jd77

Willie T is a legend in Bradenton and is VERY tapped in down there. He would be huge for recruiting. Remember when Brion Carnes was looking at Nebraska, USF, and WKU? Willie T was the connection that kept WKU in the mix when they had no business being in that discussion. When Mike Blakely was looking to transfer this year, WKU was somewhere he looked at very closely. Again, Bradenton kid with the ties to Willie T. If we want to truly build a wall around Tampa, a guy like Willie Taggart who is a local guy is our best bet at doing it. He also hired Marquell Blackwell this year when Holtz refused to even interview him after his time as a G.A. had expired on our staff. Blackwell was not happy about that at all. It would be nice to bring back a USF legend to the coaching staff. There are a ton of connections and Willie Taggart is a guy whose stock is rising really fast. Tennessee is already rumored to be interested. We are going to have to strike soon if he is on our wish list, because he won't be available for long.

It can't get any worse that is for sure. We have won ONE conference game over the past 2 seasons. ONE. That seems impossible, but its true.

I am going grass roots. I am trying to start a campaign online to get USF to hire Willie Taggart. I know there are a lot of people on here that also have him as your top choice. If so, and you have a Twitter account. Throw out a few tweets with " #BringhomeWillieT # USF" in them and lets see if we can get that trending on Twitter. I am also going to start emailing Doug Woolard and Bill McGillis. Can't hurt right?

The last thing we want to do is stop supporting the program financially. If we want this program to be great, we should be looking for ways to INCREASE our financial support. If people stop buying tickets, going to games, and donating to athletics then we are going to dry up the small budget (relative to the programs we want to comete with) that we already have. The atmosphere at the games will be awful and horrible for recruiting. Etc. I want coach Holtz fired too. I make my voice heard by emailing Woolard and sending messages on Twitter to Mcgilis. I will never stop donating to USF athletics unless it becomes a financial hardship for me and my family. In order for us to get where we need to be, we really need to grow the donor base and the season ticket base. Meaning we maintain the ones we have and encourage first timers to join.

Zach sounded pretty surprised and excited about getting this offer last night. I would be shocked if he doesn't commit very soon. I am wondering what changed on our end? Is Dunkley definitely off the team? Are they moving Ruben Gonzalez adn/or TRex to DB? Do they feel they have no chance with the guys higher on the board? Did they see something this season that suddenly make them think Zach was a BCS cailber player? etc.. I like this kid a lot and have for a while. I am glad he finally got his dream offer and will likely be a Bull. I am just curious as to what this offer means is happening behind the scenes.

That is awesome. My son is 2 1/2 now so he is too big to copy off you. But, my daughter will be born in 6 days....hmmmmm. All kidding aside. Great pic. Congrats!

My wife went to Elon, so I am very familiar with the Southern Conference. Saying that, this game should not be close. This is a senior laden team that has a chip on their shoulder after last year.

I agree. I thought he was a lock. Nate Goodwin is slightly higher on the board though. So if we lose Mcclain, but land Godwin, we are in good shape. Godwin is down to USF and West Virginia.

Tony Stevens is the big get. He is the top WR target on the USF coaches' board even ahead of Stacey Coley. The problem with Watkins is they are basically full at WR. They don't have any scholarships left for a WR unless they get a guy the caliber of Stevens or Coley (they would over sign for guys like that). Does Watkins have a USF offer? Can he play another position?

I love how the father of our most important recruit in the 2013 class (we have no one on the roster to adequately fill BJ's shoes after next season) is on here telling you that himself, his son, and other kids they know that are currently going through the recruiting process feel about message board banter and the impact it can have on recruits....and you are telling him it doesn't. Really? Lets remember, these are high school kids we are talking about. The kids we are recruiting now have not even started their senior year of high school yet. Do you remember when you were a junior in high school? How impressionable you were? Good lord people. Mr. Woulard, I apologize on behalf of Bulls Nation for some of the posters on here. This is the reason I rarely post on this board. I am mostly on the premium site boards for this very reason. Now back on topic....lol How tight is Asiantii with guys like Tony Stevens over there in Orlando? Do you think he can help pull some more central Florida boys over here with him. I have been following recruiting for a long time and I can tell you, just like on the field, the QB is the leader of a recruiting class. They can be very influential. Take note of what a kid with 2 offers, Pete Dinovo, has been able to do pulling kids from Tampa to UCF as an example. It happens all the time. I know we have Asiantii on board, Jo Jo, and Jeff too. Want to give us some hints as to who could be next?

Agreed 100%. I felt like I was reading a SEC fan boy board with some of the comments on here. The Big East puts out a ton of NFL players. Heck, USF had 5 players drafted in the 2010 draft (tied for the most of any school in the country that year).

He is a guy who is just a natural born success. Everything he gets involved in, he is successful. This is a guy who won the Governorship of MA as a Republican. That doesn't even seem possible, but he did it. He also saved the Salt Lake City Olympics. He is a terrific businessman too. Saying that, I think I would rather him be the POTUS and let Wiberg do his thing in the BE.

Check out his interview after winning the MVP at Elite 11. Total class. He is going to do big things here and he carries himself like a grown man. This kid is so impressive, especially considering he is heading into his senior year of high school. Remember those days? I sure didn't carry myself like this kid does when I was his age. lol He must have some amazing parents. Enjoy... http://espn.go.com/high-school/football/video/clip?id=8190814

Awesome showing and I couldn't be happier for him. He seems like such a great kid in every interview I have seen him do. Think about this. Matt Grothe broke Pat White's Big East all purpose yardage record. BJ Daniels is on pace to easily break Grothe's record this year. Woulard has about as wide open a door as you will ever have at a BCS program to be a 4 year starter. Even if he has to red shirt next year, he should be the starter for the next 4 years after that...he is going to have a shot to break Daniel's record. Think about that. Pat White, Mike Vick, etc... all played in the Big East and USF could have the top 3 all time total yards leaders in Big East history. Probably getting ahead of myself, but that is a real possibility here. Pretty amazing stuff.

