Bullpride08

Joe, mark my words UNC goes bowling next year. Last year Bunting lost his team before the season started. He was not a very strong coach, and had trouble getting his kids to respond. Butch is chalked full of talent up there, Joe Dailey, Calvin Darity, Barrington Edwards, Richie Rich, Cam Thomas, Durrell Mapp, Jesse Holley, Trimane Goddard...no it won't take much for a good coach to tweak and refine and motivate and UNC will be winning some ball games. I think there is a very real possibility they will be 3-0 heading into the game against us. That will be no push over, because they'll play hard, and they'll play fast like any Butch Davis team would do.

have we increased the season tix base this year? did we hit 20K yet? when will we hit 25K? Last year (2006), USF had a little over 14,000 season tix SOLD...along with another 3,000 free season tix distributed. With a very attractive home schedule this year...USF's season tix numbers (especially sold) should easily go up. Thanks Captain Obvious.

UNC is going to be much improved next year. Bunting was not a good HC, but his staff recruited pretty good the past two to three years. Butch Davis just signed an amazing class this past week, three five star players in that class, those players will play against us, and that team is still going to be stack with one of the better college coaches in America running the show. It will definitely not be the UNC team we faced last year.

What are you talking about?  Your vitamin intake or ranking something?  [highlight]What are you ranking us against?[/highlight] I would assume top BCS teams with that grade... appropriate if that who he's measuring us against.

Hmmmm....tough call. To me, the most important thing would be the team competing at that level. Getting fans to show up, is really not something the team can control. I'd much rather play/win in front of a few fans than attend the Weed Whacker Bowl for the next 20 years until USFs traveling fans are 'BCS Bowl Worthy'.  Assuming attendance at home games is parallel to bowl attendance, it will be an uphill struggle to continue to sell tickets to the 'oh yeah' bowls. Granted, the die hards will always be there (much as we will be there for Elon), but don't count on the the 'because its USF' line of thinking to sell tickets. I don't think I'd ever be embarassed about USF attendance at away or bowl games, given the overall picture. Wooly I am totally with you. I want a BCS game and win as fast as Leavitt can possibly achieve it, but it is an interesting discussion. Few programs are as young as us, and many that have had poor attendance in the past, at least have enough history so that as soon as things turn around there's thousands of fans ready to hop on the bandwagon again. It's a great problem to have.

What are you talking about? Your vitamin intake or ranking something? What are you ranking us against?

Depends on who's asking...it's definitely a must win from a stand point in keeping CRM's job, and it's a must win from making the conference tourney. If you don't want CRM around next year then it's a.....

Shoop great question and thread. I've wonder the same thing which is why I almost worry about growing up to fast. In other words, say we won the BE next year, and go 11-1, and go to a BCS bid are we capable of sending 20-25k fans to that game like everyone else? I don't think so, and the next question is wouldn't the embarrassment be far more damning then losing one extra game and being relegated to say the Insight.com bowl, or Gator? Definitely Leavitt's taking this program to amazing heights and is he going so quick that we could be witnessing a top 5 program playing in front of half-full home stadiums? It would be a shame. Oh and shoop, I am with you about the passion. I've traveled to probably 12 USF road games, including the bowls, I remember when I was amazed at the approximately 1000 or so that went to GSU in 98', and even more amazed by the turnout at B-ham this past year. I'd hate to be publically embarrassed simply because our coach and program are far more amazing then the fan base right now which is still trying to catch-up.

He resigned before the season ended I believe. Not to mention he was an OC at Zona, and here he's only a receivers coach which is a significant drop in job title. Although, coordinators at USF seem to now make roughly $145k, so it's still well south of Zona's pay.

I've got to say, thus far most of the kid's we've signed lately out of GA have turned out to be real playmakers. Carlton Williams starting as a RS-FR, Cedric Hill's a real specimen, if Bogan, Hampton, and McCoy are anything like those two we'll be in good shape. I am very high on McCoy, partly because he played at the same football factory at Carlton and Cedric- Valdosta HS. They've won like 15 state championships, and won the mythical national championship twice. They have a weightroom as big as many 1-A schools, and McCoy's HC and position coach were both former college OL. Those coaches heaped praise on McCoy so you've got to believe that McCoy, much like Williams and Hill, is going to come down with the mentality ready to play.

