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UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA MEDIA CONFERENCE
February 2, 2011
COACH MUSCHAMP: Thank you very much. Great to be here. How are you all doing? Real pleased with the 18 signees for today. The Gators got better today. Excited about bringing these young men into our program in a short period of time.
Recruiting is all about developing relationships and trust, and it's tough to do that in a short period of time. Recruiting has changed so much over the years. You're starting to recruit guys when you see guys coming their sophomore, junior seasons. You start recruiting. You're building that relationship for a year, two and three years.
And to come in in the short term, we did a nice job of securing the class we had, which we had to re-recruit all of those guys because of all of the changes, the mass changes with our staff. And the staff did a nice job of securing those guys. Just really pleased with what we had, and Urban and his staff did a great job with those guys that were already committed to the university. And then coming back and supplementing some other guys to our football team.
We'll know about this entire class in two or three years, and I'm going to say the same thing next year. In two or three years, we'll know about what kind of class this was. Not today. Today's not the day to judge anything we do, and you can put that in your tape recorder because I'm going to say the same thing next year.
Football's a developmental game. We have an outstanding strength staff and an outstanding coaching staff. It's our job, when we get these young men on campus, is to develop them on and off the field to be good football players and good citizens and good students of the University of Florida. That's what we plan on doing.
We have a smaller senior class for next season. So I didn't feel like at the end of the process, to make an emotional decision in offering guys that I didn't think could play at, on or off the field, a championship level at the University of Florida. And I'd rather have held those scholarships to the next season to give our staff a whole year to evaluate and recruit.
We could have signed 25 initials, and I held it at 18 there with some other possibilities. But excited about that, our signing class coming in. I'll open it up for any questions you may have.
Q. Will, would you talk about the importance of the kids you got in here early and how they've responded to the coaching staff and everything like that. Because most of those kids were recruited by Urban. So you've kind of had to start relationships with them as well.
COACH MUSCHAMP: I had a week, really four days -- actually, three days. When I first took that job that Monday, Tuesday we had the press conference. I was unable to see any recruits. Wednesday, Thursday, and a half day Friday to work on the midyear recruits because some of them had taken their visits to Florida and had never met me. So I had to get in those homes immediately and was seeing three and four young men during the day during that period and that time.
So we have seven midyears that are in here: Jeff Driskel, A.C. Leonard, Javares McRoy, Mike Blakely, Pop Saunders, Clay Burton, and Kyle Christy. All of those young men are doing really well. Coming midyear is great from the standpoint of you're getting way ahead academically, and also from a football standpoint, you're able to go through spring ball.
Academically, it's not as hectic. It's not like you're coming in in the fall when the season's on and there's a lot on your table. You're able to have a slowed process. Going through the off-season program, learning how to work, learning how to work at a championship level. And then getting in at spring ball and understanding the schemes and the different things we ask you to do.
It's huge to get a guy midyear, but they have to be totally into it because they're not going to be able to go to the prom. They're not going to be able to do some of the things your senior year of high school, it's a great time in your life. You have to be all in to want to do this. It's an exciting time in their lives.
Q. Coach, two questions. One, this class averages 212 pounds, one of the smaller classes we've seen in a long time. How concerned are you that you only had two offensive linemen, two defensive linemen, one linebacker? Secondly, how much resistance did you run into in homes where you had been recruiting a kid, somebody else had been recruiting them for a year and a half?
COACH MUSCHAMP: Well, I mean, I feel really good about our football team on campus as far as the line of scrimmages. I really do. I wish we could have gotten a little more depth in those line of scrimmages. I look at each player individually, not necessarily the whole class as a whole.
I don't want to look at Javares McRoy as opposed to being Trip Thurman. That's not going to be a good average either as a height of a player. We look at all players individually as far as their body weight and their composition and what kind of player they're going to be.
Not necessarily, I wouldn't say opposition, Pat, as far as it being in the home, but just the fact that, again, I had a lot of this school or this person has been recruiting my son for a year now, and I have one in-home visit in January. That's tough in one night to be able to recruit and sell what we're trying to do.
But University of Florida is a great place, and I'm excited about our future and excited about having a full year to recruit some players in the 2012 class.
Q. Will, can you talk about the secondary guys that you brought in and give us your assessment.
COACH MUSCHAMP: Really excited about bringing the guys we brought in. Of course, Marcus Roberson sent in as a corner this morning. We've got more length at the corner position. Loucheiz Purifoy is a similar athlete, excited about him, great athleticism, ball skills down the field, man coverage skills. Great athlete.
