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I was looking through Rivals.com and Scout.com and saw that they only listed 6 or 7 official visits. Obviously, there are much more than that. Typically there are around 8 recruits per weekend that are on visits. Does anybody know of any big recruiting weekends coming up that have players that aren't listed on Rivals or Scout?

I think I said it on another thread somewhere, but my name is Kevin and I was an offensive lineman. I signed Feb 4th 1997 and graduated in 2001. P.S. It's a great time to be a BULL! Upcoming Bowl Game! 3 and 4 star recruits signing every week!! The best is yet to come!

Yep

I agree with what you said MikeG. The only thing I will say is that Coach Leavitt is a little more flexible with his offense. He understands that the less his defense is on the field the better they are, so for him, its all about maintaining drives. That is why he let the offensive coaches run the style of offense they did when Marquel Blackwell was a senior. Trust me, Coach Leavitt wasn't exactly thrilled about throwing it 65 times a game, but the offense moved the ball, didn't commit many turnovers, and were able to keep his defense rested. Yes, Coach Leavitt, if given the option, would like to run the ball, but he doesn't like having his defense out on the field for 45 mins a game either.

Coach Leavitt acutally used to have some rules on this. For team pictures everyone was required to be clean shaven. Then my senior year he allowed a mustache during pictures. As players, we used to shave incoming freshman's heads right before the start of 2-a-days, but I'm not sure if they still do that.

M guess is that C. Hill is getting plenty of reps in practice right now. Also, this month is extremely beneficial to the young guys that have been on scout team all year because they finally get to work on good stuff instead of just pretending to be an opposing team. This extra time could allow them to make big strides. As far as the QB position in this game, I still see Coach Leavitt starting PJ for several reasons. #1 PJ did get this team to a bowl game as a starting QB. (I'm not saying anything about his ability, just that he started) #2 I don't think Coach Leavitt wants to have another Penn St. where he starts the back up and has to use PJ to win the game. #3 I think Coach Leavitt would rather use C. Hill as the spark to come in and get things going. Yes, PJ will most likely start, but I see C. Hill playing a good amount in this game. Unless PJ plays great.

The GA position at South Florida is basically given a full scholarship. They receive tuition, books, and a stipend for room and board.

Yes, E.T., the coaches do recruit regions, but when it comes time to selct which recruits to go for, those choices are made by the position coach. For instance, Coach Kravitz recruited my area in high school, but it was Coach Woolford and Coach Frey that were the ones that chose to recruit me. Kravitz just did the dirty work.

I agree with you Joe, the players are responsible to execute, but as a former player, I look for my offensive coordinator to put me in the best position to be successful. This is something that Coach Smith did not do. Yes, you can easily say that our offensive linemen didn't block good enough against UConn and WVU, but as an OC, if you see that happening then you must be able to adapt your play calling around it through formation changes, motioning, and creativity in your play calling. Coach Smith did none of these. Unfortunately, we do not have the talent yet to be able to call any play and just say "Ok guys, just execute." We must be able to scheme properly to exploit our strength, hide our weakness, and attack the defense. This is another problem with Coach Smith. The difference between our offense and our defense is not in talent, it is in philosophy. Our defensive coordinators use a very aggressive attacking style of defense. They are creative in their play calling and always apply pressure to the opposition. Our OC is more of a "let's not lose the game" kind of philosophy. He never really puts pressure on defenses. He likes to wait for opportunities instead of making them. Again, I agree with you that the players are responsible for execution, but the OC can help his players out by putting them in their best position to be successful.

Recruiting polls mean nothing. We had "Top" recruits come in that never played. Rankings of recruits are simliar to NFL Draft lists, they are based alot on paper statistics. Just because a guy is 6'5'', or runs a 4.4 doesn't mean a thing about his heart, determination, and work ethic. Those are the qualities that make stars. I have no problem with the experts saying our recruiting class isn't in the Top 25, as long as we bring in our talent, work them hard, and develop them into the stars they can be.

It sounds as if maybe things have changed under Rod Smith. Levi played after I did. If it is true that the offense no longer adheres to the strict discipline that we did back in the begining, then that is a direct reflection of the offensive coordinator, and is sad. Hopefully, by bringing in a new offensive coordinator they will restore some accountability into the offensive players.

Not sure when you played Tulderbull, but Coach Canales, Coach Magee, Coach Woolford, and Coach Frey always made their players run for penalties, turnovers, missed assignments, and LLBs. As far as the defense running more, the only times the defense ran more was when they ran gassers for giving up touchdowns, so if they played good they didn't run as much, but if we got blown out, then yes, they ran more. As a team, USF runs more year round than almost any other program. We used to joke about the fact that Miami's conditioning test was one of our normal conditioning days. Butmaybe this has changed in the last 3 years?

Couple reasons. Florida unforunately is not a breeding ground for a ton of offensive linemen. We have a million little skinny fast guys, but the good big men are hard to find. USF got caught a couple years ago going after the top offensive linemen in the state and unfortunately FSU, UF, and UM were in positions where they could "convince" a young o-lineman that he could play early. Because of that we lost a lot of top O-line recruits. We did bring in some that according to recruiting "experts" were supposed to be really good that just haven't worked out. Right now, the mindset is a combination of recruiting some 3 star offensive linemen and at the same time fill immediate needs and gain depth with good JC transfers, similar to what we did at the Offensive Tackle position last offseason. Hopefully, we can get 1 or 2 JC interior o-linemen, and some of the younger guys can step up. Unfortunately, OL is a very difficult position to scout potential for, aside from 5 star guys.