I think now you're finally coming clean, and giving us the full jist of your relationship and story.  Leavitt's visited, one time, that you know of, and yet you don't really know one way or the other, and check with Cal to see....that's your criteria for criticizing Leavitt? Rather pathetic if you ask me.  You're going to take your myopic position of talent and project a negative image on Leavitt because he supposedly 'only visited one time, that you know of'.  I commend you for educating and coaching the Smith brothers, Eric's going to be a top flight talent next year and that injury really curtained what could have been a magical season this year.  However, you should know that Torrey Davis made it perfectly clear early on that USF was not in the running.  Leavitt has to recruit the best talent available, and as the fall wore on that meant searching elsewhere and zeroing in on the kids that want to be Bulls.  You can bet this spring and summer Leavitt will be by Da Wood a ton to re-invigorate his relationship which from my understanding has been pretty good with Coach Callahan and crew.  I think your position, and tact, particularly being a person of knowledge on local talent and recruiting who would and should know this was a bit of a down year for talent, even Da Wood, is going to have a bigger year next year in terms of talent going 1-A, you would show some restraint when it comes to criticizing a HC.  Remember, they can also help your kids too....and a few of the assistant coaches do read the boards.  Point well taken. You seem to have a good bit of knowledge about what is going on around this county and I really can't see any reason to argue this point anymore. Like I posted previously I have no desire to talk about recruiting anymore. I just felt it appropriate to give up some of who I am because I'm NOT a coward behind a computer. I do stand by who I am and PROFESS my beliefs. I am with ya, and I know you're not a coward and seem to be well connected at Da Wood. And I commend you for your efforts I know the sacrifices assistant coaches make in Hills County. I just think you could be a little fair to Leavitt, because you clearly know how the world works and HS HC's understand when college coaches don't visit as much in the fall. We'll need to compare notes for next season...and you guys should have quite a lot of recruiting traffic coming through Seffner next year. Me personally I like the upside of Sergio Joyner. If the kid uses the off-season right he could be a top flight recruit come September! What are your thoughts on P-tey Smith? Could be the best Armwood recruit yet? Good luck with the kids.

I think now you're finally coming clean, and giving us the full jist of your relationship and story. Leavitt's visited, one time, that you know of, and yet you don't really know one way or the other, and check with Cal to see....that's your criteria for criticizing Leavitt? Rather pathetic if you ask me. You're going to take your myopic position of talent and project a negative image on Leavitt because he supposedly 'only visited one time, that you know of'. I commend you for educating and coaching the Smith brothers, Eric's going to be a top flight talent next year and that injury really curtained what could have been a magical season this year. However, you should know that Torrey Davis made it perfectly clear early on that USF was not in the running. Leavitt has to recruit the best talent available, and as the fall wore on that meant searching elsewhere and zeroing in on the kids that want to be Bulls. You can bet this spring and summer Leavitt will be by Da Wood a ton to re-invigorate his relationship which from my understanding has been pretty good with Coach Callahan and crew. I think your position, and tact, particularly being a person of knowledge on local talent and recruiting who would and should know this was a bit of a down year for talent, even Da Wood, is going to have a bigger year next year in terms of talent going 1-A, you would show some restraint when it comes to criticizing a HC. Remember, they can also help your kids too....and a few of the assistant coaches do read the boards.

