Golesh B+: He took a bunch of misfits, castaways, and players that didn't know how to compete or how to win and built their confidence up. We went from the bottom of the AAC to the upper half. We had some bumps and a few bad losses along the way, like getting blown out and embarrassed by losing record conference mates UAB and FAU. The team didn't quit or fold after those games and came out every week to compete for a win. The recruiting is trending up, but we will really only find out once the recruits sign and get on campus. Golesh has some improvements and blemishes in his play-calling and design runs, but a lack of talent in the trenches could be a reason for the predictable run calls. The defense still needs work, but it did have some improvements and bright spots this year.
Quarterbacks A- : Brown delivered and is in the history books for USF football. We didn't play QB musical chairs this year, and the coaching staff coached this boy into the history books. I still don't think he is done growing and could be really special.
Running backs C+: The running backs are very inconsistent as a pack and have ups and downs. Powell looks the worst of the group, and I hope he takes a step forward. I hope we can give at least two of Wright, Dukes, and Joiner a way to find another year with the portal and COVID loopholes.
Receivers B: Atkins had a great year and is in the books. Simmons, Brown, and Alexis are produced but are very inconsistent. I think they outperformed the group with Weaver and Horn in it. Not bad for a bunch of transfers and walk-ons.
Offensive Line D+/C- : The group needs to improve drastically if we want to win a championship in the AAC or FBS football, but they were put together and did the best with the talent they had. Skinner looks like he can be a great lineman in the future. Kid is getting nasty out there as a true freshman. Thank you, Jennings, for coming back and leading this group of inexperienced players and transfers to a bowl season. You could have transferred out like the others, but you decided to stay a Bull and make a difference on the field.
Defense D+/C- : The defense is still bad and needs a lot of work. Todd Orlando will need to show major improvement next year if he wants to keep his job for year three. The defense did look good against Bama, Navy, Temple, and Charlotte. The defense won the game for USF against Temple when the offense struggled in the second half, which is something I hadn't seen in a while. There are lots of things to improve on here, especially the pass rush, tackling, and defensiveback coverage. The defense never quits but will need to improve moving forward. We are still in the bottom quartile of FBS football.
Special Teams Outside of the blocked punted special teams, this has not been good. We haven't returned any kicks or punts this year for a TD. The kicking game will need to improve; hopefully Cannon and Gramatica can fix that.
Overall B+ for Bulls: Golesh and the Bulls surpassed expectations and are going bowling. The Bulls have extra practices now and hopefully will take the momentum to land some better recruits and transfers to fill in the gaps. I assume there will be a lot of roster turnover again, but I hope Golesh has a plan to keep Byrum Brown at all costs. I have a suspicion that some Power 5 teams will be trying to get him to transfer there. We improved and are moving forward, not backwards, which is a great change. We have erased the curse of Jeff Scott and now need to move on to erasing the curse of Judy by continuing to heavily invest in athletics. Let's go win our first championship next year after we win our bowl game.
Stats to compare the growth of the offense.
2023
2022