Coach Freeze met with the media Tuesday afternoon to discuss his 2019 signing class. Here are his main thoughts on each of the signees:
LB MALIK CAPER 6’1″ 225
“The previous staff did an outstanding job with that school, building relationships. Thrilled that we could add him to our line-backing corp.”
CB KEI’TREL CLARK 5’11” 165
“A guy that we got on real late, had many Group of 5 offers. Our coaches did an outstanding job on this one. We convinced him to split his last visit, on the last weekend, to come spend Sunday with us here. I think we’ve got to do well in Virginia, particularly in the Richmond area, in the 757 area, and up in Northern Virginia. To get this young man out of Richmond I think is a homerun for us.”
WR DEMARIO DOUGLAS 5’8″ 165
“We think Florida is very critical in our recruiting efforts moving forward. We’re going to be heavy in that state, and to get a kid like this off a state championship team, scored 4 touchdowns in that game, in a great league in Florida. We think this just strengthens our wide receiver room for years to come.”
DT WILLIAM GREEN, JR 6’6″ 290
“Huge body, one of the first things I noticed, we need some length defensively. He adds that to us, wonderful kid. Thrilled that we could get him to join us.”
DT ELIJAH JAMES 6’5″ 295
“It was a fight, great battle. I like those in recruiting as long as they go our way. That one went into the wee hours of the morning. He’s 6’5″ and I think he weighed in at 294. He looks like he weighs 270, and that’s the kind of bodies you want at defensive line, athletic looking guys. He was committed to Kentucky for a while. I think being a late out Junior College kid helped us. Most of those kids tend to get out at the December period. When he didn’t, I can’t say if Kentucky went in another direction or what happened.””
OL MAISEN KNIGHT 6’5″ 300
“A guy that we desired early on in the process. We were disappointed we couldn’t get him signed in December. He’s a very mature kid. They wanted to take time to go through the process even more, trip to other schedules, and we were able to get him back for a 2nd visit. We were able to convince him that this is home for him. We think he is a guy that can step in and play in the offensive line next year. We hope that he’s competing for (starting Left Tackle). That’s our plan. That’s where he’ll start at.”
CB TAYVION LAND 5’8″ 170
“Better known as Tank. 4-star recruit out of the 757 area code that had many Power 5 offers. I happened to be in the school junior recruiting the day that we found that maybe we have a shot at this kid. I was driving to the airport, and got the call that he did have an interest. So, I reversed the field, and went back to spend the rest of the day there. By the time the night had hit, we had Coach Hunley and Coach Symons over there too. We worked hard the last two weeks on getting (him). That’s another big Virginia get for us. Between him and Tre (Clark), I feel really, really confident that our corner positions for future years are in good hands.”
TE MICAIAH OVERTON 6’5″ 225
“One of the most disciplined kids that I have ever recruited. This guy gets up every morning at the crack of dawn, gets his things done, takes care of his business. He’s one of those kids where you watch his film and you’re just thinking, man, the ceiling for this kid could be really, really special. I’ve signed some kids like that in the past like an Evan Engram who had very few offers, if any. I think we ended up being his only Division I offer when I was at (Ole Miss). That guy was a first round draft pick. I see this guy with that same type of potential. He’s a great move-type guy offensively, which I like to use a lot. It was not easy, a lot of schools came in on the end for him, his phone was blowing up his whole visit here. It was a fight, but they left this place feeling at home.”
