USF football team looking bigger and tougher

USF spring football is underway and the first thing you notice about the 2014 Bulls is size.


The offensive line is bigger and stronger looking more suited to carry out Willie Taggart's style of
offense.


The average weight of he returning starters on the offensive line is 310 compared to 297 last season. Much of that is due to their hard work and a conditioning program set up by strength coach Hans Straub.


“We’re putting in a lot more time after our workouts.  I know me and about five guys are doing an hour after every workout every day,” said senior center Austin Reiter of Lakewood Ranch who gained 13 pounds in offseason conditioning to get up to 286.


The new size comes with a new attitude says USF head coach Willie Taggart, the former Manatee High quarterback great and All-American at Western Kentucky.


“It’s been a different attitude with our guys and watching them,” Taggart said. “Out of 79 guys we had go through workouts and our winter conditioning we had 66 make every last one of them. It’s huge, big-time, and it says a lot about our football team.”


“We need people movers out there, big strong guys to move people out of the way so we can run the football and we can protect."

Taggart/USF gets verbal commitment from Miami Jackson standout Quinton Flowers

Willie Taggart's knack for being a top notch recruiter was validated again Friday when it was reported that Miami Jackson standout quarterback Quinton Flowers has committed to the USF football team.

Listed as an athlete who will play quarterback or receiver at the next level, Flowers is a four star recruit on several publications and reportedly has offers from Alabama, Texas, Nebraska,Tennessee, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Syracuse, Mississippi and Mississippi State among others.

The 6-0, 210 pounder reportedly committed to the Bulls after attending one of USF's satellite camps Friday in Miami. Scout.com rates Flowers the nation's 10th best receiver while 247 has him as the 9th best dual threat quarterback in the country.

It has been reported that USF assistant coach BTelly Lockett, former head coach of Miami Central, played a key role in corralling Flowers, but you can't discount the influence of Bulls head coach Taggart. .

Flowers has said he wanted to go to a school that would give him a chance to play quarterback. Taggart has made that promise and Flowers just might fit the mold of the dual threat quarterback that Taggart was at Manatee High and Western Kentucky.

USF makes impressive showing with APR scores

The University of South Florida continued to show progress in the NCAA’s most recent edition of the Academic Progress Rate (APR) report released this week.

It was highlighted by three programs earning special recognition and nine teams posting perfect annual scores of 1,000.

The football program produced the best four-year improvement by a BCS school and men’s basketball had the fourth-best, four-year jump out of the power six conferences. The 2013 APR report consists of multi-year data from 2008-09 through 2011-12.

 

“We’ve been extremely happy with the progress we’ve made in the APR over the last few years and that success has continued in the most recent report,” said Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Doug Woolard. “Our coaches and student-services department have continued to stress the importance of being strong academically and our student-athletes have done a tremendous job committing themselves to academic excellence, which has produced these stellar results.”

Could Mike Jenkins be headed to San Fran or Tampa?

Mike Jenkins appears to be ready to leave the Dallas and the Cowboys seem to be accommodating. The question is where will the Southeast High product wind up.

Jenkins, who earned All-American honors at cornerback for USF, is an unrestricted free agent. He has had to battle injuries the last couple of years and was not happy that prior to last season Dallas owner Jerry Jones drafted CB Morris Claiborne and signed free agent CB Brandon Carr to a $50.1 million deal.

Mike Jenkins

The 27 year-old lost his starting job to Claiborne, but then Jenkins wound up starting at the slot corner when Orlando Scandrick injured his hand.

Jenkins reportedly angered Dallas when he did his off season rehab from shoulder surgery in Florida and didn’t attend voluntary workouts with the Cowboys though he was at all the mandatory sessions.

 “Do I want to come back? I’ve been here for five years, I’ve grown attached to everybody here. It’s hard to just get up and leave and not want to come back. At the same time, you want to go somewhere and have a fair opportunity and I guess I go on from there,” Jenkins told ESPNDallas.com.

One possible destination could be Tampa. Bucs head coach Greg Schiano knows Jenkins from his best days when he played against Schiano’s Rutgers teams.

The Bucs are in dire need of cornerbacks and at worse Jenkins has never gotten in trouble ala Tampa’s troubled cornerback Eric Wright, who has been dodging the law since his days at USC.

