Give us a brief overview of your class.

Well we feel like we helped ourselves in certain areas. We signed a junior college point guard in Kevin White, who I feel will make us significantly better at the point guard position. And we also signed a 5-man, Sean Berry, who at 6-7 is a little bit undersized, but very efficient at that spot. Those two players alone, at point guard and the 5-man, are [arguably] the two most crucial positions. Those two guys right off the bat can give us a big improvement.

You have two prep school and three junior college players coming in. Were you specifically looking for guys with a little more experience under their belts?

The junior college point guard, Kevin White, we just felt like we needed experience there. He’s a heady, talented point guard and that’s where I think you’ll find the success of any team. We went the junior college route with that, and his junior college teams were champions up in their league. He played on winning teams and he brings that attitude of winning to a program that has been down for many, many years. So we did need to go with experience. Sean Berry’s a year older than the average freshman. We felt like we needed somebody else who had experience past the high school level.

We brought in another inside player, Freddy Obame, from junior college. He was 6-7 but he’s strong at 245 pounds. Hillary Haley, who’s from Prince George’s County and is a small forward, is [another] very talented player with experience. He started out at St. Bonaventure and started several games there in his freshman year before he transferred here. Tim Burns, who’s a combo guard and a really outstanding shooter, transferred here from High Point. He wanted to get a little bit closer back to home. He’s from a part of New Jersey where he’s only two hours from our campus to his home. And then also with our returners, like Neal Pitt, who was our leading scorer and rebounder, [we have a solid nucleus]. When you add better players around him, it gives him the opportunity to be more effective.

How did you find White and what kind of role do you anticipate him having?

I expect him to step in [at the point]. When you recruit junior college players, most of the time they’re filling specific needs in our program and [bringing] immediate help. We expect him to step right in. We knew about him from some of our contacts in New York. My assistant coach, Jamal Brown, really took the lead on recruiting him. We saw him play very early, in November, in a tournament. We recruited him for a year, building the relationships throughout the recruiting process. Some other schools [tried to get involved], but the fact that he realized he could come here and take a program that’s been down and help move it forward [appealed to him]. We felt that he was a real good signing for us.

Talk about Berry’s background and what you expect from him.

Sean was at NIA Prep, and he’s a great athlete. In fact, a lot of people will tell you he’s a better football player. He’s got that kind of body. But Sean has worked extremely hard to get to the right path, and we really feel that his power [will benefit us]. He’s an amazingly tough big guy. He can step out and shoot the 15-footer, he can play facing the basket and he’s just a real great athlete with great hands. That’s what I like about him. He makes the difficult catches. With the post feeds, you can throw a pass behind him and he has the ability to make the super catch. Maybe it comes from his football experience. I know he’s going to give us added strength.

He’s really good around the basket offensively. He’ll be a strong rebounder, especially on the offensive glass. I think from the beginning, those two guys -- Kevin White and Sean Berry -- make us significantly better. Neal Pitt and Hillary Haley, Tim Burns and a couple other kids we’ve got returning [will make us better]. I really feel like we’re on our way. I tell people, ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day.’ [UMES has had] two winning seasons in the last 35 years, so just getting better talent, from my experience as a coach, gives you a little more enthusiasm to let you feel like you’re able to win a few more games, just because you’ve improved the talent level.

While Berry is more of a true power player, is Cotton somewhat of a compliment in styles?

He’s a raw talent basically. He’s one of those kids that as a coach, you look at his physicality and athleticism. He’s a lean guy, but very athletic. He’s kind of one of those guys. He could probably play the 3 or the 4 or the 5. He’s very athletic but very raw. But again, the potential is there as the year goes on to develop his skills and really be a promising player. To be really successful, you have to have some depth. A kid like James Cotton is very skilled in some areas, but he’s more of an athlete right now. And I think he’ll continue to develop his skills for us. But definitely from the start, he can block shots and run the floor, and he can play a variety of positions. We think he’s somebody that can really be a good player for us in time with hard work and development. He’s a very interesting player right now. He’s very raw, but very talented.

Edwards is a guy who produced for one of the top JUCO teams in the country. What do you expect of him and how did you get involved with him?

Jamal is somebody we recruited later. We recruited Kevin pretty early -- we saw him back in mid-November. But Jamal was somebody we received a call on. A friend to us said, ‘look at this guy.’ What I like about Jamal is he’s winner. His junior college team was ranked No. 5 in the nation [at one point]. He can play the point, the 2 and some at the 3. He’s a very solid, steady player. He’s not flashy. He’s just one of those guys that gets the job done. He kind of came to us later, but like I said, we’re very pleased with him. He’s an outstanding player for us and he brings a winning talent.

What’s the story on Obame and what type of player is he?

He’s somebody we saw late. We really liked the fact that he could give us toughness and a physical [presence] inside. He’s a really solid player and great kid. His junior college team was one of the top junior college teams in the country. They finished No. 8 in the country. If you ask about philosophy, we need to get the program an infusion of new blood. [We try to recruit kids that are] coming from programs that are successful and used to winning. We want kids that are so used to winning that it becomes automatic. So Obame gives us that. He’s another strong, aggressive rebounder.

Which of these recruits do you expect to be in the rotation immediately?

Well I think it’s pretty wide open. I could see Tim Burns and Jamal Edwards possibly vying for a starting position. But all the positions are pretty much open. We have a couple kids who played some last year for us -- Tyler Hines and Josh Bright -- that played significant minutes. We’ve got some positions that are open. For the new kids coming in, we [expect] Berry and White to make contributions from the beginning and that’s why we feel good about having them in our program.

Overall, are you satisfied with how your second recruiting class turned out?

I’m very pleased with our recruiting class. I think we addressed our needs, added some quality players from winning programs and also I think we have a little bit more depth. We've got guys who can play multiple positions and I’m very pleased with the second recruiting class. I think to build this program, we’ve got to have solid recruiting year in and year out.