Greg Auman

1. What city were you were born in? Media, PA, outside Philadelphia 2. What city & state you went to elementry school in? Brookhaven, PA; Casselberry, FL 3. What state you went to middle school/Jr. High in? Casselberry FL, Raleigh NC 4. What state you went to high school school in? Enloe HS, Raleigh, NC 5. What state do you work in or plan to work in when you finish your degree? Tampa FL

there are some interesting developments with julian riley. i talked to him this afternoon, and he said the main reason he transferred was because his mother is very sick with lupus and he wants to be closer to her. and because of that, he's petitioning the NCAA to grant him a hardship waiver, removing the year he would normally have to sit out, allowing him to play this year. if it sounds familiar, it is. this time last year, Danny Muy left Nebraska and landed at USF, saying he wanted to be closer to his mother, who was battling cancer in Tallahassee. Muy ended up leaving school after only a few days -- think he's at FIU now. i worry that Muy's situation and the way it worked out make me too skeptical of this situation, unfairly so. anyway, riley is on scholarship. what's interesting is that he isn't even sure which side of the ball he'll play at USF. apparently urban meyer switched him to offensive guard his last month at UF, but because the gators have closed practices, nobody ever knew about it. usf called him a defensive tackle in their release, and i'd imagine that's where he'll play -- he'd never played offensive line before december. he still speaks very highly of the gators, wishes he could finish his career there but wants to be closer to his mother. anyway, just some interesting new details about his transfer. i'll probably post most of this stuff on the blog as well, so i apologize if it looks familiar then ... greg

obsessed! the sheer number of threads hijacked by Offensive Coordinator Envy is incredible. As a message board, you have to pace yourself. I'm going to go see how the 13th page of Kyle Bronson discussion is ...

leavitt's new contract includes a generous bump in the salary pool for his assistants, so if he wanted to bring in a hire from outside, he has more money to work with to do that. if they make any coaching moves at all, it'll be after feb. 1. leavitt is very loyal to his assistants, so i wouldn't expect much if any turnover. greg

last i checked, the new site is ready to go, simply waiting on some contracts to be finalized. shouldn't be long, from what i've been told ... greg

perhaps they could endow a supply of paella and 1905 salad. yum.

it works both ways. brandon baker was elevated to scholarship as a junior; justin geisler never got so lucky and finished as a walk-on. if the coaches thought that much of bronson (or teachey) they wouldn't have offered a high school senior a scholarship ahead of them. as for baker graduating, USF has already given that scholarship to Delbert Alvarado ... greg

hey now. waters did play in one game. six minutes. and there were some personal circumstances, where if you knew about them, you'd understand a little better why he moved closer to home.

leavitt told me sunday that he had called for the fake punt first when USF was backed up on its own 1-yard line -- he'd seen both stingers (walt smith and jackie chambers, i think) left uncovered and called for it, but baker didn't get the signal. if you watch the replay, leavitt is very upset with baker after the kick, which didn't make sense originally. the snap had been low and to the right, so baker did well just to get it and get off a kick, but this explains why leavitt was upset. fun stuff. doesn't get bolder than a fake punt from your own 1, no matter what you see from the sidelines. greg

et tu, brad? what, still pictures not cutting it? you guys have Zapruder-quality phone pics, so I'll try to just keep up with that. hey, i've got that huey whittaker card saved for you, btw. e-mail me and we'll discuss a "fair" price. (sinister laughter) greg

the scoreboards are sharp. saw one of them working yesterday when i went by practice, and it's a big upgrade. up close, unlit, they look like giant Lite Brites -- 14-by-16 foot, $2-million Lite Brites, mind you, but turn them on and it's pretty cool. two of them are specifically for video; the other two aren't quite as high resolution - you see them used for video at some schools, but USF will use them for graphics, stats, advertising, etc. ... now if they could just get the shot clock to work ... greg

a reference to the scoreboards in local media? perhaps, perhaps ...

for what it's worth, leavitt made TV crews turn off their cameras during practice last week when the Bulls rehearsed the fake punt play that went for a 31-yard gain against N.C. State. believe me, i'm a fan of open practices and made as much use of that open first half hour as anybody this season, but this was a case where leavitt was probably smart to keep some things out of public knowledge ... greg

good catch, rezz. glad to help you get a little closer to 1,000 posts ...

E.T., sorry we couldn't meet up. Was a fun few days in Charlotte. I asked Leavitt about changes to his staff, and he's very loyal about his assistants. He pointed out that Rod Smith is the same coach who coached Marquel Blackwell, and nobody was complaining about QB play then. I'd be surprised if he makes a move, but Leavitt's a tough one to anticipate. greg

i always like these threads, to get an idea of expectations for who's where next season ... peyton wasn't a starter on the depth chart this year, so it's no surprise he's not on this one. carnes didn't play because he injured his arm -- was in a cast at the end of the year. i think he has to add a lot of weight to be a starting tackle in the fall, but he'll certainly have a shot. same with selvie -- if he can really bulk up in spring, he could stick at center, but if not, he'll be a force at defensive end before long. what's impressive about that list is that only five seniors are starting out of 22. greg

they can't just add a QB coach. ncaa allows a team to have nine full-time assistants, so bulls can't add a coach unless one were to leave ... greg

bronson looked fine today, all things considered. leavitt had the punt block unit going full-go and i didn't see them block him once. with baker, it's worth mentioning that he's at USF in engineering, and final-year engineering classes are understandably a lot tougher than most of the courseloads athletes -- and students in general -- are taking. my brother's an engineering student, and i know he's working harder for his grades than i did for anything i took back in college ... leavitt said today the team has been practicing for three weeks with an understanding that this was a possibility, so it's not like it was just dropped on them yesterday. that's just when baker stopped practicing ... greg

hey, i'm all for rampant speculation on message boards. suppose this beats a "who can USF land for its defensive GA position" thread ... greg

logan? canales? is there an opening i'm not aware of?

baker wasn't at practice today either and wasn't expected to travel with the team, though leavitt left open the possibility, however unlikely, of baker driving up himself and joining the team before saturday. anthony severino will handle the hold on kicks saturday. bronson lined up as punter on tuesday, with justin teachey as his backup ... greg

hi. not much to update with this -- jimmy oliver still has a scholarship offer if he wants to sign with USF. i get the sense they haven't been actively recruiting him much since his official visit for the West Virginia game. Nobody on the Pearl River side of things is returning calls right now. Bulls are certainly in the mix for Thaddeus Lewis, and they've been recruiting him from the start -- not like they just jumped on him in recent weeks. He's already made two visits and plans to make three in January, so I doubt USF would know if it's getting him for several more weeks. He's a talented athlete, for sure, and his coach says he doesn't play any other positions besides quarterback. Might be a while before there's news here -- Oliver has until the end of the first week of spring classes to make a decision if he wants to enroll somewhere in January ... greg

talked with thaddeus lewis' head coach at miami lakes today. interesting prospect, though i think it'll be a while before he makes any kind of decision. coach said he's lining up visits for january -- has three more to take and expects USF to be one of them. i'll probably get a blog update in tonight. happy holidays to everybody on the board ... greg

hey, sure. why not ...

i'm in wesley chapel. as i understand it, neither paper is out in hawaii. tonight's game, for instance, is so late that we couldn't get a story in tomorrow's paper if we wanted to ... greg