But another destination could be San Francisco. Jim Leavitt, who was the USF head coach when Jenkins played there, is the linebackers coach for the 49ers. He has always had nothing but good things to say about Jenkins and has considered one of his best all time recruits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marquel Blackwell back at USF to work under Taggart

Marquel Blackwell, who many believe to be the best quarterback in USF history, is returning to the Bulls to work under head coach Willie Taggart.

Blackwell was a four-year standout quarterback for USF from 1999-2002 when the program made the leap to I-AA under then head coach Jim Leavitt

Marquel Blackwell

The St. Petersburg Dixie Hollins product holds most of the USF career passing records, including touchdowns (67), completions (795), attempts (1,417) and passing yards (9,108) and ranks ninth in career rushing yards (1,235) and fifth in rushing touchdowns (20).

Blackwell served on the Bulls’ coaching staff as a program assistant from 2009-11 and spent last season as a graduate assistant at Western Kentucky under coach Taggart. Prior to his first stint on the USF coaching staff, Blackwell served as the head football coach at Freedom High School in Tampa from 2007-08. He will serve as Director of Player Development.

Taggart has also hired Paul Gonnella

, who will serve as the staff’s Director of Player Personnel. Gonnella spent the 2012 season as director of player personnel at Alabama, helping the Crimson Tide sign the nation’s top class. He had the same role at Purdue in 2011 and at Memphis in 2010.

Gonnella has also spent time at Miami, Tennessee and North Carolina in similar roles and capacities .A native of Wakefield, Mass., Gonnella began his career as a coach and has worked with high schools in his home state as well as in Georgia.

 Taggart has also moved coach Stu Holt to special teams coordinator. Taggart also announced he was moving Stu Holt into the special-teams coordinator.

Holt has worked with special teams on numerous occasions throughout his coaching career, including stints as the special-teams coordinator at Western Kentucky in 2005 and ’09. In 2005, he helped the Hilltoppers rank fourth in the nation in punt returns.

He helped place-kicker Chris James earn first-team I-AA.org All-Star and all-Gateway honors, after pacing the league with 1.36 field goals and 7.91 points per contest. In addition, Dennis Mitchell was a second-team all-conference choice as a return specialist after finishing sixth nationally in yards per punt return.

In 2009, Holt coached four players that ranked in the top five of Sun Belt Conference statistical categories, including Jeremy Moore and Bobby Rainey, who led the league in punting and all-purpose yardage, respectively. The Hilltoppers kickoff return unit also ranked second in the league.

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Ray Woodie might have bigger recruiting role with USF

Ray Woodie has been Willie Taggart’s right hand man ever since Taggart hired him as an assistant coach at Western Kentucky.

The Manatee County products have formed quite a tandem with Woodie named the top recruiter in his first year at Western Kentucky and just recently cited to be among the best recruiters in the Big East Conference despite only a few months on the job at USF.

Ray Woodie top recruiter

But Taggart might need more out of Woodie following the recent resignation of Larry Scott, who left USF to become an assistant with Miami this week.

Scott had been with USF since the Jim Leavitt days and had a solid beat on the Miami area. He agreed to take the Miami position after Hurricanes assistant Mario Cristobal (the fired FIU coach) left for Alabama.

 The only holdover from the Skip Holtz era, Scott was noted for recruiting some of the top players out of the Miami area, including this year’s four star signee, defensive back Lamar Robbins.

Now Scott is gone and it might mean more work for Woodie. The Palmetto native is solid on recruiting the Manatee-Sarasota-Charlotte County corridor and Tampa Bay area and is not adverse to increasing his territory.

 

 

 

Trevon Young will sign with Florida on Friday according to Braden River head coach

Trevon Young will sign  a scholarship to play football at the University of Florida on Friday morning, Pirates head football coach Curt Bradley said.

Young was a late addtion to the Florida recruiting class of 2013. Gators head coach Will Muschamp brought him up to Gainesville last weekend and offered him a scholarship, prefereably to play tight end.

The 6-6, 260 pound Young was also being pursued by USF and had offers from Purdue, Missouri, FIU and FAU. But the hold up was a basketball scholarship offer he had to play for Division II Eckered College.

The career scoring and rebounding leadert for Braden River, Young said earlier in the week he was torn between playing basketball and football for the Gators. Then USF garnered his interest and with all the uncertainty he did not sign on Wednesday's national signing day.

The three star Rivals.com prospect did not play football until his junior year. But several college coaches have said he has NFL potential as a tight end because of his size and athleticism he showed in basketball.

Taggart reels in another highly touted prospect for USF

Willie Taggart and the USF football program had a bonanza of weekend.

