How is your recruiting affected when prospects leave the footprint?
Cristobal: Well, I just think the world is smaller. I think traveling is easier, and in our case, I'm obviously going to be a little bit biased, but we have a great product to sell, and our coaching staff and the people that surround our student-athletes are really high-caliber professionals with a super high care factor. And I think people feel that. I think they see the investment in the student-athlete when they see the facilities and the resources that we have, and they also see the trajectory of the program. We have a lot of momentum going on right now. They see the types of players and athletes that we're signing, the caliber of people that we're signing, and I think a lot of people want to be a part of that.
But I think around the country in general, I think you see a lot of movement, and you see a lot of out-of-state signings because of the fact that it's just easier to travel now, and I think the cost of attendance alleviates a lot of the things that usually hindered guys leaving the state.
Do you feel that local schools -- do you feel like that's opened up things for more people coming here?
MC: I think the local schools are great schools and great programs, and I just think that, again, the whole traveling part of it has become just a lot easier. I really believe that's what's going on.
You know, you never saw that back in the day, right? Back in the day everyone stayed home and whatnot. But it's just different times, and it might be a phase and it might not be, but I think that's what's transpiring right now.
Talk about the recruitment of Kayvon Thibodeaux.
MC: I don't know if I'm confident in anybody until the very last minute. I think obviously we're blessed to have him, and I want to -- I've said this a few times, and I really mean it. The most impressive part about Kayvon is not the five stars that sit beside his name, it's his five-star attitude and work ethic.
Now, in terms of his recruitment, was I sure? You know, even when he made his announcement and I saw all those people sitting there in crimson, I was like, I don't know, that's not a good look for us right now. But we felt strongly that he had a great experience at Oregon. We felt extremely good about the fact that he connected with us on a personal level as well as his opportunity level, and so it just -- it was -- I'd hate to say yes and no, but it was somewhere in the middle.
What are your expectations for Thibodeaux?
MC: Well, I think guys like him and guys like -- I could go on and on about guys like Mase Funa, Mycah Pittman, Mykael Wright, Keyon. It goes on and on and on. Sean dollars. All these guys, they're really talented guys, and we expect these guys to be contributors, and we expect them to contribute quickly. They've played at high levels. They've had extraordinary coaching at the high school level. There's a lot of pride. We love Southern Cal football, absolutely love it, the entire state of California, just phenomenal football and great coaching.
Recruiting high school freshmen and eighth graders, what's kind of your philosophy? Is it ever too early? Is it dangerous or how do you handle that?
MC: You know, it's all subjective as opposed to objective. I can say this: If we're aggressive, and we're not going to stop being aggressive, if we feel strongly about somebody and we feel they can help us win championships and they're good people, we're going to go. We're going to make a move.
We don't shy away from that. People have different philosophies, and more power to them and God bless them. That's just our philosophy. I trust our guys, and when we see it and the background check matches up -- because you do have to save yourself from yourself sometimes, great film, great player, not doing the right things, you should probably hold back. But if it matches up, what are we going to wait for? For the next team to offer him first? To each his own. You'd like to identify your guys so you can get their process rolling as soon as it's warranted.
The recruits rave about the intensity and energy of the coaching staff when they visit. What does that do for the program?
MC: I think that's who we are. If it wasn't natural and genuine, it wouldn't work. We are what we are, and we are what we are 24/7. We don't put on our recruiting shirt and change what we are and have a happy glass of water and go get it. We just -- we brought in high-energy, high-octane, passionate coaches that have a super high level of expertise because the ability to connect is extremely important to us. What would you like for your son, right? You'd like your son to be around a high level of expertise guys that knows what he's doing that has a super high care factor that's going to bring it every single day. We believe you can't separate -- you bring it for practice but you kind of let your foot off the gas for recruiting and do you let your foot off the gas for -- no, if you're recruiting, playing checkers, if you're playing football, bring it.