Valdez Showers is a guy from Michigan, a guy, when you turn his tape on, he's got great highlights as a running back. We're going to play him at defensive back but as a bigger bodied defensive back. Shows all the critical aspects of being a successful player.
Pop Saunders played quarterback in high school. I really like recruiting defensive backs that have played quarterback because they have to make critical decisions. And the critical decisions you make on the back end sometimes can cost you a football game. I like the fact this guy has had to make decisions with the ball in his hands, and I really like his athleticism in the few days we've been able to watch the workouts.
Chris Johnson from Trinity is a very physical player, in the box safety. He's shown skills to play outside in the deep part of the field. And Jabari Gorman is a guy that's been able to do a lot of things. Played some receiver down at Pace. He's a very versatile player that can do a lot of different things. He can play nickel. He can play corner. He can play safety. But we recruited him as a safety to come in and contribute for us.
Q. Will, what's the likelihood that these 18 guys are your full signing class? Are you still waiting on some people for later in the week?
COACH MUSCHAMP: We're going to comment on the guys, these 18. There are some possibilities, but that's it.
Q. Any updates on changes in the coaching staff?
COACH MUSCHAMP: We'll address that once the recruiting questions are done.
Q. I was wondering if you could talk about what Ja'Juan Story brings, what you like about him. And Hunter Joyer as well. And also with Ja'Juan, how concerned were you that he might be wavering a little bit?
COACH MUSCHAMP: You're always concerned about wavering until you get that form in. Until you actually get that in these days, it's always a concern. Ja'Juan is a bigger receiver. He's going to be a tough matchup with a smaller corner. He's a guy that can vertically stretch the field. He's got great ball skills down the field, very athletic. Again, played quarterback most of high school. He's electric with the ball in his hands, but he's a guy that's shown really nice ball skills down the field.
Hunter Joyer, we're going to get back to more traditional as far as running two-back runs. And he's got a lower body punch and explosion. He's a very strong young man. He lives in the weight room, and we're excited to what he brings to our football team from a toughness standpoint.
Q. Coach, Driskel never really wavered. How important was that for getting him in here and holding those early guys together.
COACH MUSCHAMP: That was critical. It was a very short period of time to make that happen. Jeff's an outstanding player. He's a very athletic big quarterback that can really spin it. I mean, he's got great velocity on the ball. He's shown good leadership, good skills. I'm excited that he's here midyear.
Q. Will, how much did the early enrollees help you as far as getting the guys you signed today?
COACH MUSCHAMP: Well, I think all of our players helped as far as -- that's part of the huge recruiting process when a young man comes on a visit. They're going to -- the first person they're going to ask is the players. That's part of the transition process that is hard. What is Coach Muschamp like? I don't know. I've only known him for ten days.
So that is part of the process that's difficult in a transition standpoint of getting to know the players, the players getting to know us. And not just me, but the entire staff, position coaches, operations people. I mean, all of those things changed. So that was -- that's part of the process. That's what you work through. Again, pleased with what we've got.
Q. Will, coming in from Texas, obviously, you were at LSU and at Auburn, but to make those relationships again in the southeast, was it a little tougher than maybe you thought coming in this year?
COACH MUSCHAMP: No, not at all. I've got great relationships with the high school coaches and obviously working for a place like Florida is an exciting place for a young man to want to go to be a student-athlete. So I don't feel the difficulty as much as just the different situations of building those relationships.
Again, I took the recruiting board that we had, and I recruited the players that had genuine interest in Florida, and then I took some guys that I evaluated that I thought might be good additions to our board and recruited those select guys. But as I stated earlier, I was more interested in the quality of players and the character of the player that we're going to sign at Florida as opposed to going out and signing a class of 25 and regretting three or four or five of those guys. That's not what we're going to do.
We weren't going to make an emotional decision and go out and just sign guys to sign guys. That's not the purpose of what we want to do. We've got a small senior class. We're going to take those scholarships to next season so we can sign a full class.
Q. Also, obviously, you have the unfair advantage of coming in late and trying to develop these relationships. When you get your staff in a little later as well, you only had a month with all of those guys. How tough is that?
COACH MUSCHAMP: Again, Charlie and Dan were both in the playoffs. It was great for them and great for publicity for them and for us. We know what kind of football coaches they are. That goes back to the relationships and building trust with people. Really, Dan was on the road for about a week and Charlie for two. That's the way it goes. We're not complaining. I'm glad to be the Gators.