The Bulls head coach picked up his second four-star verbal commitment in a week Sunday when Miami Southridge cornerback Lamar Robbins announced he would sign with USF.

Robbins is a highly sought after commodity, particularly at conerback where he can use his 6-3, 188 pound frame to cover tall receivers and has the size to more than hold his own in the tackling department. He had visited and received offers from Oklahoma, West Virginia, Lousville and Purdue.

It was the Bulls second four star recruit to commit. Taggart, the Manatee High legend, last week convinced Hurricanes four star defensive tackle Derrick Colloway to committ to USF after he had  pledged to Louisville.

Taggart, who took over the program in December, has now garnered both of USF's four star recruits.

Rivals currently has USF's 2013 recruiting class ranked third in the Big East, but the Bulls are only a few points behind second place Rutgers and could surpass the Knights when signing day concludes on February 6th. They could also pass number one Pittsburgh.

Robbins is a welcome addition for a Bulls secondary that allowed 252 yards passing per game last season and had only two inteceptions.

This past weekend, the Bulls also received a verbal commttment from running back Stafon McCray, a 5-11, 196 pound three star recruit from Kissimmee Osecola.

The running back rushed for more than 1,700 yards and scored 25 touchdowns in leading his team to a 13-1 record last season and has amasssed more then 3,200 rushing yards and 45 touchdowns the past two seasons.

Willie Taggart no time to relax; USF moves Miami game

New USF head football coach Willie Taggart won't have much time to get accustomed to his new job, which is fine with him. He has already hit the ground running.

Willie Taggart; photo by J Meric

The school announced Wednesday that it has moved its game with Miami from November 30th to September 28th.

The Bulls are already scheduled to play at Michigan State on September 7th, which means they will be taking on some of the better teams from the ACC and the Big 10 early on.

USF will also play FAU on September. Now they didn't have a great season, but games between Florida schools usually come down to nail biters where a turnover here or there can decide it.

The Big East Conference asked USF to move its non-confernece games up towards the beginning of the season so it can get attention at the end with teams contending for the league title facing each other.

Another big challenge for Taggart and USF will be the return of UCF, which will join the Big East next season. The Bulls were 4-0 against UCF under former coach Jim Leavitt, but the two games at UCF were down to the wire and this one is in the road.

The Bulls other Big East road games are at Rutgers, Connecticutt and Houston. Their four conference home games are against Cincinnati, Louisville, Memphis and SMU. USF will not play league newcomers Boise State and San Diego State.

The new Big East will have two six team divisions with the winners playing each other for the conference championship at the site of one of the teams.

USF fires Skip Holtz; immediately begins search for new football coach

USF head football coach Skip Holtz was fired Sunday less than 24 hours after he had coached the Bulls to the worst season in the history of their 16 year program.

In announcing the decision, USF Athletic Director Doug Woolard said Holtz's whole body of work over the last two years was taken into consideration.

Holtz finished his third year at the helm Saturday night with a 27-3 loss to Pittsburgh. The last two seasons the Bulls finished last in the Big East Conference with a 1-6 record each year. The 3-9 record turned in by this year's team is the program's worst.

The Bulls failed to qualiy for a bowl the last two seasons after going to bowls the previous six years. Holtz was 16-21 during his three years and 8-16 the last two.

 

"While our program remains young, having just completed our 16th season of competition, our history is rich, and the expectations of coaches, players, students, administrators and fans are high. That is why the past few months have been hard for all of us," Woolard said. "It is not easy to part ways with such a good man. I am thankful for his friendship, and for what he has done for USF Athletics.

 

"However, my responsibility to our students, our fan base and the university as a whole is clear. We must strive to put a more successful football program on the field. Beginning today, we will move in a new direction toward that goal."

 

USF will have to pay Holtz $2.5 million dollars over five years as part of the buyout from his contract, Woolard said. He also said that would not hinder the school in searching for the best possible candidate and money was not an issue.

 

"We will immediately begin a search for a new head coach," Woolard said. "We will move as quickly as possible, but will be as thorough as necessary to find the best fit for our football program here at USF. We will enlist the expertise of university officials, community leaders, and leaders in the world of intercollegiate athletics."

 

In Holtz's final game, USF was held to a program record low 117 yards and in the final 15 quarters of the season the Bulls scored one touchdown. He lost 14 of his last 16 Big East games.  

