Mama_Bull

Tre Watson‏ @ILL_Tre33 24h24 hours ago Tampa here we come!!! Like 19

USF Yoda‏ @USFYoda Nov 28 More USF Yoda Retweeted Joey Knight Wouldn’t be surprised at all if @USFFootball got Tre Watson. He’s loved in Tampa & his return to USF (As an Illini) this season was very well documented. If I had a crystal ball pick, I would be picking USF. This would definitely help the transition of losing Auggie

Flashback: BIG COUNTY PREPS‏ @BigCountyPreps1 26 Feb 2013 "My 1st reaction to the #USF offer was just pure happiness & shock. Inside, I was going absolutely crazy & I tried 2 stay cool" - Tre Watson

Zion Roland signed with USF football today. He has said that he also plans on playing baseball here. So, he's not a baseball commit, but thought I should mention that.

Tre Watson‏ @ILL_Tre33 15m15 minutes ago More Special announcement at 12 ET tomorrow 2

He is now official.

I think he also plans to play on our baseball team.

Horsey was never a USF verbal. He was always looking around for a P5 school. If you read his twitter account you will find that he sees himself as too good for the AAC. It does not matter how good a recruiter a coach is in this conference, because it is a very hard sell. Having said that, we did beat out UK for some other players in this signing period. I don't know how you define "Big time OL recruits." Being in a G5 conference we won't be getting 4 and 5 star OL. Plus, most of the high end three star guys, like Horsey, generally have many offers from P5 schools in major conferences. We still win some of those battles, but not all, and that's to be expected. I think the three OL guys in this class, so far, are a good start. I'm just hoping that we can keep them all and land one or two more like them. To me, he looks big enough. He had offers from Auburn, Kentucky and other P5 schools, yet still signed with USF. https://247sports.com/Recruitment/Sebastian-Sainterling-83448/RecruitInterests

He decommitted from UCF and reopened his recruitment. USF is one of his current favorites. https://247sports.com/Recruitment/Patrick-Jolly-103159/RecruitInterests

You don't have to be a guest at the Sheridan to take the free bus at the corner which takes you to and back from the game. That's what we did and it worked out great. PS: There are other free buses which also go to other places around town: COMPLIMENTARY SHUTTLE BUS SERVICE WEDNESDAY, DEC 20TH ENTERTAINMENT SHUTTLE 11:00AM-MIDNIGHT Red Shuttle: UPTOWN to Five Points South & Dreamland BBQ White Shuttle: GALLERIA/HYATT REGENCY to UPTOWN THURSDAY, DEC 21ST ENTERTAINMENT SHUTTLE 11:00AM-MIDNIGHT Red Shuttle: UPTOWN to Five Points South & Dreamland BBQ White Shuttle: GALLERIA/HYATT REGENCY to UPTOWN FRIDAY, DEC 22ND ENTERTAINMENT SHUTTLE 11:00AM-MIDNIGHT STREET FEST & PEP RALLY 1:00PM-6:00PM AT UPTOWN Red Shuttle: UPTOWN to Five Points South & Dreamland BBQ White Shuttle: GALLERIA/HYATT REGENCY to UPTOWN Blue Shuttle: HILTON/MARRIOTT to UPTOWN SATURDAY, DEC 23RD GAME DAY SHUTTLE 7:00AM-4:00PM FAN ZONE 8:00AM-11:00AM / KICKOFF AT 11:00AM Red Shuttle: UPTOWN/SHERATON/WESTIN to Legion Field White Shuttle: HYATT REGENCY to Legion Field Blue Shuttle: HILTON/MARRIOTT to Legion Field SATURDAY, DEC 23RD ENTERTAINMENT SHUTTLE 4:00PM-MIDNIGHT Red Shuttle: UPTOWN to Five Points South & Dreamland BBQ White Shuttle: GALLERIA/HYATT REGENCY to UPTOWN Blue Shuttle: HILTON/MARRIOTT to UPTOWN *UPTOWN serves the Sheraton Birmingham & Westin hotels and serves as central transfer point for all shuttles UPTOWN – PICK UP ALL SHUTTLES OUTSIDE OF THE ALABAMA SPORTS HALL OF FAME *All routes should maintain 30 minute intervals * Pickup White Shuttle at Uptown to go to Riverchase Galleria Mall/Restaurants *Pickup Red Shuttle at Uptown to go to Five Points South Restaurant/Entertainment District and to Dreamland BBQ https://birminghambowl.com/shuttles.php