Q. Coach Muschamp, coaches talk about the guys who are the Jimmy and the Joes. Everybody wants the five stars, but as you know, quite often, it's the threes and fours who fill those cracks in there.
COACH MUSCHAMP: You've seen those guys that rate those five stars?
Q. I've seen them, yes. But don't you feel that is really kind of the heart of your team when you get those three and fours? Don't they fill those cracks?
COACH MUSCHAMP: I don't count stars. I watch the tape. I recruit. I don't want to disappoint anybody or offend anyone. I don't read the internet. I just put the tape on and decide from a critical factor standpoint, this guy can fit in our program and be a good football player.
He's got a good looking transcript. He's going to do things right off the field. I'm excited about him being a part of our program. But I don't know. I hadn't turned on ESPN today and checked out what everybody's thinking. I couldn't tell you that. I'm worried about what I think more than what they think.
Q. And were you able to recruit by need at all? I know it's hard to evaluate your talent, but were you able to fill some spots?
COACH MUSCHAMP: That's part of the hard part of the transition. As far as where you want to go schematically, you watch the film from last season, but I still have certain concerns about position. Where do these guys fit with what we want to do offensively, defensively, special teams? And that's a little bit of the issue you get into, where do we need to recruit? What do we need to build up right now?
It's certainly easy to look at numbers and say, yeah, okay, well. But from a quality standpoint, where do you need to build depth on your football team? That's something we'll know more about as we work through the process.
Q. Coach, there were a lot of guys that were committed before you showed up. You talk about the process that you went through knowing that those were guys you want to keep through the program. It seems like you went basically with the board they had and the guys that were committed that they had and try to keep it going. Can you talk about that process?
COACH MUSCHAMP: I think it's important. They committed to the University of Florida. So I work for the University of Florida, and I was committed to them. I think that's important. We want to honor that commitment. That's what I was going to do. I think that's the honorable thing to do. So we offered the opportunity for all of those young men to have that opportunity to be committed to Florida.
Some of those young men decided they wanted to be here. The ones that do, we're going to prosper and move on and have a great career.
Q. You said, when you're here, you're going to worry about the guys that get here. But seeing the guys out there that maybe could help you, was there any disappointment you weren't able to pull more?
COACH MUSCHAMP: Zero.
Q. How do you feel about the linebacker position with just Graham?
COACH MUSCHAMP: Graham Stewart, I'm excited about him. We had him in camp. We had good measurables on him. He's a good physical player. Plays the game the way it's supposed to be played.
Q. Just given the fluctuation with your coaching staff, your short time span, that Urban had a much better idea of what these guys were like than maybe you, how much did you lean on Urban for evaluations? How much did you trust yourself to evaluate these guys? And how much did you lean on a limited coaching staff?
COACH MUSCHAMP: I think, when I first got here, Urban and I talked about the recruiting class, where he thought things were. Not necessarily from an evaluation standpoint, but more input of where he thought we were in the process. You either feel really good about a recruit, or you know we're behind in the game. I like to watch the tape. I like to watch the prospects and lean on our staff for their input of what we're going to do.
Q. Coach, can you talk about how much Texas will be a factor in recruiting for Florida next year with the relationships you built out there?
COACH MUSCHAMP: Again, the first thing we're going to do is take care State of Florida. And then we play in the SEC, and we have to take care of those southern states and the surrounding states. But we have a national brand in the University of Florida. If there's those that have a genuine interest in the University of Florida, we certainly reach out and see if they fit what we're looking for.
Q. Going back to Jeff, how important was it to keep him committed and get that quarterback in this class? Especially, I mean, top rated guy in the country, and then considering the depth you guys have at quarterback.
COACH MUSCHAMP: Jeff is an outstanding player, first of all. Secondly, the quarterback position is different from all other positions from the standpoint of you've got to have that guy. To pull the trigger, to manage the game, to convert third downs, to have the leadership ability to be able to affect the other guys on the offense and in the huddle and on your football team and in the locker room.
Past that, our numbers at quarterback aren't very good. We're short still at numbers at quarterback. So those are things we've got to continue to look at so we know we're building depth on our football team.
Q. What have you seen from him that you really like?
COACH MUSCHAMP: I've really just seen him walking up and down the hall as much as anything. I mean, he walks good.
Q. Any film or anything?
COACH MUSCHAMP: I've watched his film, yeah. He's an outstanding prospect. I'm glad he's a Florida Gator. As far as right now, we're very limited by NCAA rules as far as what we can do and our interaction with the players. We're working through the off-season program at the time.
