SIGNING DAY LUNCHEON ARCHIVE

HEAD COACH CHRIS HATCHER WITH THE MEDIA

PHOTO GALLERY

SIGNEE HIGHLIGHTS

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- As part of National Signing Day, the Samford Bulldog Club held a luncheon for its members, and head coach Chris Hatcher met with the media prior to the luncheon. Click on the links above to see an archive from the luncheon and media interviews, as well as a photo gallery and highlights of Samford's 19 signees. Below is a transcript of Coach Hatcher's comments to the media.


SAMFORD HEAD COACH CHRIS HATCHER SIGNING DAY QUOTES
 
Opening Statement
"First of all we are extremely excited, we have a lot of people to thank. We have a great staff and great support staff that really worked hard; all the way from the edits we send the players, to coordinating the visits, to showing them around campus and a lot of hours spent on the road. All college coaches do that but our guys were very diligent; we got an early start on it this year."
 
"After having been here for a full season and we are really pleased with our class. Like I always say, 'They all come highly recommended.' You can't sign them all but the ones we were able to get we are extremely excited about, they fill a lot needs that we had going into this class. Then there at the very end we got a couple of big surprises that kind of capped the class off."
 
"It's a good day for Samford football. You have to really focus on the recruiting. It's all about the players as we well know. Now we have to do a good job of coaching our current players and getting these new guys to come in and get integrated with the way we do things this summer because a lot of them we're going to need to fill some voids to help us be very successful on the field next season."
 
What were some of those surprises?
"The big surprise there was TD (TaDarryl) Marshall there at the very end. He had a lot of things going on early and we have been recruiting him the whole time. This weekend some things fell off and he came to visit us. Had a great visit, looked at peace here and it went all the way to last night but we are excited that we got him."
 
"He will be an athlete type guy for us. Right now we are looking at playing him at some different spots, receiver probably being his primary position but he is good enough that he could do a lot different things for us, and he knows that. He is a dynamic player to go along with all of the other guys that we have signed as well."
 
I know last year a lot of the talk was of you trying to get acclimated and was thrown in right around this time of year. How different was it this year?
"Well there's no question about it. A lot of the guys on the staff were still intact and they had been recruiting and I didn't know so I went off of their recommendations. I mean they knew the current team that we had, they knew the needs that we had and they did an awesome job. This year, of course I was more involved because I have been here for a season. We knew specifically what we had to go get and I mean we went out and got it. So, again it all looked really good today but if it doesn't look good today it's very difficult for it to look good in the fall. We got some guys that could come in and be immediate impact players for us."
 
When you say voids, what areas were you looking at there?
"Well we need help at all positions especially from a depth perspective. The big thing for us was our secondary, we lost a lot of good players over there and we addressed a lot of those needs, especially at safety. That was really good to see and we got a little depth on the offensive line which was something that we had to have. We signed some really big players there and of course we needed some receivers, defensive linemen, we needed a linebacker but really the secondary; that was a big, big need for us."
 
You weren't here whenever Finnegan was here but just to have a guy with the name Samford tied to it that's playing in the big game this weekend. Did that help a little in recruiting, does it help with this program?
"Well there's no question. The biggest football game of the year is the Super Bowl and having a former player in it does nothing but help you, definitely doesn't hurt you. He's a great ambassador of Samford. I believe I first met him early in the year, he was at a game, he was retired, now we look up and he's playing in the Super Bowl. So he's done well for himself this year and we are very excited for him."
 
"I think whenever you look at Samford with what all it has to offer: you're in a great city, you play a high level of football, and you have a tremendous academic reputation. Then you look around and you have a guy like that playing in the Super Bowl. You see Jaquiski Tartt last year being drafted in the second round, this year James Bradberry getting all of the publicity for being in the Senior Bowl. You can come here, play a high level of ball, have a great opportunity to play in the NFL and more importantly within all of that you get a Samford degree. When you put all of those things together, we got a very special situation here."
 
Landing a player (Marshall) of this caliber and knowing who was looking at him before, do you feel like that maybe potentially sends a message not only throughout the state but throughout the league as well with the caliber of player you guys can land?
"Well we hope so and he is a great player but we have a lot of other great ones that are in this class that are integral to what we are trying to do. I think the big thing for us if you look at the roster we had seven guys from the metro Birmingham area. Now that doesn't talk about Huntsville or Montgomery, just right around here that signed with us this year. Our big thing is that it's cool to go to Samford, it's a beautiful place and we want to get that out there. You take TD and then Mike Williams, who was a highly recruited guy as well. Mike may have been recruited just as highly as TD. Two local guys who chose to come to Samford sends a strong message about the type of place we have."