Yes, coaching does factor into this, but watch almost any college game and you'll hear the announcers joke about how there is a flag on every special teams return. This is because the referees have been more strict on their calls on special teams in the last 6 years or so. My name is Kevin and I was #79 from the 1997 to 2000 season. I played all 5 offensive line positions throughout my career. My view on the offense is very similar to those that have been mentioned elsewhere on this board. Coach Smith is not a good play caller, has shown no ability to develop a quarterback, and from some friends of mine still in the program, he isn't that great at recruiting. The biggest loss the USF offense had was when it lost Mike Canales back in 2000. Obviously Julmiste is also a problem. My biggest problem with him, despite his inability to throw (which is pretty important), is that he has and continues to make poor choices in the passing game. To me those are inexcusable. If you throw a pick trying to throw it to the correct guy, I can live with it. But to throw picks when you throw to guys that were your 3rd or 4th read is unacceptable. So what can be done? Despite some of the more pessimistic posters on this board, Coach Leavitt is a great coach. He is and will be everything USF needs to reach the highest level. It just takes time. We do need a new offensive coordinator. And we are looking good for the future with the QB position, so I expect that to be much better from now on. My biggest concern for the offense in the future is going to be (surprise) the offensive line. If you look at the Top teams in the country, although they have talented QBs and RBs, they all have great offensive lines. For the USF offense to move forward and utilize its younger talent, it must recruit, sign, and develop stud offensive linemen. (Sorry about the book)

USF vs. NC State should be close. Very similar teams. Rutgers has a good chance if the ASU vs Arizona team shows up and not the ASU vs. USC team. WVU vs. UGA could go either way, but I am leaning towards UGA coming out on top. Louisville could still be competitive since they will have an entire month to work their new QB in. Plus Louisville always has great QBs on their team regardless of whether they are 1st or 2nd team. And hopefully VaTech will still be thinkin about their lost BCS bid.

Penalties are a big deal to Coach Leavitt. When I played, Coach would hire some of CUSA refs in the spring and during preseason, to come to our practices and referee. That way as players, we could see what would be called and what wouldn't. We also had meetings with those refs periodically to discuss good and bad things they saw from a referee's point of view. As far as disciplinary action goes, if an offensive player got a penalty, then he, personally, would have some sort of punishment that was always grueling and the entire offense would run extra for every penalty. And the same went for the defense. Any special team penalty was just added to the teams weekly sprint total. Again, penalties are a big deal to CJL. Why we are so penalized? I don't know. Part of it lies with the fact that we play such an aggressive style of play, that it is a given that you are going to occasionally get some pass interference calls and so forth. The tough penalties to deal with are the false starts and illegal formation penalties which lies more on the shoulders of the Offensive Coordinator than anybody.

I don't like the gold pants just because it feels a little UCF-ish, but I don't mind incorporating some black in as a change up, just not as much as Louisville did.

They did .... they were out-matched and out-played by Miami, Penn St., and WVU. Hence the reason to bring in some big time OL recruits especially some JC transfers for next year.

It should be viewed as an honor to both Andre and the offensive line for the success they had against a tough schedule. It is even more impressive when you think about the fact that they did this with a non-existent passing game, a sub par QB, a predictable play-caller, and with a target pointed right at them by some of the best defenses in the country. Congrats to Andre and the OL!!!

Does any one know if there are any possible JC transfers to fill our need at center and guard and make an impact for next year that we could land?

Don't know if this has been mentioned yet but...... I like the match-ups that the Big East has in their bowl games this year but I think they also got a little screwed if you look at the lineups. Rutgers vs. Arizona St. Insight Bowl in Phoenix, AZ USF vs. NC State Car Care Bowl in Charlotte, NC WVU vs. Georgia Sugar Bowl in Atlanta, GA UL vs. VaTech Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, FL Except for the Gator Bowl, the Big East is basically playing a road game instead of a bowl game, because all of the opponents, except VaTech, is basically at home.

Huge pick up. Should replace Tim Jones nicely. Keep those 4 star recruits comin!!

I know its early, but I'm kinda worried right now looking through Scout.com's list of USF's prospects. They don't have any 3/4/5 star offensive lineman listed as either being recruited or interested. Again, I know its early and by no means is Scout.com a complete list of USF's recruitment, but still? USF has the speed to match up with any team in the country, but what it lacks is the size and strength to play with the Top schools, and this is especially evident in both our OL & DL in the big games. And with the graduation of 3 interior offensive lineman, and quite a few starting defensive lineman, I am starting to get a little worried. We can bring in the best QBs, RBs, and WRs all we want, but if we don't have top notch big guys, we are gonna have problems.

This is under the preview section for the game ..... Are you kidding me? Is it really that hard to get his name right?

Although WVU is going to be dangerous for the next couple years, the fact that their QB and RB are both true freshman will most likely scare away a couple good recruits because of a perceived lack of playing time. This could be beneficial for USF.