Q. Will, would you talk about -- you only had a short time to work with the coaching staff you assembled. Would you talk about developing the chemistry that you've got to have to recruit with these guys kind of on the fly?
COACH MUSCHAMP: I think, as much as anything, to understand what we're all looking for in the recruiting process. By each position, there's certain critical factors we describe and we look for and the type of player we want to recruit.
I said in my opening press conference, there's going to be some really good football players we don't recruit at Florida because they may not fit what we're looking for. That's not a slight to them at all. It's just our personal preference.
To me, as important as anything is getting on the same page. Let's define what we're looking for at this position, this position, this position, the type of young man we want in our program. And that's what we're kind of working through right now in this process of transitioning and coming in.
Q. Does Jeff have a legitimate shot to win that quarterback job in the spring? Is that job going to be open, or is that Brantley's job?
COACH MUSCHAMP: Every job on our football team is open. That's not just the quarterback position. I don't look at that position as any other. Every position every day needs to be earned. And anybody -- the best motivator in any sport or anything is competition. When a guy knows he's got to go out and compete for his job every day, then he's going to play well. That's what -- that's every job. That's every day. That's the way you've got to live your life.
Q. Would you address the coaching staff.
COACH MUSCHAMP: We're right in the middle of our off-season football program, which Mickey feels like is going very well. We're real excited about that.
And assembling this staff has been something very exciting. First of all, the support of our administration, Jeremy Foley, our athletic director, Dr. Machen has been phenomenal in making sure we're able to hire quality coaches. Again, Florida is an attractive place. A lot of these guys wanted to be here. There's some interesting stories that I won't get into as far as their reasons. I'm sure you will have time and access to them in time as we push through this process.
But you've got 161 years of coaching experience, 52 years in the NFL, 17 BCS Bowls, and 5 Super Bowl rings. So this is a staff that's very accomplished in their expertise as far as their profession is concerned, both in the collegiate level and the National Football League.
We hired Derek Lewis today to coach our tight ends. Derek was at Minnesota for the last four seasons. He's played at the University of Texas. Many Gators will be familiar with Derek. He was the tight end that beat Nebraska in the 1996 Big 12 Championship Game that catapulted the Gators into the National Championship Game. So he's helped the Gators before, and we're looking forward to him helping us again. Very charismatic, worked for Mack Brown as a graduate assistant when he finished playing for three years with the St. Louis Rams when he won a Super Bowl ring as a tight end with the Rams.
He's a very passionate, charismatic guy about his job. He recruited the State of Florida, which is criteria I was looking for. And a guy I feel like, as far as his expertise in his area, is very good.
We're going to take Brian White and move him to running backs. And he'll coach our move tight ends, our slash fullback tight end. In his 11 years at Wisconsin, Brian coached Heisman trophy winner Ron Dane, first round pick Michael Bennett, and Big Ten freshman of the year Anthony Davis, while he was also the coordinator, which being coach in the running back position certainly would be more influential in the running game with Charlie as far as the things we want to do in the running game. That's a pretty good pedigree for the things he's done in the running back position.
Aubrey Hill is our wideouts coach, but he'll also be the recruiting coordinator. Really pleased with the job he did recruiting and what he brings to the staff, especially as a former Gator. Any questions?
Q. Will, I don't even know if you've addressed this, but you have some players who have either tweeted or indicated they are moving positions. One of them, Trey Burton, to defense. Jordan Reed to tight end. I'm just curious if you've had a chance to even evaluate to that point.
COACH MUSCHAMP: Pat, that's really where we are right now. We're working through the process as far as the positions and all. Right now with the rules, we're in the off-season program. There's no football involved. There's no pads involved.
Explosive power, sure, there's some guys that look really exciting. We've got a good football team on this campus right now. We've got to get them pulling together in the right direction, and that's what we're trying to do, trying to get them to pull together for a common purpose right now.
As far as position changes right now, I haven't decided, you know, concrete of what we're going to look at. Trey was a guy that's been talked about as a defensive back, but I'm not so sure he's not better suited to be on the offensive side of the ball as a fullback move and still have some sort of package for him at the quarterback position.
And Jordan's a guy that we're still working through the process with him right now of where he'll end up. He's an outstanding athlete. He'll be an integral part of what we do offensively. I can tell you that.
Q. Can you just talk about Janoris Jenkins situation, what kind of disciplinary action he may face? And do you view this as a chance to set the tone for your disciplinary standards with the team?