When Zion signs tomorrow we will have a total 18 early signees with 10 more known verbals. I think that is more commits signing early than most people on here expected and wondered how other AAC did so far. This list won't be complete, because players can still sign with teams today and tomorrow I only looked at 247: USF 18 out of 28 (counting Zion) Cincy 20 out of 21 Houston 21 out of 22 Tulane 21 out of 23 Temple 24 out of 25 SMU 7 out of 20 UCF 12 out of 14 ECU 19 out of 19 Memphis 12 out of 16 Navy 0 out of 34 Tulsa 12 out of 15 UConn 14 out of 15 https://247sports.com/Season/2018-Football/CompositeTeamRankings?Conference=AAC Coaching changes at UCF and SMU obviously cost them some verbals and limited the number who signed. I presume Navy has its own rules as to signing. I was surprised by how many of their verbals signed early with most of the other schools. I suppose that most coaches in the conference pressured their verbals to sign with them now or face being shut out. CCS has been known in the past to not pressure players to give him an early verbal and encouraged them to wait until they have considered all their options before making a final decision. But, the early signing period had to somewhat change his approach. He needed to know his verbals much sooner in this period, but probably still didn't want to overly pressure all of them into signing early. This way he has still left himself some options with the remaining unsigned players. Perhaps, he told some of them that he would not take their early verbal, because of academic concerns or for other reasons. CCS realizes that some verbals just want to have their big signing day at their school in February and are solid. He also knows pretty much who is still looking round for other offers and can prepare contingency plans in the event any of them decommit.

Rivals has him rated with 3 stars. https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/2018/johnny-ford-181218 ESPN has not yet ranked him. So, I can't understand why he dropped so much on 247 right after he signed with USF. I know if I was a subscriber to them, I would be unhappy about that happening.

KHELTON6‏ @k__heltoFoll More 1st Team All Area, 1st Team Northwest Florida 6:20 PM - 20 Dec 2017

Well, he's made it no secret that he would like to become a HC again. It is also well known that he still has the KSU provision in his contract, if they ever offer it to him. Players respect that he has been open and honest about that possibility. In the meantime, he is giving it his all at Oregon. I wouldn't be surprised if he is still head butting his players at 61. LOL

Either way, if everybody signs who is currently committed, we should have the strongest interior defense in the conference for years to come. Unlike this year, defensive depth should not be an issue. Even though we lose many seniors on defenser, I think we will continue to see our defense improve, from year to year, We probably would like to sign another CB and LB if possible, but otherwise I am thrilled by the defensive recruiting so far.

Even through Taggart left, Oregon STILL has a tremendous 2018 signing class on DEFENSE, and I attribute much of that to Leavitt staying there. That says all anyone needs to know about the faith his players have in his ability as DC. That is why he is making the big bucks.

I didn't watch the game. Didn't their new coach end up coaching this game? I thought I had read he was forced into doing that because their old coach and his assistants were all going with him. If so, that is terribly unfair to the players. I believe the players last week were about to have a mutiny over the hiring of the new coach, because they wanted the school to name one of the assistants as HC. So considering if all of that is true, I can well understand why the score ended up being so lopsided.

It is good for USF. It could even be better for USF, to have the early signing in August, before the recruits play their senior season. Remember, we have a number of camps over the summer and thus have a first hand opportunity to see and get to know under the radar players that many of the big P5 schools don't know. So, we are in a good position make an informed decision to properly evaluate them. By the time December rolls around, many of those same players have had great seasons and more P5 teams are now offering them, which puts us at a distinct disadvantage.

Well, schools offer a lot of commits and they have a pecking order. The early signing day, separates those who really are committed from some who may not. By the same token, schools may decide not to take an early signing from a commit and that let's a player know how much that school is really committed to him. So, now we know who is really committed to whom. In this way, those who haven't signed are free to look elsewhere as is the school. Of course, there are those still left that have an understanding with the school that they are 100% committed, but just want to have their regular signing day like in the past. At least now, it is easier to just babysit many fewer verbals and it allows more time for contingency plans to be made, in case we feel that some aren't as firm as they say, by their actions in taking other visits and such.

Too bad Michigan state didn't have to play tonight. They will be well rested. Hopefully, our players have enough left in them to play well. Unlike tonight, we need to get off to a fast start.