Nov. 11, 2011
ATLANTA – Georgia Tech coach Brian Gregory met the media in the Bobby Dodd Stadium press box Thursday night before the Yellow Jackets’ football game with Virginia Tech to talk about his recruiting class.
Opening Statement
“Obviously it was a great excitement. Yesterday was a tremendous day for our program with Chris and Marcus signing. It’s been a long time. When guys commit to you early like those guys did, you just wait and wait and wait and then today with the signing of Robert (Carter) it just puts us in position where our goals and objectives in this recruiting class in particular point, we’ve been able to meet. We wanted to establish a presence in the state of Georgia. It’s a great state for basketball. Players are well-coached and well-schooled. We wanted to make sure the best players took a serious look at us. We’re not going to get every single one, I understand that, but at the same time we wanted to make sure we have a presence and I think we did that. With these three guys I think we’re bringing in the highest quality of a player and also really high character people. That’s one thing I’m excited about. As good of players as they are, they’re all highly ranked and could’ve went to a bunch of different places, but they’re really good kids. They understand the process that we’re taking right now and they’re excited about being part of it.”
On Robert Carter
“He’s as complete of a big man at this stage as I’ve seen in a long, long time because he can do everything. He can shoot the ball from the perimeter with a great shooting touch. He’s a really good passer so he can actually create plays make plays in a read situation. He’s got a basketball IQ for a guy his age that is off the charts. You add his physical strength and his ability to score around the basket and he is a tough matchup, he really is. The thing that’s special about Robert is how unselfish he plays and he does play with a great energy level and you can tell he loves to play, and that’s infectious. I saw that throughout the entire summer.”
Signing any more players?
“You’re never done recruiting. We have scholarships to give. We’re not going to sign anybody else [in the early signing period], so one of the things that’s important is we need to get a feel for our current players as well. We’ve had a month of practice and you have to go through a season. Challenges always come up and our guys respond and so forth, and so needs may come up as the season progresses. You evaluate and so forth. We’re going to continue to recruit a handful of players in the season, and they have to fit the characteristics that we’re looking for. Guys that understand the procedure and the academics here at Georgia Tech and really value education. Guys that want to be part of something special and are willing to do that. Plus they’ve got to be extremely talented because we play in the premier conference and you have to have great players to be successful.”
On the recruiting process
“It speaks volumes for two things. One, we have an unbelievable staff that are just tireless workers, not just recruiters. That’s one thing I said when I hired them, we did not want guys that were pigeon-holed. They can all coach, they can all teach, they’re all great with the guys and they’re great recruiters because they believe in the things that we’re selling, and they believe in the vision for where we want to get to. There are point men in the recruiting. Chad Dollar did a great job with Robert Carter, there’s no doubt about it, and he’s kind of led the way due to his knowledge of the landscape here in the state of Georgia. The second one is Georgia Tech, and let’s not fool ourselves this is a great product to sell. When you talk about the prestigious academics, what the degree from Georgia Tech is going to do for these guys when they’re done playing and the conference and level of play, Tech is one of the few places in the country you don’t have to compromise the highest level of basketball for the highest level of academics. The thing I always talk about is you lap that around with the city of Atlanta, and you’ve got a great place and you’ve got a great product. The things you’re talking about with these recruits and what you want to do, it’s not like it’s never been done here before. That’s a big advantage that we have. It’s been done here before. It’s been done by some great men and players and hopefully that’s what we’re going to build to.”
On when Robert Carter committed
“He came into practice and I told him, “you’re out!” because we were practicing and he had his press conference. I thought we did everything well in the recruiting process. I thought we had a great situation for him. I thought during the recruiting process we had a great relationship with him, and I was just hoping for the best and our two recruits, Chris and Marcus, did a couple of things and a tremendous job as well. Some guys don’t do that, they’re all about protecting their own turf and they did a great job.”