Not just 1 DUI....http://florida.arrests.org/Arrests/Patrick_Nohe_5621810/ But 2...http://florida.arrests.org/Arrests/Patrick_Nohe_3570007/ This is an up and coming Steve Deumig. Certainly not anyone who is going to break a major story like he was teasing.

We got section 114, row C, seats 8 and 9. Sounds like a lot of board members will be in that section.

I am not sure if you guys follow recruiting, but most experts think VH3 ends up at USF. In fact, here is his 247 profile. http://247sports.com/Player/Vernon-Hargreaves-III-11340?pi=7282 As you can see his top 5 is USF, Bama, UF, FSU, and LSU with USF as his leader.

Per Josh Newberg, Blakely is meeting with coach Holtz today... I'm told that frmer #UF RB Mike Blakely will meet w/ #USF coach Skip Holtz today. 1 out of a few schools he'll meet w/ before decision. @joshnewberg247

The big time donors are really stepping up lately. Great to see.

Grady is a BIG key to this class. Both of his parents are USF alumni and he is supposedly very influential amongst the local football community. Not only that, Josh's dad coaches in the PAL League and is looked up to by a lot of kids in the community that he has known since they were children. Getting Grady alone is a big deal, but the residual effects of landing him are potentially HUGE. You start pulling in guys like Andre Davis and Josh Grady then suddenly guys like Andre Dixon doesn't seem so far fetched.

I have not heard that rumor since the Marlins got approval for their new stadium.  The rumor last year was that the Marlins would move to San Antonio and into the AL West. And in turn the Rays would move to the NL East. But, as much as people complain about being in the AL East, its really not that big of a deal.  The Yankees are an old team and half of their rotation is already hurt this year. Then one of their replacements, Karstens, got hurt today.  They are planning to pitch Carl Pavano on opening day for God's sake. The Red Sox last year were barely over .500 nad had one of the worst records in baseball in the 2nd half. Toronto, is a very solid team right now, but their farm system is really weak.  The Yankees have actually improved their farm system greatly by trading veterans for prospects over the offseason and now their farm system is ranked 4th in MLB by Baseball America.  The Rays are ranked #1. The Rays system is unbelievably stacked at every level and is loaded with pitching talent. Just last year their AA team, the Montgomery Biscuits won the Southern League Championship. And their High A team, Visalia Oaks, lost a 1 run game in game 5 of the California League Championship. They were that close to winning championships in High A and AA. That shows you what is on the way. Side note, the Rays High A affiliate is now Vero Beach and they will play in the Florida State League, so they will be right in our backyard. Very exciting. My point is the AL East is very overrated.  You want to talk about tough divisions, look at the AL Central.  Detroit, Chicago, and Minnesota are arguably the 3 best teams in the AL. Then throw in a very good, young Cleveland team.  I would much rather be where we are.  It is the best place for our team to get the most exposure.  Going up against the Yankees and Red Sox 38 times per year gives you a lot of national exposure.  When the Rays win the AL East they will be given a lot more respect than if they had won the AL Central regardless of which division was tougher, because people think the Red Sox and Yankees are invincible. They obviously have very short memories.  :

As of about 4 days ago it was possible. He had a great 2nd game of the spring in Dunedin against the Blue Jays. He hit 2 HR's that day both to the opposite field. But, for the next 2 weeks, he couldn't buy a hit and was striking out in 50% of his AB's. This coming off an awful 2nd half last year when he really struggled with a shoulder injury. But, he has homered in the past 2 games and leads the team in HR's doubles, and RBI now for the spring. He also has a spring OPS over 1.000. He'll be on the team. Jorge Cantu might not though. Which would have seemed impossible after his 2005 season, but this team is getting really deep, really fast. There are no guarantees anymore. Just wait until Reid Brignac and Evan Longoria are ready in about a year. There are going to be some tough decisions to make.

USF 2005 grad.

Thanks ET! A friend of mine from Raysbaseball.com and Pewterreport.com made it for me. I have actually retired it on all the other boards, but had forgotten to change it on this board for some reason. And for those who don't know. The Rays are 6-0-1 since they have started playing mostly regulars in the spring training games and most of those wins have been in blowout fashion. I.E. 7-0 over the Indians, 15-1 over the Reds, 12-4 over the Pirates today, etc. The pitching has been outstanding all spring and for the last week when the regulars have played together they have been killing the ball. It is time to start supporting this team hard in this town. Sports Illustrated and Baseball America both wrote articles this past week stating that the Rays will be the best team in baseball by 2010. It is time for this town to shed the bandwagon label and get out there and support this team before its the cool thing to do like we did with the Bucs and Lightning. How can you not want to pay money to see CC, Rocco, and Delmon Young in the same OF? Elijah Dukes, BJ Upton, and Jonny Gomes will be the reserve OF's this year. Not Damon Hollins, Russel Branyan, etc. So even if there is an injury there is a young star sitting on the bench ready to replace them. And the pitching staff is ALOT better than people give them credit for. Don't forget that Jeff Niemann and Mitch Talbot are starting in AAA this year so they aren't too far off either. The 2nd decade of Rays baseball is going to make everyone forget about the first decade. I can promise you that. Now get out to the Trop and root root root for the home team. *steps off soap box*

Made my pledge. We are only at 6%? >