  

USF's offense suffered a big blow when quarterback B.J. Daniels was lost for the season on November 3d against Connecticutt. But the Bulls defense has been its biggest problem the last two seasons.

 

 

 

 

USF tries to end Thursday night horrors tonight against Rutgers

USF has never won a Thursday night game since its program was launched in 1997.

The Thursday night winless streak began in 2007 against tonight's opponent Rutgers so it seems it would be only fitting if the Bulls could end it agianst the Scarlet Knights.

USF is 0-8 on Thursday nights.

That '07 loss was the most devistating. USF was undefeated and ranked second in the country when they went up to New Jersey that night and lost 30-27 in an ESPN nationally televised game.

So there would be a lot of reasons to celebreate a victory by the Bulls in tonight's Big East Confrence opener for both teams.

USF THURSDAY NIGHT LOSSES:

2007

Oct. 18h Rutgers 27-30

2008

Oct. 2^nd Pittsburgh 21-26

Oct 30^th Cincinnati 10-24
2009
Oct 15^th Cincinnati 17-34
Nov. 12^th Rutgers 0-31
2010
Oct. 14^th W. Va. 6-20
2011
Sept. 29^th Pittsburgh 17-44
Dec. 1^st W. Va. 27-30

 

 

A.J. Love still hanging with Vikings; gets another chance tonight vs Chargers

The Minnesota Vikings game tonight against the San Diego Chargers could be crucial for A.J. Love and Mistral Raymond.

The two formers USF teammates and Manatee County products have different goals, but the importance of this game is equal for both.  

 The Vikings cut Love and then re-signed him two days later on August 6th after Greg Childs (fourth round pick) tore the pateller tendon in each of his knees.

An undrafted free agent, Love is a long shot to make the team, but he is been dealing with those type of odds ever since he took the field as an unheralded receiver at Southeast High and overcame two ACL tears and subsequent surgeries at USF.

The Vikings have 90 players on their roster. They must cut down to 75 on Monday. The regular season 53 man roster must be set by August 31^st.

Raymond’s story has been well-documented. The Palmetto High product had to overcome personal tragedies to become the Vikings sixth round draft pick last year.

Raymond is in a battle for the starting safety spot with Vikings first round 2012 draft pick Harrison Smith out of Notre Dame and three year veteran Jamarca Sanford (Mississippi), who started 15 games last season. Smith seems a lock to start.

Vikings head coach Leslie Frazier had been leaning towards starting Raymond next to Smith, but Sanford was working with Smith on Wednesday and the whole situation seems fluid.

“We are going to give Jamarca another shot just to see how he does,” Frazier said. “He’s had a great camp and he’s busted his tail to compete and fight for a job.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are gong

Ray Bellamy trying to pave the way for Southeast product A.J. Love

Ray Bellamy offers advice

As an undrafted free agent A.J. Love is  a long shot to make the Minnesota Vikings opening day roster.

But in Ray Bellamy, Love is learning from a person who could be the master of long shots.  It helps that both are receivers, but it's the history here that could prove invaluable to Love, the Southeast grad who had to overcome two ACL surgeries during his career at USF.

When he came out of old Lincoln High in 1966 during segregation days, Bellamy did what most would consider the impossible.

Major college football in the South during that time was all-white. Bellamy and the University of Miami had a dream that they turned into reality.

Bellamy broke the color barrier for major college football in the South in 1967. It was an enormous task, but so were the other things he did.

Bellamy become the first Africa-American president of the University of Miami Student Government. The fact that he was an excellent student despite coming from parents who were not educated was another one of his great achievements.

"I just believed I could do certain things that most people considered impossible," is one way Bellamy sums up his accomplishments.

Bellamy believes in Love and likes his work ethic. He won't make a prediction about his future, but
says anything is possible and insists staying positive is crucial.

Highly touted QB recommits to USF

First you do then you don’t then you. College football recruitingcan often be fickle, but suitors are never swayed by a potential rejection or change of  heart.

And so as of now heralded quarterback Asiantii Woulard from Winter Park High is committed to the USF football program for the second time in four months.

 Woulard committed back in April and then changed his mind. He announced on AM 1010 radio Friday that he has recommitted to USF giving the Bulls their first four star prospect of the 2013 class (Scout.com).

 The 6-3, 205 pounder is rated the 13^th best dual threat quarterback in the country in the Class of 2013 by Rivals.com and the 24^th best by Scout.com.  Rivals.com has him rated at three stars.

