Tom Lemming Quotes (56 Quotes)

This is a great opportunity to see many of the best players in Arkansas for next year at one time.

The top three teams in the Big Ten were Penn State, Michigan and Ohio State. But Zook and his staff showed they know how to recruit. They did a very good job.

He's a great athlete. He's the kind of guy that Iowa, who has a great coaching staff, can really get and turn around and make into a fantastic player.

Next year, Miami will be back in business, but right now they are suffering a lot. Devlin said that's why he left, because the coach who was recruiting him was fired. You'll be hearing that same thing with several players nationally.

Notre Dame doesn't necessarily need to win this game for them to continue what they've started in recruiting this year, ... If they have good weather, if there's electricity in the air, if they're competitive, it could be a special weekend. But could you imagine if they did win, imagine the kind of power Notre Dame will have recruiting-wise.

Size has become a lot more important now. With linemen, it's all about size or growth potential.

Quarterbacks must be careful about being the man. If a quarterback has NFL aspirations, he must choose a college program that has a reputation for developing professional players.

I saw him a couple of times last year and this year,

They have beaten Big Ten schools for some kids. They will sign players at every position, a lot of good athletes.

I think Urban Meyer has a future Heisman Trophy candidate, a guy who's going to lead them to a national championship.

I'm probably part of the problem. It's too much attention on these kids who may not even be that great.

The offensive linemen they've brought in is a real good group. I like their linemen. It's not going to be a super highly rated one, but it's a real competitive one.

I think it sends a message that Notre Dame is back in business. It gives them a little oomph going into next year.

It could be the first time that only one of the teams finishes in the top 10 in a long time. There's always been two of them and most of the time all three (in the top 10).

Some people think all these guys from the pros, like Weis and Carroll, can just universally be good recruiters, because they're coming from the NFL,

Zook did a masterful job of recruiting, especially considering Illinois was 2-9 last season and finished last in the Big Ten. Because the state was down, they went national with a positive, aggressive attitude.

If I had to name one recruiter that would be the best in the country this year, it would be Larry Johnson.

On film, without a doubt, Clausen is the best quarterback in the country, the best high school quarterback I've seen in the last five years. He reminds me of Florida's Chris Leak, only better. He has the same maturity and great arm strength. He is 18 going on 30.

That's a better showing than they've had at any time since the 1980s.

I absolutely applaud South Florida. Of course, only the superpowers can really do that and not get hurt.

Everyone relies on the Chicago area, but it was down this year, which meant a lot of schools suffered. At least 30 offensive linemen had the size to play Division I. But they had bad senior years. Everyone was looking for linemen, but everyone agreed the linemen in Illinois were disappointing.

The problem is, it's the worst year for recruiting in 20 years in Chicago. And it's the worst year in 10 years in the Midwest. For them to do really well, they're going to have to do well out of state. That's the key.

Schilling was a real good catch. And they could get more.

I would go visit Virginia and miss players -- I wasn't aware until 5-6 years ago how good the talent was across the state,

It is the smart thing to do. Not too many kids have time or money to visit coast-to-coast. But the more visits a kid takes, the more colleges become aware of him. If you don't play well, you won't get an offer. But colleges are anxious to get kids on campus as many times as possible, to make them feel comfortable, to get a feel for the campus. Then they feel they have as good a chance to sign them as anyone else.

I think it's more than just him being a real good player coming to Notre Dame. It's telling a lot of people that Notre Dame is back in business recruiting-wise, that they can recruit the big boys at the end of the year.

Maybe one out of every five (does it right). That's about it. The rest of them listen to too many people and get the wrong advice and make decisions for the wrong reasons. Some kids end up making good decisions just by luck. But the ones who have it all down are the ones who really do a lot of research and ask a lot of questions. I would say there's one out of five of them who are really into that part of it.

He's getting such great talent, people will be mad next year if they don't win big, if they're not in the BCS, if they are not title contenders with all the talent they are getting. People don't like sitting around and waiting. They are going to be on his butt if he loses three games next year.

He has two older brothers who were accomplished, big-time passers and he's been training for this since he was 5 years old. He's a precision passer and he's miles ahead of everyone else I've seen this year.

(Notre Dame is) keeping him warm. Chances are good they're not going to go after him.

He is succeeding through enthusiasm and aggressiveness in recruiting. He has a never-say-die attitude in coaching and recruiting, which is very refreshing. He has personality and flair. In the past, Illinois gambled a lot on juniors who didn't pan out. Zook will wait for great players to develop, then offer them. He will go after great players in Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina and New Jersey. And he will hit the Midwest much harder, especially Ohio and Michigan.

He has the best hands of any back I've seen in the country. He catches everything.

He's miles ahead of everyone else I've seen.

I think the Irish coaches' preparation and work ethic toward recruiting before the two wins is 95 percent of the momentum they have. I think the two wins are 5 percent of it. It's almost as if the recruits, because of the confidence Charlie Weis exudes, kind of expected this to happen, expected early success.

The jury's still out on Illinois. For the most part, you can't rank classes until near signing day because so many schools load up at the end. They have a shot at having a good year. Good salesmen like Zook could do a really good job. They just have to wait for the out-of-state recruits to visit.

He was the top cover corner coming out of high school. He was a certain first-round draft choice as a corner. He probably still will be in a couple of years if he stays at receiver.

by getting high-profile kids out of their normal areas.

It's all about getting as much exposure as possible. This is the biggest decision of their young lives so the more schools they visit, the more opportunities they will have to make the best choice.

To high school, he was what Reggie Bush was to college ball this year.

There may be more guys leaving from that sophomore class. And that was a horrible class to begin with. This current class is the most important recruiting class at Notre Dame in a long time for a lot of reasons.

A lot of quarterbacks commit to a college and fall into a system rather than choosing a college that will develop their talent.

He's not a polished product at quarterback, but with his arm he can make plays even if he's making mistakes. I think he has the strongest arm of any high school quarterback in the country.

They liked the way Burkhart was kicking. He blew everybody away at their summer camp.

I was just impressed with the way they went about their business. They had their priorities set and they got them. For the first time, I think their out-of-state recruiting matched their in-state.

There's some really good talent in the western part of the state. Virginia Tech used to have its way over there until Al Groh got to Virginia. Now there is some really good battling going on for those players. It reminds me of Iowa and Iowa State. You see battles that you didn't see 5-10 years ago and it's really good for the state.

There's been a lot more head-to-head competition this recruiting cycle than there has been in the last 10 years,

It's such a weak year in the Midwest, ... Iowa is real poor. Michigan and Ohio really have bad years. This is the worst year I've seen in Chicago in 20 years. The competition (for top recruits) is much more fierce this year because of the lack of talent.

It means Notre Dame is once again becoming a major force in college recruiting after a 10-year absence. They beat all the top national programs to get Young. He will be the anchor of the best class of incoming offensive linemen in the nation. He is very active and aggressive. He has all the ingredients to be a left tackle at a major program.

One of the best classes I've seen in the last 10 years.

Charlie also has an advantage when he's talking to kids, because he's won Super Bowls with his offense. Not every pro coach who comes into the colleges can say that. Now Pete Carroll surrounded himself with great recruiters and he's a great recruiter himself. His pitch was that he could get his recruits to the pros, and he's delivered. USC is not that easy of a place to recruit -- the facilities are below average, the stadium's below average, the neighborhood's below average, but he's made it look easy.