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Gerry Hamilton, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

6 recruiting questions with Baylor assistant Kendal Briles

The Baylor Bears are riding high with as much momentum on the recruiting trail as ever following back-to-back Big 12 Championships. On Tuesday, Baylor offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Kendal Briles chatted with RecruitingNation. Here are a few highlights:

What is the difference in response from prospects and coaches now as the back-to-back Big 12 Champions vs. a year after winning a first league title?

Kendal Briles: After winning in 2013, we were in on some good kids and we got some of those kids. After winning it again in 2014, we have validated the things we have sold kids, coaches and families on with our vision for the program. It’s great when you can walk into high schools as the back-to-back champions and have that validation. We have built on our success in 2013, and that has shown in the response from kids.

What are the needs remaining in the 2016 class?

Briles: We’ve got 13 or 14 commits right now. We’ve got to get another defensive end and defensive tackle, and maybe another cornerback and wide receiver, too. We aren’t going to take a guy to fill a spot. We have to get the right guy.

As a former high school quarterback recruit, and now the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach of the Bears, what are some of the characteristics you look for in a quarterback?

Briles: You want a guy that is extremely competitive and a winner. You like to have a winner. This doesn’t mean a guy who always plays on the best team, but a guy who helps find ways to win for his team if he’s not on the most talented team. A guy who finds a way to win and is a multi-sport athlete mixes well with a lot of people in various sports. And we like a guy that also has athleticism, obviously. If you find guys with those characteristics, then you will have to fight off a lot of people to sign him.

College football is an arms race with brand new facilities going up daily around the country. What has the new football stadium and other facility upgrades done for the Bears recruiting efforts?

Briles: It’s validated what we’ve done on the field. You look at what we have done, and now the facilities we have and it’s hard not to be excited. It’s unbelievable to bring kids to games, unofficial visits and the campus. The way the stadium was designed is unbelievable. It’s a warm-feeling stadium that was very well done. We just built a new track facility right next to the stadium, which will help us recruit kids that have the ability to run track in college. We are building a new nutritional center that will open in the next month. All of it together is invaluable to bring kids and families to on visits.

What are your thoughts on having an early signing period? What are the staff’s thoughts?

Briles: It’s kind of controversial. We decided as a staff that we weren’t going to talk about it much. Whatever the rules are handed down, we would abide by it. Some high school coaches are not for it (December) because they would be in the playoffs and then having to deal with an early signing period.

What is one change you would make to the recruiting process?

Briles: In the spring evaluation period, two contact opportunities or a contact period would be the one. I would think that during the evaluation period, you should be able to talk to the kids and families since we already know the kids due to recruiting many of them for so long. That doesn’t really make much sense to me that we can’t.

Briles is entering his seventh season as an assistant at Baylor. This will be his first season as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. In high school, Briles was a two-time Texas 4A Offensive Player of the Year award winner and quarterback of the 16-0 Stephenville state championship team in 1999. He was elected to the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 2014.

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