Feature on Adrian Klemm

DO = Dallas Observer

Praising Adrian Klemm, who has done a great job at SMU, JJ said:
"He's a winner, plain and simple. We gave him a chance and he's obviously paying big dividends already. He's got that special knack of connecting with kids, and we're going to be a better football team because of it." (DO)


DO Note: "In 2008, after playing on three Super Bowl-winning Patriot teams, Klemm, a University of Hawaii alum, was back in college at his alma mater, finishing his degree but fumbling for a future. That's when Jones, who coached Klemm at Hawaii, called with an offer to be a volunteer on his SMU staff. In the three years since, Klemm's landed a full-time job as the Mustangs' offensive line coach and, later, a promotion to SMU's recruiting coordinator. Rivals.com, the Internet recruiting bible, now ranks him as the top non-BCS recruiter in the nation, and Fox Sports named him the 2010 Conference USA Recruiter of the Year."


About getting the offer to work for free for JJ, Klemm said:
"I was just hanging out with nothing better to do when June called. I'm fortunate and blessed. He rolled the dice on me and I'm determined to help him win, and win big." (DO)


About how he grew up in Inglewood (South-Central LA), Klemm said:
"It's a rough area, no way around that. I never got involved in drugs or gangs, but I probably hung out with some people I shouldn't have hung out with. It wasn't until I left and looked back that I realized what a dangerous culture it was." (DO)


About how his recruiting visit to Hawaii was his first trip outside of LA County, Klemm said:
"It was a whole new world." (DO)


DO Note: "He arrived to find a program in disarray. After red-shirting his freshman year, he played linebacker and tight end for three head coaches and five offensive coordinators in four years. When Jones arrived in Honolulu before his senior season, talking about a position change, Klemm's eyes rolled."


About JJ moving him to the OL, Klemm said:
"He told me I should move to offensive line and I was like 'Whatever.'  We had just gone 0-12 and I was just doing my time, waiting to get out of there. Marcellus (who played at Columbia) made it to the NFL, so I guess it was a dream, but it didn't feel realistic because we were losing and we were in Hawaii. Everything we did felt so far removed. But Coach Jones worked magic. With our team, and with me." (DO)


About being drafted by the Patriots before Tom  Brady, Klemm said:
"Each year he wins another Super Bowl or MVP, people always dig up my name." (DO)


DO Note: "When Jones called in 2008, it was only with an offer for Klemm to be an unpaid graduate assistant. Now 34, Klemm has evolved into Dallas' one-man, hard-streets-to-the-Hilltop welcome wagon. He goes to L.A. as one of the city's own, and always seems to haul back a player who will soon be one of SMU's own."


About recruiting players to leave LA, Klemm said:
"I know what it's like to leave L.A., and to be both excited and scared at the same time." (DO)


DO Note: "Klemm was directly responsible for eight of SMU's 27 commitments in 2010, including six three-star recruits and one four-star blue chip. Lubbock receiver Arrius Holleman turned down a scholarship from his beloved Texas Tech to play at SMU. Offensive lineman Dontae Levingston, a California kid who had nine total offers from national powers such as Florida and Oregon, signed. So did Conner Preston, a California quarterback who frustrated West Coast recruiters by committing to SMU before his senior season. And Klemm's grand prize, a monster defensive end from Los Angeles named Davon Moreland, will arrive in Dallas as SMU's biggest post-death penalty recruit."


About how he helped Moreland choose SMU, Conner Preston said:
"I think my choosing SMU helped Davon along and that feels good. I think that we have not even hit the surface of what SMU is capable of doing out here. If Coach Klemm keeps recruiting California like he has, there are a lot of kids they could get." (DO)


About how he can relate to the kids in LA, Klemm said:
"I can relate to them because I was them. Like me back then, they've never been anywhere. Some of them have no idea where Dallas is. They think it's all horses and cows. And there are schools that negatively recruit against us by telling them that our classes are too hard or that Dallas doesn't like black people. But once I get them here to SMU, the area and Coach Jones sells itself. I tell them that they're not making a four-year decision, but a 40-year decision. Football will end. But when they get their degree from SMU, the sky will always be the limit." (DO)


DO Note: "Also in Klemm's recruiting tool box are his childhood friends, several of whom are now prominent L.A.-area high school coaches. They serve as liaisons between him and their prized prospects. His tattoos form a bond. He's even—amazingly—turned an embarrassing liability into a fruitful asset. That's right: Pony Excess."


About how the Pony Excess documentary helps him in recruiting, Klemm said:
"I mention SMU at first and they get this bewildered look. Some of these kids thought SMU was some little Division II school. But that show opened a lot of young eyes. The feedback is much more positive than negative. Kids are like, 'Wow, Coach, SMU used to win big time.' And I tell them we're going to do it again. But this time we're going to do it the right way." (DO)

http://www.dallasobserver.com/2011-07-07/news/for-smu-football-adrian-klemm-s-l-a-story-is-paying-off-but-not-like-that/