Earlier, I posted the transcript of Mark Richt’s comments at the NSD presser. You can see them here:

At that same event, OC Thomas Brown and DC Manny Diaz took to the podium to discuss the parts of the Canes’ 2017 recruiting class. See them here, again, courtesy of Miami Hurricanes Athletics:

Defensive Coordinator Manny Diaz & Offensive Coordinator Thomas Brown – 2017 National Signing Day Conference Transcript

February 1, 2017

Manny Diaz, Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers

On if he thinks anyone signed will be able to make an immediate impact Day 1…

“You know it is always hard to predict. Certainly when you have guys like Amari Carter or Jonathan Garvin that are in early. [Waynmon] Steed and [Bradley] Jennings [Jr.] will be in early. Therefore, they get a chance to be here like the linebackers were a year ago. But let’s also talk about, when you look at our football team from last year, [freshmen defensive lineman] Joe Jackson, [defensive back] Malek Young, [wide receiver] Ahmmon Richards, who were not here in the spring, but they had that maturity level to contribute as freshman. I think that is now the challenge for all of them, it’s not so much what you can do talent-wise it is really more about your mental make up to see how quickly you can acclimate yourself to the speed and the demands, mentally and physically, of the college game. I know this, it is not a recruiting ploy anymore, we know we need them to come in and do it right away. There is not a mentality to bring these guys in and sit the bench and redshirt. And for sure in the backend we need these guys to come in with the mentality that they can crack our lineup and make an impact right away.”

On getting the news last night, that Jhavonte Dean was committing…

“Jhavonte Dean is the only junior college player that we recruited in the back end. We wanted age in the secondary. What I mean by that is that we did not want to bring in all freshman in the backend. We have an eye on the 2018 class, which is outstanding at that position, and we did not want to mark it down necessarily with all young guys there. So we wanted to have somebody that would come in and a little bit like [redshirt senior defensive back] Adrian Colbert did a year ago, but maybe have two years to play. And there may still be room for another player like that in the backend. He is also a south Florida guy, a South Dade guy. That is what we told him early on in recruiting–we want age, we want a junior college player but we aren’t scouring the country, looking for guys from anywhere. We want guys that are from down here and understand what it means to play for The U.”

On Trajan Bandy’s personality…

“Trajan is a Cane, and whatever that means that is what he is. He is a guy, if you cut him open, who bleeds orange and green. He aches for this program. And with guys like that, it really was the identity of the guys we wanted to recruit in this class. Especially when we got here and we sort of understood what we had on our roster going back to last spring, and the more we got to know about Trajan we knew Trajan was the guy we had to have in our class. He is a guy who is respected by a lot of other recruits that came in. Also his mentality. It would not surprise me if he had a role on our football team in the fall, because he is just a guy who is all business. His toughness is not a question, he is super tough and he plays the game very fast and we just can’t wait until he gets here.”

Thomas Brown, Offensive Coordinator / Running Backs

On the incoming recruits on offense…

“It gives us some production for what we lost with Brad [Kaaya] leaving, David Njoku leaving, Malcolm Lewis and Stacy Coley leaving and being able to replace those guys. We got really big and explosive guys like Evidence Njoku, who’s a great athlete and has great range, but Jeff [Thomas] and [Mike] Harley are guys that can score from anywhere on the field. The linemen we got is going to be a huge help for us up front.”

On the quarterback competition…

“Every position is up for grabs, I don’t care what you did last year. I’m very excited about this first string of offense, but being able to be productive and consistent is going to be a huge part coming forward. We have both those guys on campus from a quarterback standpoint outside of N’Kosi [Perry]. They will go through the competition process this spring time and we’ll see what happens”

That’s what the coaches had to say. Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Go Canes