Looking to continue building champions Wednesday
2/5/2013 7:06:00 AM | Football
The Bearkats look to sign an important recruiting class on National Letter of Intent Day Wednesday. Head Coach Willie Fritz will hold his annual signing day news conference Wednesday at 3 p.m. at the Ron Mafrige Field House.
The past two years, Sam Houston State has put together the most successful back-to-back football seasons in the Southland Conference's 50-year history.
The Bearkats have gone 25-5, won two Southland Conference titles, six NCAA Division I FCS playoff games, made consecutive appearances in the NCAA title game in Frisco and been ranked in the nation's top 10 for 20 consecutive weeks.
In order to keep up that level of excellence, and take it one step further, Sam Houston State coach Willie Fritz and his staff know they have to keep on bringing in the right players to fill the gaps and continue to build for the future.
In the weeks that have followed the Bearkats' second consecutive trip to the national championship game, Fritz and his coaches have been busy trying to persuade recruits to choose Sam Houston over other potential suitors.
"It's been a whirlwind. We jumped right into recruiting," Fritz said . "We've had more than 20-something prospects in so far. The coaches have done a good job of accumulating talent, but recruiting is not an exact science. We're trying to do a good job of trying to find the guys who are the right fit for us and the university and the football program."
The results of that recruiting effort will be seen Wednesday on NCAA national letter-of-intent signing day.
What has helped draw more talented players has been another year's worth of national and regional exposure.
On the heels of their first FCS title game, the Kats had nearly every regular-season game in 2012 televised on a variety of stations. Plus, all of Sam Houston's four playoff games were televised nationally on ESPN's networks.
Fritz said the exposure from winning those games has helped expand the visibility of Sam Houston State even further.
"Even though we get out late with recruiting, the players all know that we've been busy and they know why we've been busy and we haven't been able to go by and see them as much as we'd like," the coach said. "I think these FCS playoffs are really a great deal for the university as a recruiting tool to get in. You can't put a price tag on publicity this gives our university."
The Bearkats could see firsthand what that kind of exposure as well as a lengthy playoff run could do for recruiting this time last year as high-caliber players, some who were also being courted by FBS programs, signed with Sam Houston. A few players saw action as true freshmen.
"We redshirted a really good group of kids. I think there's going to be quite a few of those guys who are going to have very good careers at Sam," Fritz said. "We played (cornerback) Shelby Davis as a true freshman, (offensive lineman) Donald Jackson as a true freshman. We've got a lot of talent and ability in that class. I think a lot of those guys will have an opportunity to start or play a lot for us next year."
In order to address those needs, Fritz and his staff have targeted several areas to make up their 2013 class, including offensive line, which was one of the main focuses at this time last year, and the secondary.
"We need to get some offensive linemen again. Those guys, generally, take a little bit of time to develop and most of the time that's size-wise. They need to get 20 to 30 pounds heavier and stronger. That's an area of need," Fritz said. "We want to get some guys on the offensive line and also some defensive backs. We need to sign a good class, so we're actively recruiting a bunch of defensive backs as well."
Fritz has a good idea about what to expect from this year's signing class when the national letters of intent start printing from the fax machine on Feb. 6.
"We have our plan," Fritz said. "One thing we don't do is sign guys for the sake of signing them for numbers. We want guys who we think have a legitimate chance of playing for us.
"Then you'd also like to save a little bit of room in May when maybe some kids grow a little disenchanted if they're playing at the FBS level and want to transfer due to playing time or playing far from home or whatever the case may be. I'm sure we'll also add three to five transfer kids when it's all said and done.
"Our big goal this past year was to get to the point to be a team that's spoken about as an FCS power. I think when people across the country who know anything about FCS football rattle off the top five FCS programs, I think they're going to say our name. That's good, but we still haven't gotten where we want to go and accomplish what we want to accomplish and that's bringing a national championship back here to Huntsville."
