that's the type of potential that this young man has as a receiver and as a return, man, so I'm very excited about him.
On which transfers will be eligible to play right away...
Jeff Scott: Well, we're working under the guidance that all of the transfers are going to be eligible immediately. The information that we received from our compliance department and from contacts that we have in the NCAA is that they're expecting it to be passed and all transfers are being eligible for for their first transfer, whether they graduated or not. So our expectation is for all five of those guys to be eligible this season. Also I will add, all five of those are enrolling here in January. So they'll be here in a couple weeks, which is huge to have them here for really our first true off-season in the weight room and in spring ball.
Kelly Quinlan of BullsInsider.com: Hey, Jeff, I was just curious about the interior defensive line. You guys haven't signed anyone at that piece yet? Is that something you'll explore in the second signing period? Or maybe later this week?
Jeff Scott: Yeah, great question. So whenever I talked about nine of the 12 seniors coming out of the 13 scholarship, seniors coming back, four of those nine were interior defensive linemen. So we have some, we have two interior defensive linemen that are currently committed, and we've had conversations with them about delaying their enrollment here until next January. So that, you know, we can make it all work from a scholarship number perspective and also so that we don't start their clock. So we really felt like for this coming season that we're in good position right now, with our inside guys, we felt like we needed to add a little bit more athleticism on the perimeter. And I think that's what we did with both Keon and Jamari. But we do have a couple more spots we're holding in our back pocket for this spring. And really what we'd like to do is go through spring practice, now that we see you know, and really see how our team develops and kind of find, you know, a couple positions where we'd like to have somebody in May, so may in June so we do have a few more spots that will look to bring some guys in this summer. Once we get through spring practice.
On what's the kind of special pitch that you give to these guys when you're one and eight...
Jeff Scott: I think number one, it's consistency in your message. To be honest, my message did not change a whole lot from the beginning of the season, to the end of the season. Other than maybe a couple comments that, hey, we could have used you out there tonight or something like that. But, you know, I think you're selling these young man on a vision of how you see this program changing here in the next couple years. And, you know, we've only been playing football for, what, 24 years. So there's a we're very, very young football program, compared to many out there that have been playing over 100 years. And so, you know, one thing that got me really excited about taking this job, quite honestly, is the fact that University of South Florida has never won a conference championship. Like we have a chance to do something that's never been done in school history. Right. And there's not many schools in the country that you could go win a conference championship and to be the first time ever, and that's just one example. And so, to me, it's being very genuine, being very clear in your vision, and your plans, and then really letting the guys know that, hey, you know, our staff is just getting here, you know, and everybody's going to get an opportunity to compete. I mean, we definitely have some holes in our current depth chart and in our roster and all that we need to, we need more talent, and we need a lot more depth and competition. I think when when you don't have depth, then you don't have great competition, because the starter knows I'm going to be the guy regardless of how I practice because the guy behind me is not, you know, maybe to the same standard. And so, I mean, this spring is probably gonna be one of the most competitive springs I've ever been around at a lot of different positions. And I think that is what's needed for us to really move the needle as a program on the field. I'd also say this, like, we don't beg guys to come like that. And that's something I learned from Coach Sweeney, because sometimes a glimpse in my first couple years, and I'd be, you know, I just felt this guy belongs here and he doesn't just doesn't want to hear it. And it's like, Hey, you can't beg somebody, you need to present the opportunity to them very clearly. And if they buy into it, and they have interest, then let's go. But if you lay it all out there and they don't have any interest, you say, Hey, man, good luck to you wish you the best of luck and you move on, you don't waste time. And so that's something that's important in all these conversations, you know, do they see opportunity here? Do they see what we're building? And the ones that do, then we go full speed ahead. And, and, and I've just, you know, it encouraged me, to be honest, coming off a difficult season, that to be able to sign this type of class. It really encouraged me that these young men believe in what our staff is talking about and and what we're ultimately going to do here.
