IllustrateD volume 24, issue 4 23
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Q & A : G e r a d P a r k e r
BY GOLD AND BLACK STAFF
R
ecruiting coordinator Gerad Parker offered his
thoughts on a variety of topics during a visit to
the set of "Gold and Black LIVE," the webstream show
hosted on GoldandBlack.com and WLFI.com Fridays
from September through March.
Here are excerpts the Feb. 7 interview.
Gold and Black: In this class, 18 of your 19
players were captains of their high school teams.
What does that mean to you?
Parker: "We look at it leadership every year. To
start the building process as to what we're trying to
do. I think that leadership is a big push. We said 'Let's
fix our leadership and find guys who love football and
bring them in here and continue to change culture.'
Coach (Darrell) Hazell is excited about that, that's the
kind of people he wants."
Gold and Black: Do you worry about recruiting
rankings?
Parker: "You certainly don't hear that much talk
about it (around the office). I don't lose any sleep
over it. Coach Hazell has addressed it (with) 'How
does a kid get that star?' It's hard to tell. But at the
same time, the recruiting rankings don't miss on all
of them either. Five-star is usually a pretty good play-
er.
"Over 10,000 kids will play senior football next
year. We want to make sure we get the top of that
10,000 and certainly not the bottom."
Gold and Black: Is there a litmus test for what
you are looking for when you are considering a
prospect?
Parker: "When looking at a prospect, you watch to see
is their head down when they are talking to you? Are they
confident guys? Can they handle themselves around other
guys? The biggest thing for us is having him here on of-
ficial visits and getting feedback from our current players
and how well they interact with them."
Gold and Black: When you look at it, not only
'We're Happy About Our Class'
Signing Day Videos