Sorry Profess....I've got to cry BS here.  One of the top HS coaches in Hillsborough County is a good friend of mine, coached me 19 years ago in HS.  I know about everyone in Hills County coaches and assistants....few will argue that Leavitt has done an amazing job on his relationships in this region. I can also say for certain that outside of 5-6 athletes, there were few in Hillsborough County that USF wanted.  We obviously lost Marve, and Garcia, but putting that aside there wasn't many that were in the caliber of athlete we took alternatively.  Besides those two, and Torrey Davis the oly other Bay Area athletes that to me were good enough for USF this year was Sanders, Matthews, Murdock, Harris, I liked D Anderson but others were not sold.....that's it!  Who were the "REAL ATHLETES," don't talk about Jefferson's Middle Tennessee haul that's a joke.  This was a slim year for Bay Area talent by anyone's standards, next year should be much more prolific, outside of Garcia, Davis, Sanders, Bellamy, and Marve there really wasn't any other elite type athletes.  I guess if you wanted to say we only landed one out of the top 5.  You could mention Mike Brown- he's not qualifying and has attitude issues.  How about to me a kid that will probably be placed by USF is Develin Robinson- best athlete not to get signed but grades are killing him.  Shawn Williamson is being placed at Pearl River by USF. Let me know where USF missed out on all the "REAL ATHLETES".  Next year could be a special hual in USF: Eric Smith, Byronelle Arline, Jahleel Addae, Gallon, Crooks, and McCray...josh jones, Harvey, Joiner, and Patchan.  I'd venture to guess that all ten of these guys have a shot to make everyone's top 100 in FL. I'd say Patchan, Arline, Eric Smith, and Joiner could be national player top 100's. This doesn't include Winters, Thomas, Sanderson, Hicks, Hart, and Weatherford are all top 1-A talents next year too. We'll be back into the Bay Area much more this year coming up, if you really knew what you were talking about and are who you say you are then you'd know next year will be filled with talent.

And then you see rivals has Miami and FSU ranked 19 and 20 respectively, and scout.com has Miami at 14 and FSU at 32 and you read about how they landed all these 'sleepers'. I suppose you can call them sleepers, but when FSU is taking 5-10 165lbs Bert Reed and calling it a recruiting coup you've got to wonder in what direction our respective schools are going. A guy that wasn't worthy of four star tag, and UF was trying to get rid of him for weeks because they had bigger fish to fry. Consider this, Jared Fayson was 6-2 210lbs and a real blazer that ran 4.3's regularly at most camps. He was four stars, Bert Reed is 5-10 165lbs, and as many that have seen he's dynamic, but a big risk, not a corner, to small for receiver, maybe slot, and probably a corner although he never played it in HS. I guess FSU did well by landing that four star, but is it legit? Bert didn't even make all-state. He's a good player, but if reporters want to spend their timing talking about how FSU found a 'sleeper' then what USF found, what can you say? You look at the classes, and knowig FL recruiting pretty well there is much I would trade from FSU or Miami's classes. That's how recruiting goes, but quite honestly only UF in FL this year signed a elite class, the other 3 schools were right there with one another if everyone is legitimately honest with themselves.

Opinions are like, everyone's got one....however I always choose to look at the all-state teams when evaluating where USF truly stands on the pecking order of things, among other evaluation barometers. If someone relies exclusively on scout, and rivals, particularly from a school like USF or UCF, then you're setting yourself up for disappointment. Keep in mind of the 21 seniors in HS we signed, 17 made some type of all-state team...one Thomas Edenfield was a four star OL with offers from nearly every SEC and ACC school before tearing his ACL before the season, he was 3rd team all-state last year as a junior. The other three, Bellamy, Voss, and Richardson well they played on awful teams and never made the post-season...but Bellamy, it's hard to turn down a kid that's 6ft and consistently ran a 4.4 at numerous spots. Of those 17, seven players were 1st team players, and 8 made various top 100 lists in the state. Keep in mind that previously Fonua, Warren, and Kevin McCaskill were all-state players, and ditto for Carlton Hill, and Ford--- in fact three of those guys were 1st teamers; and one was the 1A POY, and the other the 5A POY. So, when a sports writer criticizes our class it makes you wonder, keeping in mind FSU had the same number of 1st teamers as USF, and they've got guys that didn't make the all-state team like Bert Reed.