 After transferring from Freedom High last season, Woulard threw for more than 1,600 yards and rushed for another 600 plus yards while throwing 15 touchdown passes. He led the Wildcats to a 6-5 record and runner-up spot in Class 8A-District 3.

 Woulard reportedly has offers from nearly 20 major college programs including USF Big East Conference rivals Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Connecticut, Cincinnati and Connecticut and UCF, which is scheduled to join the conference for the 2013-14 school year.

 With B.J. Daniels heading into this senor season, the quarterback position could be wide open by the time the spring of 2013 rolls around.

USF releases 2012 football schedule

The University of South Florida’s 2012 football schedule will have a new wrinkle that makes you wonder if it might have been influenced by the presence of new Tampa Bay Bucs head coach Greg Schiano.

For the first time since 2007 USF will play a Big East Conference game in September and it will be at home against Rutgers, the team Schiano coached for 11 years before accepting the Bucs job.

In fact September will be a big month for the Bulls. Besides Rutgers they play Florida State on September 29th at Raymond James Stadium in their second meeting and first since USF beat Seminoles in Tallahassee 17-7 three years ago.

USF opens its season Saturday September 1st at home against FCS Tennessee-Chattanooga. The following week it travels west to Reno to face the University of Nevada. The Rutgers game is scheduled for September 15th though it could change slightly and on the 22nd USF will be on the road at Ball State.

The Bulls will be in Philadelphia on Oct 6th to face Big East Conference newcomer Temple. After a bye, USF has three straight conference games beginning at Louisville and then home against Syracuse and Connecticut.

Following another bye, the Bulls travel to Miami to take on the Hurricanes November 17th and then head to Cincinnati the next Friday game on ESPN on November 23d. They finish up their season at home December 1st against Pittsburgh in nationally televised game.

Complete 2012 Schedule
Sat., Sept. 1 UT-Chattanooga
Sat., Sept. 8 at Nevada
Sat., Sept. 15 Rutgers* (Date subject to change)
Sat., Sept. 22 at Ball St.
Sat., Sept. 29 Florida St. (ABC/ESPN or ESPN2)
Sat., Oct. 6 at Temple*
Sat., Oct. 13 BYE
Sat., Oct. 20 at Louisville*
Sat., Oct. 27 Syracuse*
Sat., Nov. 3 UConn*
Sat., Nov. 10 BYE
Sat., Nov. 17 at Miami
Fri., Nov. 23 at Cincinnati* (ESPN/ESPN2)
Sat., Dec. 1 Pittsburgh* (ABC/ESPN or ESPN2)

* - BIG EAST Conference games

Lakewood Ranch product Austin Reiter front runner for starting center job at USF

Austin Reiter heads into spring practice as the front runner to take over the starting center position for the University of South Florida football team.

The Lakewood Ranch High product will be trying to replace Chaz Hine, who started there for the Bulls last season.

The 6-3, 278 pound Reiter will be a redshirt sophomore next season. He graduated Lakewood Ranch early and joined the Bulls in midyear of 2010 and sat out the season, but gained valuable experience.

Reiter appeared in 10 games last year as a backup and was on special teams. When he decided to join the Bulls after high school he was told he would have a legitimate chance at earning the starting nod at center his redshirt sophomore year and is right on schedule.

Preferred walk-on QB situation at USF gets crowded for Palmetto's Miller

Palmetto quarterback Trent Miller is going to get additional competition at USF as the walk-on quarterback situation for the Bulls just got a little more crowded.

Tampa Jesuit quarterback Tommy Eveld, brother of USF QB Bobby Eveld, recently announced he accepted an offer to be a preferred walk-on for the Bulls.

The success rate of preferred walk-ons anywhere is a long shot, but you never know. Bobby Eveld walked on at USF and received a scholarship fairly quickly after getting a chance to play when Bulls starting quarterback B.J. Daniels went down with an injury.

One thing about being a walk-on is that you never know where the road will take you. Englewood Lemon Bay quarterback Matt Piloto (see photo) walked on at USF under former head coach Jim Leavitt.

It didn't work out at USF for Piloto, but he got his chance because of an injury and last season the junior started for Division III national power Mount Union, leading the Purple Raiders to a 14-1 season with their only loss coming in the NCAA Division III national title game.

Piloto threw for 2,245 yards and 21 touchdowns with nine interceptions.

You don't have to look too far for walk-on quarterbacks who had great careers such as Kerwin Bell at Florida who threw 56 TD passes and was named SEC Player of The Year in 1984.

