Wolthausen on Recruiting

@MattSchonvisky

A lot has been made of the 2015 UConn football recruiting class since Kevin Murphy first gave his verbal commitment back in June and it continued right on through signing day. The players have formed a bond among themselves, something that should carry over once they all get on campus this coming summer.

Recruiting coordinator Kevin Wolthausen has seen it firsthand, something we discussed on Wednesday, inside the Burton Family Football Complex.

“It’s amazing, that’s so exciting to me,” he exclaimed, rising with energy. “We obviously can’t comment on the guys during the recruiting process, as you know, but it wasn’t like we orchestrated it and said ‘hey, you guys need to do this.’ The type of character guys that they were, [it started with] the initial guys that committed, then all of a sudden, it just took off. So when guys were added to the group, it just snowballed.”

Wolthausen noted that it wasn’t just unique to this class, the way the guys took to social media and supported each other throughout the entire process.

“You can look back at the class before, they were a lot like this too,” he noted. “Luke Carrezola, Vontae Diggs and Alec Bloom, not to knock anyone else on the team, but that class and this one are really developing with each other and it’s just going to snowball with the other guys [that are here].”

The reason? One could point to the process of selecting who gets to come to UConn and who doesn’t. You’ve heard about the RKG’s (right kind of guys) moniker that Bob Diaco referred to when I met with him a few weeks before signing day. The checklist is vast and is something that is not prevalent, at least that has been the case throughout Wolthausen’s many stops in his coaching career.

“I think it’s unique to Bob Diaco,” he said. “We had something similar during my short time in the NFL, in terms of when you look at how you evaluate. When you are evaluating talent, that is as important I think as the physical aspect. The recruiting? You can’t forget that piece. You have to be able to develop relationships. You have to be able to do all that, but determining through those different things, are they a fit for us?”

Wolthausen referenced the detailed checklist that Diaco spoke about in the above article, then had some words that really do make a lot of sense.

“They may be the best player in the country, but not make it here,” he explained. “And I’m sure that that person won’t be happy, we’ll be unhappy and no one will like each other. It just won’t be a good deal. Where if you can get all those things [on the checklist], as close enough where you can manage it, then that’s really something that [Bob] believes, ‘this is how we need to do it.'”

Fans will get to see a glimpse of the ’15 class at the spring game in April, as quarterback Tyler Davis, the lone member of the true freshmen currently on campus, will be participating in spring ball.

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