I often question the motivation of some individuals, particularly their insinuations after watching two minutes of the hoops games and getting frustrated. Howard, right now, is not his usually explosive self. Understandably so because he's still getting confidence with his knee, and it's been sore. With that being said he's dribble penetrated quite a bit lately, he had trouble against SJU in the first half because of that extended 3-2 zone took away the good lanes. Howard has also demonstrated a very good innate ability to post up smaller guards. He did it a few times against Marquette, and Tory Johnson of ND. Next year, when Howard's 100% back to health he's going to be a fun guard to watch because he has a vast array of talents and is smart enough with tons of basketball acumen to know when to use it...like when he scored a duece against Quette posting up 5-11 at best Damien James...Howard is a full 6-3 and that's smart, it's hard to dribble penetrate against James but easy to drop the ball to Gransberry at the top of the key to clear out, and then take a post move on the block against James-- it was done three times against Quette for 2 baskets--- that's a good point guard. As for shooting/scoring guards well Buckley fits the mold and he's a very good scorer however keep in mind Aaron Holmes shot nearly 50% from three point range in HS, drop in 9 or more three times as a senior. Curry is a very similar player to Buckley but a tad more explosive, with slightly better ability to dribble penetrate. Holmes at 6-4, and Curry at 6-6 will give us two tremendous swing guards that can dribble penetrate and shoot the rock. Last year the top three guards in FL were 1. Holmes, 2. Derwin Kitchen (went to St. John ironically) and 3. Dante Curry. This year's only signee is Dominique Jones who is a pure shooter, a decent dribble penetrator, nothing great like Holmes, Curry, or Zeus, but Jones can flat out shoot it. Next year the team will have far more outside shooting options then this year. Also, if the rumors are correct that the 6-8 HCC Center will sign with USF this will give us an immediate replacement for Mattis. Not quite the jumper of Mattis but a very similar game with much more size. So, if you're fretting that Buckley is our only legit outside shooting guard, and he and Zeus are the only scoring threat at guard don't worry because lots of help is on the way. My bigger concern is finding good enough talent now to replace Gransberry after next season.

Consider this, Spires only played one year of JC football, led the nation in tackles with 116, and was a national leader in TFL. He came on out of the blue which affected his ranking somewhat. I saw him in HS, tall, rangy, with tons of speed.

Think...which of those recruiting services has an USF Alumnus as one for their top recruiting analyst in the Southeast? Certainly doesn't hurt. blah blah, blah, blah....or it could be some guys got the stars they deserved. Like Hill getting a four star.

I would argue though that Sinclair, Spires, McClain, and Sutton all deserve four stars had they been given rankings in the proper context. Three of those were based solely on poor marketing.

Just an FYI for everyone, St. John signed the 20th best recruiting class in the nation. Last year the top 3 guards in FL were #1. Aaron Holmes (USF), #2 Derwin Kitchen (St. Johns), #3 Dante Curry (USF). This isn't in line with the Richmond loss if that's what someone means. This is the Big East there are no cupcakes, last year we had 9 teams with a recruiting class ranked in the top 26 in the nation- NINE TEAMS! Even the bottom feeders sign top notch classes, and have top notch talent. Road games in the Big East have always been, and will always be like walking through a medieval gauntlet. This isn't C-DOA where we played once great, now awful Tulane in front of 2000 apathetic fans, then follow it up a week later in Hattiesburg against USM in front of 4,000, then UAB in front of 2,500. This was probably the smallest crowd of the year we'll play before of 4,700 at Carnesecca Arena. We played in front of 15,200 against Uconn, 11,700 against Pitt, 9,000 against WVU, 9,900 at ND. You can expect about 15,000 in front of Louisville next, and at least we don't have to play against the 12,000 Nova fans, or 20,000 screaming Cuse fans. It ain't easy in the Big East on the road. Still need to win this game. No doubt, but at 14-10 St. Johns is smelling post-season too and fighting for the same survival.