Did you know Aaron Rodgers turned down an offer to be a walk-on at Illinois and instead went to a junior college. His career has turned out pretty good for the Green Bay Packers.

Cosh figures to be new USF defensive coordinator

Numerous reports indicate that Chris Cosh will be the next defensive coordinator at USF replacing Mark Snyder, who took the DC at Texas A&M.

The first question most USF fans will ask is whether Cosh will be an improvement over Snyder. Based on their past work that would seem to be the case though neither has what you would call an elite body of work.

Cosh has been the defensive coordinator for the past three seasons at Kansas State and was the linebackers coach there from 2004-05.

Under Cosh, last year Kansas State finished with a 10-3 record and the Wildcats ranked 72nd in total defense, allowing 394 yards per game.

USF ranked 39th in total defense and allowed 351 yards per game. But in their Big East Conference play, the Bulls allowed 405 yards per game and were known for blowing leads in the last quarter because of their defense.

Looking at Snyder's body of work at USF and then at Marshall when he was head coach from 2005 through 2009 you see a pattern of lapses by his defense.

Snyder had one winning season at Marshall, his last yeaer when he was 7-6. He was forced out when fans were complaining about the inability of the team's defense to hold onto leads late in the game. He was 23-37 at Marshall taking over a team that was 44-19 during the five years before his arrival.

USF to play Nevada next season

The University of South Florida will play a home-and-home series with the University of Nevada, the schools announced today.

USF will visit Nevada on Sept. 8, 2012 with the Wolf Pack making a return trip to Tampa on Oct. 3, 2015. With this addition, USF has finalized its 2012 non-conference schedule with Nevada joining Tennessee-Chattanooga (Sept. 1), Ball St. (Sept. 22), Florida St. (Sept. 29) and Miami (Nov. 24).

It's good news for USF fans, who were afraid the the Bulls might have to play two FCS (formerly I-AA) schools next season because it was getting late to fill that last spot.

It will also be a big early test for USF's defense, which struggled last season in trying to hold leads at the end of several games.

“We are excited to come to this agreement with Nevada,” said Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Doug Woolard. “With everything that’s going on around the country, schools are having a difficult time finishing off their schedules. We’re happy that a quality program like Nevada had an opening and we look forward to facing them next season and in 2015.”

Nevada, which will move from the Western Athletic Conference to the Mountain West Conference for 2012, is coming off a 7-6 season that finished with a 24-17 loss to No. 19 Southern Miss in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl.

The Wolf Pack tied for second in the WAC with a 5-2 mark. Nevada finished the year ranked sixth nationally in total offense (506.7 ypg), while posting 247.5 rushing yards and 31.7 points per game. The Wolf Pack has appeared in seven straight bowl games, and prior to 2011, posted a 13-1 season in 2010 and an 8-5 year in 2009.

“Nevada offers a difficult test for us,” said USF head coach Skip Holtz. “Offensively, they’ve been very productive under coach Ault and they’ve had a lot of success as a team over the last few years. Going on the road and playing in a tough environment early in the season will give us an opportunity to see where we are and could help us as we move deeper into the schedule.”

The trip to Reno in 2012 will mark the third time in USF program history that it will play west of the Rocky Mountains. The Bulls traveled to San Diego to take on San Diego St. in 1999 and they also visited Utah in 2001.

“USF has an outstanding football team that will present us with some unique challenges,” Nevada head coach Chris Ault said. “They are well coached and have some quality players. This is a game our fans won’t want to miss.”

Scott leaves USF for NFL draft in surprise move

To what seems to be everyone's surprise, USF running back Darrell Scott has decided to forego his senior year and opt for the NFL draft.

The decision ends a tumultuous ride for the 6-1, 239 pounder who came to USF two years ago from Colorado and sat out 2010 because of transfer rules.

Scott, rated the top high school running back in the country after his senior year of high school in California, led USF last season with 814 yards rushing (5.3 per carry average) and showed flashes of brilliance.

His best game came against FAMU when he rushed for a career high 146 yards. His other 100 yard rushing game came against Rutgers (19 carries for 100 yards) and against West Virginia in the season finale he rushed for 92 yards on 14 carries.

Scott's departure means the two most heralded running backs out of high school to play for USF never finished their careers for the Bulls. Mike Ford, the former Sarasota High star and single season rushing leader for Manatee and Sarasota Counties, was dropped from the team prior to his senior year for breaking school rules.