Last week Gordy Combs and his Towson Tigers football program signed its largest recruiting class in team history. Click here to look at the complete list of recruits.

Combs was kind enough to discuss the team’s recruiting haul (via e-mail) with Recruiting Report.

This was the largest recruiting class you've had at Towson. Does this mean recruiting went particularly well for your staff?

Combs: This was the largest recruiting class because it was replacing the first true scholarship class we've had. Since we went to scholarship football five years ago, this is the first time we used all of our scholarship money on freshmen. In the past, we would use some scholarships to reward 'walk-ons' and transfer students.

But, recruiting went very well for us. We had 90% of our recruits verbally committed before Christmas. Then, it just became a matter of following up on our verbals until Signing Day.

How will this class stack up with the rest of the CAA?

Combs: That's a very difficult question to answer. We are confident that we have a class of CAA-caliber athletes that address our specific needs.

You brought in seven players from Maryland this year -- including four from Montgomery County and two from Frederick County. Did you recruit those areas particularly hard? What can you tell us about the in-state class?

Combs: Our first objective is to do a thorough job recruiting the state of Maryland. Perhaps because of our proximity, we've been very successful recruiting Montgomery County the last five years. I think our visibility in Montgomery County has been enhanced by the success that Brian Bradford (Gaithersburg H.S.) and Eric Yancey (Seneca Valley H.S.) have had here. (Bradford was a 1st team All-America linebacker in 2007; Yancey was a 1st team All-CAA wide receiver in 2006). We are very pleased with the Maryland players we have coming in.

Which players do you envision making contributions as true freshmen?

Combs: Our attitude is that we go into the preseason with the idea that the entire freshman class will be redshirted. But, sometimes circumstances change and we have to adjust. So, it's difficult to envision who will contribute as true freshmen.

Five linebackers are part of Towson's class. Was that a position group you specifically targeted for this class? What can you tell us about the linebacker recruits?

Combs: We knew that we needed to put an emphasis on recruiting linebackers this year. We lost three of our four linebackers to graduation and our fourth starter, Jordan Manning, is going to be a senior. Since we are committed to a 3-4 defense we need a lot of talented linebackers. All of the linebackers we recruited are good athletes with speed who can make plays in space.

Brian Potts was one of the more decorated players in Delaware this year. How big of a coup was it to land him? What do you expect from him as a freshman? What type of quarterback is he?

Combs: Brian Potts is a dropback style of quarterback who fits our system perfectly. With Sean Schaefer (the Tigers' three-year starter at quarterback) entering his senior year, we knew it was imperative to bring in a quarterback of this magnitude to compete for the starting position after Sean graduates. We plan to have Brian redshirt this year and watch and learn from Sean Schaefer. Next spring, he should compete for the starting quarterback position with Andrew Daley.

Photo courtesy of Towson University