Joe, Calvin Sutton, McClain, and Charlton Sinclair all fit the four star bill.  Gotta see them play to understand. The later two, McClain and Sinclair, were penalized for choosing USF early.  Sutton, he was a victim of a new HS coach that severely under-pub'd his seniors.  Will Furlong that signed with FSU, an excellent OT/OL carved the way for a 1,500 yard rusher at Deland (Calvin's cousin).  Calvin's dad and uncle played college ball (you might have heard of the uncle- Eric Rhett)...UF always called him but never offered and they got sick of waiting.  Miami offered Sutton a week ago after they got their act together, Cal Jr. hated the facilities.  Ole Piss, MSU, Nebraska, Kentucky, and Auburn are just a few of the other offers Calvin had...think of it this way, all the press releases that went out for Deland had Calvin's weight and height when he was a junior.  Calvin is 6-1 220lbs right now stand next to his dad and that's legit. Those three are four star caliber definitely.  A friend of the Sutton family has been told they felt Calvin was the best LB in the state this year. what a bunch of nonsense! Yeah, nonsense....I only know the Suttons personally, and one of McClain's HC's. Calvin Jr. was offered by Miami once they got their act together. He hates Miami, didn't like their facilities on a voluntary trip earlier in the year and refused a visit at the end. He wanted UF, but they strung him along. CS has had 220 tackles, a family friend, Fred Taylor told Calvin that Junior was the best LB in the state. FTaylor spoke with UF about Calvin, but thankfully for USF they already had their scholarships filled. Full of it- what do you propose a kid that has legit offers from Auburn, Bama, UK, Miss State, Ole Piss, Nebraska, USC, UL, USF, and Miami to name a few is? Go ahead Sditza what type of player carries all those legit offers and is not a big time player? I could explain the reasoning why Calvin is where he is in the recruiting circles but it would simply fall on deaf ears. Terrell McClain had offers from Auburn, Bama, Southern Piss, MSU, Memphis, Gtech, and was going to get one from FSU if he agreed to take his visit. USF was smart, got on him very early a put the peddle into overdrive never pulling off the break. The reason for USF's allure here is Terrell's grandparents all live in Tampa, and he was born in Tampa, and believe it or not his parents want to get back to Tampa. To make matters better in the early going Terrell's mom went to HS with our former DL recruiter Bernard Clark. To summarize, without all those built in advantages I don't know if we would have held off all of those SEC and ACC schools. But say what you want smazza. I know the truth, and a few guys that are very tight in the HS recruiting circles know that a. USF landed a whale of a class, and b. got lucky with some enormouse sleepers. Like Cha-Cha Sinclair- he had offers from Clemson, Illinois, NCST, WVU, Gtech, UNC, Ole Miss, and USC....is that not big time? He was at the cusp of four stars too.

First, Clemson backed off two days ago, and we had eaked ahead of WVU....it came down to FSU. A bad choice, Jatavious is a project, a nice looking project but a project. He's 6-3ish 270lbs but has tremendous footwork. The kid needs about 25lbs, a lots of technique work before he would see a minute at USF let alone USF. Quite frankly, Edenfield meets a bigger need. This kid is a hoss of an OT, and at one point was the #1 OT, and #2 OL in FL before he tore his ACL! He's that good.

Joe, Calvin Sutton, McClain, and Charlton Sinclair all fit the four star bill. Gotta see them play to understand. The later two, McClain and Sinclair, were penalized for choosing USF early. Sutton, he was a victim of a new HS coach that severely under-pub'd his seniors. Will Furlong that signed with FSU, an excellent OT/OL carved the way for a 1,500 yard rusher at Deland (Calvin's cousin). Calvin's dad and uncle played college ball (you might have heard of the uncle- Eric Rhett)...UF always called him but never offered and they got sick of waiting. Miami offered Sutton a week ago after they got their act together, Cal Jr. hated the facilities. Ole Piss, MSU, Nebraska, Kentucky, and Auburn are just a few of the other offers Calvin had...think of it this way, all the press releases that went out for Deland had Calvin's weight and height when he was a junior. Calvin is 6-1 220lbs right now stand next to his dad and that's legit. Those three are four star caliber definitely. A friend of the Sutton family has been told they felt Calvin was the best LB in the state this year.

So we have McCarney, Franks, and Gregory were all head coaches at other schools- two at BCS schools- before arriving here. Rachel, Canales, and Burnham were all once coordinators- Burnham and Rachel DC's- at BCS schools. For a school that struggles with the salaries that is one hell of a coaching staff from an experience and production standpoint. Oh, and by the way McCarney was one helluva FL recruiter. I could see McCarney putting in an extended stay at USF, for a couple of years, at 54 and spending 12 years at ISU he's brought in some pretty decent doe. Ala Franks, if Leavitt can keep that salary moving up from where it's rumored at then there's little reason to run anyway for more high stress.

It's not that great, and it's not that bad. Also our HC, his system, and the overall coaching staff has proven to excel at coaching up players which is good for a 15-20 pt boost in ranking which puts us near the top 25.