UC Davis Football Recruits Respond To False Firing Report

It has been a tough couple of years for head coach Ron Gould and the UC Davis football program. With only nine wins in three seasons, a story circulated this week that had sources telling Sports Illustrated that the coach had been let go.

The administration immediately refuted the claim and the SI story was withdrawn from its site. While the wins haven’t been flowing quite like the program and the school would like, one major bright spot for Gould and his program has been its job of recruiting the 2016 signing class. And that signing class has been extremely loyal to its future head coach through all of this.

“The article was a nonsensical one,” three-star DE Brandon Jamison told HERO Sports on Wednesday. “They got their facts incorrect. Coach Gould is indeed still the head coach of the school. They were really bad. I don’t know why they even published the claims that he was fired. Yeah, I was pretty upset about it. If you’re going to publish something like that, it would be best if there was proof to support it. He is doing amazing with recruiting thus far, as well. He has been bringing in huge talent.”

Indeed, Gould and his staff have been. California and the surrounding states are talent rich, but there are plenty of suitors to do battle with to secure that talent. Take Jamison and his Chaparral HS teammate from Scottsdale, Ariz.–TE Christian Skeptaris–are just two of those seven gems UC Davis has secured. Jamison was offered by Arizona State, along with Air Force and several other FCS powerhouses. Skeptaris had three FBS offers. Three-star QB recruit Kevin Davidson (6-3/225) has also been highly recruited, and he stood with Jamison questioning the reports and standing in support of the man who has recruited him.

“I think Coach Gould is the right guy for the program,” Davidson told HERO Sports on Wednesday. “He is establishing the new standards for the team and it takes time. He has proven that he is a

fantastic coach by what he did at Cal. Our class is coming together nicely and it is a step in the right direction on the journey to turning the program around to begin to win championships.”

Certainly UC Davis’ recruiting class is a step in the right direction for Gould. The Aggies didn’t even move up to the FCS/I-AA level until 2007 and the best win mark since the transition so far has been 6 victories in a season, so the move hasn’t been easy.

Here’s a look at the UC Davis recruiting class of 2016–and Davidson cautioned that this is only the beginning, that several other offered athletes are expected to come aboard soon.