COACH MUSCHAMP: It's all being handled internally, and I'm handling the situation.
Q. What was the reasoning behind making Aubrey Hill the recruiting coordinator?
COACH MUSCHAMP: Well, you know, as much as anything -- and Aubrey will tell you the same thing I'm about to say. It's as much a title as anything else. We coordinate the recruiting efforts as a group, as far as what we're doing. I set the numbers of what we're looking for and the type player we're looking for, and I define what we're looking for at each position with the input from the assistants. That's why we did it.
Q. [ Inaudible ]?
COACH MUSCHAMP: We are right now. Yes, they have, but we still now, with Derek coming in and his different recruiting in Florida, different areas that he has been in, I want to make sure we're in the right areas and we're hitting the right spots.
We've got most of it set, but we're still finishing that up, though.
Q. Who made you aware of Urban's situation being on the payroll and that being a potential violation? How quickly did you move on that? Does that change the ruling?
COACH MUSCHAMP: That was handled by our administration, Jeremy, and they handled all of that.
Q. I believe you guys now have six Super Bowl rings on your coaching staff. Can you talk about how important it is to have guys that have not only NFL experience but at the top level of the NFL?
COACH MUSCHAMP: I think, as a student-athlete looking at the University of Florida, it's a huge bonus. You want to come to a school with a great education, which you're going to get here. It's a top 15 public institution. It's a flagship school of the state. It's an outstanding education. That's the first thing.
Secondly, you want to look at the staff, and as far as developing you as a football player. So first of all, the most important hire for me is Mickey. Mickey does a phenomenal job. They're going to spend more time with the strength coach than they are any football coach on our staff year round because NCAA rules limit you as far as the interaction, as far as football is concerned, with the staff. So he needs to do a great job.
I got a great example two weeks ago, three weeks ago. Percy Harvin walks in my office to introduce himself. In the off-season, Percy Harvin works out with Mickey. Carlos Dunlap is back finishing his degree. He's working out with Mickey. Here are two professional athletes that could be working out anywhere in the country, and they're working out with Mickey. That says to me an awful lot about his reputation and what he can do with athletes. So from a development standpoint, it starts there.
Secondly, you've got to look from a coaching standpoint. The expertise that a Dan Quinn can bring for defensive linemen. The mentorship that a Bryant Young can bring for defensive linemen as far as he's been there, he's done that. The job that D.J. Durkin has done at linebackers and specials teams. My experience, Travaris Robinson's experience coaching secondary and coordinating a defense in the National Football League.
Charlie Weis' experience speaks for itself -- the development of Tom Brady, Matt Cassell going to the pro bowl this year, the job he does as a play caller and developing quarterbacks. Frank Verducci, eight years in the National Football League. Derek Willis being a tight end and winning a Super Bowl ring. Aubrey Hill being a former captain here at the University of Florida and graduating from here and the job that he's done. And Brian White, he's had a Heisman trophy winner in Ron Dane. So it's a really good staff.
It's guys that know what they're doing, that know how to get guys to go to the next level if that's what they want to do. The most important thing is get an education here. That's what they're going to do.
Q. Coach, you might have answered my question, but how much involvement are you going to have with the defensive backs being a former safety yourself?
COACH MUSCHAMP: I hope they play better than me, I can tell you that. So do as I say, not as I did is my motto as a coach. I'm going to be very involved in the defense and very involved in the secondary. I'll be working primarily with the safety position, only one they play good. That was a joke.
Q. I don't mean to go back to recruiting, but how much of a positive effect did Coach Robinson have with Marcus Roberson, with the prior relationship at Texas Tech?
COACH MUSCHAMP: Travaris is an outstanding person, first of all, but he's a really good recruiter. He relates to anybody in the room whether you're 80 years old or you're 8. I noticed that about him when he was a graduate assistant at Auburn. He's an outstanding football coach, and he does a great job. Really our entire staff does. We're looking forward to taking a swing at it for a year.
Q. Will, with honoring the offers that have been made by Meyer's staff, were you really able to recruit players to your system, or will that have to wait until next year maybe?
COACH MUSCHAMP: Well, I think that all 18 guys are for our system, and I believe that. I think it's your job as a coach to evaluate the talent, to evaluate the player, and to put him in a situation where he can be successful. We're not going to take a scheme and throw it on our player and say, this is what we are. We need to adapt what we do to where we can put the players in the best situation where they can be successful. That's what good coaches do, in my opinion, and that's what I know we're going to try to do to put them in situations where they can be successful.
