BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Samford held its 2014 Football Signing Day press conference Wednesday morning from the Cooney Family Field House. Below are quotes from head coach Pat Sullivan from the press conference. 

On Arizona State transfer Michael Eubank being able to enroll early in the spring semester
"Any time a player is able to get involved during spring practice, it helps you, especially a quarterback, because you're going to need as many reps as you can get. Obviously, we're anxious to get out on the field with Michael and see where he is.
 
"There was no exaggeration when we were talking about how excited we are about the quality of guys that we were able to sign. Michael certainly fits right into that group and Devlin (Hodges) definitely fits the same way. I don't know who the starting quarterback is going to be next year, but there's going to be a good competition and we're definitely glad to have the choices that we're going to have. Carson Barnett is also another guy who's going to be in the mix, so it's going to be interesting to see how it comes down."
 
On how it's great for the program to be able to sign good quality players from the Birmingham area
"When we first got here to Samford, to be quite honest with you, we didn't get many players from this area. Now, all you have to do is look at our past rosters and Fabian Truss is from Shades Valley High School. He was an All-American. Nick Williams was from Minor High School and he ended up being drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers. James Bradberry was from Pleasant Grove High School and Justin Shade, who was an All-American last year, was from Briarwood Christian Academy, so we've recently had countless players from the Birmingham area, who have gained interest in Samford."
 
"Once a player sees Samford, they see the quality of education that they can get here. They see the quality of football that's being played and it really gives us something to sell."
 
How is the depth going to look on this team after reaching the playoffs last season?
"Obviously, we're excited about this year's class. We do have a lot of depth and now it will be our goal this year and every year to get to the playoffs and to make a run towards the national championship. We got a little taste of it this past year, but we didn't play well in the playoffs. I honestly thought that once our guys got to the playoffs, they sort of felt that they already reached their goal. Well, that's not good enough. We have a lot of work to do and our goals and priorities are going to be to not only get to the playoffs, but to make a run throughout the playoffs."
 
On how the quarterback race will be handled
"Here's a perfect example. Last season, Andy Summerlin set every passing record at Samford that could be set, but going into the last week of practice before the season we didn't know if either he or Ben Neill was going to be our starter. We made the decision to go with Andy and it definitely worked out, but Ben was an outstanding player for us as well."


How do you see Malik Johns' role in the offense next season
"With the offense that we run and the fly motion that we use, he'll get the speed sweep, he'll get the screen passes and that's what we'll want to do, because you always want to get the ball into your playmakers' hands. He certainly is going to be one of our playmakers. We hope he can be very similar to Kelsey Pope, because they've had a similar background, as far as being quarterbacks in high school. Hopefully, everything will fall his way."
 
On Devlin Hodges
"Devlin is a really good player. He had a lot of offers from some really good schools, but once he committed, he was here at every game and we couldn't have had a better ambassador for our program. He's a really good player, so we were excited to get him."
 
On Omari Williams
"We didn't really know how we were going to be on defensive backs, but then last week we were able get a good read on Omari, and both of his parents are educators in the Birmingham public schools, so it was a good sell for us with the quality of education here at Samford. He is a good player and a good person. He's 6-foot-2, 185-pounds and can really run. He was also the captain of all three major sports (football, basketball and baseball) at Parker High School, so he's a great leader as well."
 
On if there were any surprises in this year's class
"We definitely signed what we set out to sign, but yeah there were some surprises and they were all good surprises. We were glad that we were able to get Omari, because that was a huge get for us. Shaheed (Salmon) was somebody that we were able to pick up, and that was also big, because he had a lot of other choices. He ended up coming here and that was another huge get for this program. He's 6-foot-2, 215 pounds and has a great frame. We were really pleasantly surprised with those two players, for sure."