With the 18 kids we've got, I'm excited about them. Excited about what they bring to the table. They all come in different packages, but I'm excited about what they're bringing to the Gators.
Q. You finally get a chance to stay in Gainesville for a while and get to know players. How much of a -- I understand the process of recruiting, how important it is. How important is this next month for you and your coaches and your players all to really get to know each other?
COACH MUSCHAMP: Every day is critical. It's tough the way the calendar falls as far as the recruiting calendar because, when a new coach comes in, you're gone the whole month of January recruiting. You're out. You're trying to build for your future, build to develop the depth of your football team, and yet you've got a team on campus that doesn't even know who you are.
So that's a critical time for us. We'll be very involved in the off-season workouts as far as what we're doing. And this is where you build your football team for next season. This is where you build your mental and physical toughness, your discipline, and this is a critical time to me in building this football team for the future of our program.
Q. Will, you talked in your first press conference about the Florida way. I know you probably haven't defined that yet. If you can speak on that subject and also where you think you are on that. Also, you mentioned Mickey and Brian White. Talk about Brian White and D.J. Durkin, two guys you held over, and what your relationship was with them before.
COACH MUSCHAMP: You asked a lot of questions there. You may have to repeat a couple.
First of all, I was able to watch practice, four practices before the Outback Bowl, before we broke for Christmas. And Urban -- I was able to evaluate that with him, which was great. I listened to a lot of his input on things as far as the staff is concerned and players, present players and players we were recruiting.
And Brian has proceeded himself as an outstanding offensive coordinator. I think, being a coordinator before, it was always good to have a guy on the staff that's called it, that understands the issues, that sees the big picture. I always talk about looking through the door, not the keyhole. See the big picture in the whole situation. And to have a guy that's coordinated before, in my opinion, is very important for the coordinator on that side of the ball because he's going to be probably a big picture guy, and Brian's been very successful at Wisconsin. He's done an outstanding job recruiting for the University of Florida. So I was able to retain him, which I'm excited about.
D.J. Durkin actually was a guy that I knew about before. Recruited against D.J. He actually beat me on a kid in Atlanta. Chase Thomas went to Stanford when I was at another school. I knew about D.J. back then. You don't forget those things. So I knew he was a good recruiter. He's very thorough in his job and what he does.
I've looked at Florida this past season and at Stanford for the three seasons he was there. Special teams were outstanding. He was kind of a buzz nationally about what a job he did nationally as far as special teams are concerned. Then watching him with the players at Florida, I thought he was a very good fit. I have two guys that I really respect in this profession that both called me and said, if you don't retain him, I'm going to hire him. That was a good motivating factor too, competition.
So I'm excited to have Brian and Sally and D.J. and Sarah a part of our family.
Mickey's great. First thing I did when I walked in the building was go down to his office and talk to him for about an hour and just philosophically be on the same page, you know, for what he's about. That's something that I think is the barber shop. That's where they go complain. That's where they go talk about Coach Muschamp, it's not fair what we're doing. So you've got to have somebody in that room that's backing your message, and I know that Mickey's doing that, and he does a phenomenal job.
To see a guy like Percy Harvin, to see a guy like Carlos Dunlap come back, here are two professional athletes that could work out anywhere in the country, and they come back to the University of Florida to work out. That says a lot to me. I forgot your last question.
Q. The Florida way.
COACH MUSCHAMP: I told the players and recruits, we're going to found this on three things: Trust, respect, and communication. It takes two to do all those things. We've got to have blind trust in life. We're not in a very trusting society, but you've got to understand we're going to make great decisions for the University of Florida and for you as players.
That's really all I'm concerned about. If it weren't for the players, I wouldn't have a job. I've got to do a good job in making decisions for them, and trust, respect, and great communication. I think any organization, any business, any marriage has great communication. That's why you're successful. You're not always going to like what I say. One of my favorite sayings, let's agree to disagree. We don't have to agree all the time, but let's make sure we're on the same page of what we're trying to do.
I ask our players to have accountability, be responsible, and be dependable in what they do. We're going to recruit good players here. We've got good players on the campus right now. We've got to get them to buy into that process, to be a good football player, to understand what it takes to be a good player, that it's not just something that happens overnight. There's no entitlement in being a good player.
It takes time to become a good player. You've got to work at it. You've got to be coachable. You've got to understand what it takes to be a good football player before you snap your fingers and think you are because somebody gave you eight stars. That doesn't mean you're a good player.
Thank you all very much.
End of FastScripts
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