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Posted

 

National Signing Day a Huge Success

The future looks even brighter for our football, men’s soccer and women’s soccer programs following a fantastic National Signing Day at the Selmon Athletics Center, downtown Tampa and the Sun Dome.

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Less than two months after a Miami Beach Bowl appearance, Coach Taggart and his staff kept building momentum with the signings of 18 brand new Bulls that made up the star-studded 2016 class.

This special group includes five four-star recruits along with 13 three-star prospects and Coach Taggart continues to keep local stars at home. Five signees in this class hail from the Bay Area, bringing our total of Bay Area recruits to 22 in the past three seasons. Read about the class filled with playmakers HERE.

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Thank you to everyone who joined our Signing Day celebration. After our newest Bulls were welcomed to the USF family, Bulls Club members and former players filled The Tampa Club’s ballroom for what turned out to be an incredible National Signing Day luncheon. This exciting day for USF Athletics was capped off with even more supporters joining Coach Taggart and his staff for the USF Signing Day Party at the Sun Dome Arena Club, with most of the group staying to watch Coach Fernandez’s women’s basketball team defeat Cincinnati.

Things continue to look very promising on the soccer field as well with more top-level talent joining the program.

Coach Schilte-Brown’s women’s team reloaded its roster with nine new Bulls and three local standouts will get to play in front of family and friends at Corbett Stadium. Read about the class HERE.

Coach Kiefer’s men’s team brought in a local standout from Chargers Soccer Club, one of the elite teams in Tampa Bay, and a solid defender from Orlando City Academy. Read about the two newest Bulls HERE.

Congratulations to our entire satff on completing the recruiting mission thanks to countless days of hard work. I would especially like to thank our marketing and social media team for producing innovative content to welcome our newest recruiting class. Several national media outlets have commented on the outstanding job we did of recognizing the latest signees in a fun and interactive format. Check out some great examples below. Fall 2016 is going to be huge for USF Athletics!

 

 

Ticket Renewal Campaign Is Underway

We appreciate all the Bulls Club members and fans who purchased season tickets for a memorable 2015 season of USF football.

Many of you should have received an email about renewing for what’s shaping up to be a tremendous 2016 season. The football priority renewal period for all Bulls Club members runs through Friday, April 1 and there are several incentives for re-committing early.

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Aside from locking in your current seat locations, you can elect to add new seats or change locations for a season that will see the Bulls host bowl participants FSU, Navy, UConn and Northern Illinois, along with rival UCF, East Carolina and Towson. All of these can’t-miss matchups will take place at Raymond James Stadium, which is undergoing the first phase of $100 million improvements that will be completed by September. I can’t wait to see our Green and Gold fans in HD on the state-of-the-art video boards throughout Ray Jay on game day.

We can’t thank everyone enough for being a part of Bulls football in the past, but we need you more than ever on the journey ahead.  Renew your season tickets today by speaking with a representative at 1-800-GoBulls or online HERE.

Compliance Corner

The National Signing Day period is a great time to bring up important NCAA recruiting rules you should be aware of and keep in mind in the future.

NCAA rules prohibit any booster from making recruiting telephone calls or having in-person contact (on or off campus) with recruits, their relatives or legal guardians. These rules also apply to social media and online message boards (example: Tweeting at a recruit or commenting on his or her Facebook wall). Learn more about NCAA bylaw 13.02.14 HERE.

Remember, a booster is anyone who has donated money to USF, purchased season tickets and sponsors or promotes USF Athletics, even on Twitter. Once you’re a booster, you're always considered a booster of an institution according to the NCAA.

If an NCAA rule has been broken, serious consequences can include a recruit's ineligibility or release. Institutional violations would have to be reported and penalties could imposed on our coaching staffs. Thank you for respecting these rules and being an honorable ambassador of USF Athletics.

Super Bowl Becoming a USF Tradition

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Congratulations to our very own Kayvon Webster on making another trip to the biggest game of the NFL season.

The versatile Denver Broncos defensive back/special teamer played for the program from 2009-12 and is set to become the first-ever Bull to play in two Super Bowls on Sunday. USF has been represented on a Super Bowl team 12 times overall and at least once in five of the past six seasons.

Read about Kayvon’s return trip to the Super Bowl and our past Super Bowl representatives HERE.

Basketball Heads Down Home Stretch

Coach Fernandez’s No. 19/17 women’s basketball team (16-5, 9-2) continues to do an outstanding job in league play while Courtney Williams has reached an outstanding milestone. With 28 points against Cincinnati, the super senior became just the second USF women’s player to reach 2,000 points and the fourth player overall in Bulls basketball history. Only 11 active women's players nationwide have scored 2,000 points and we're proud to have our very own right here. Congrats, Courtney! 

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Coach Fernandez’s team has taken care of business at home with a 12-1 record and the final three regular season games at the Sun Dome should be special. Catch the Bulls at home against Tulane on Tuesday, Feb. 9 and Memphis on Sunday, Feb. 21 before we honor the seniors prior to the matchup with Temple on Saturday, Feb. 27. View the rest of the schedule HERE.

Coach Antigua’s men’s team continues to manage its way through a season of challenges with two wins in the past three road games, and a young star is rising before our eyes. Freshman Jahmal McMurray ranks seventh in the conference with 15.0 points per game and he’s tied for the most minutes played among freshmen nationally. Good luck to the Bulls as they host No. 12 SMU on Sunday at 2 p.m.. View the remaining schedule HERE and see you at the Sun Dome.

Softball, Baseball Seasons Around the Corner

February is a fabulous time to bring the family to the ballpark for the start of two action-packed seasons under the sun.

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Coach Eriksen’s softball team gets things started in grand fashion with marquee home matchups against South Carolina and Virginia Tech on Friday, Feb. 12. USF wraps up opening weekend with games against Michigan and Illinois State on Saturday, Feb. 13 and Florida on Sunday, Feb. 14.

Coach Eriksen has a lot of talent to choose from for his lineup card with a vast amount of depth on the roster, including sophomore outfielder Astin Donovan, who recently earned a spot on the USA Women’s Elite Team. View the Bulls’ schedule that features 13 NCAA tournament opponents HERE.

Coach Kingston and his staff did an amazing job leading the baseball team to the NCAA tournament last season and the road back to the postseason begins Friday, Feb. 19 against Liberty at home. Senior preaseason all-conference catcher Levi Borders is back to provide leadership to a team that’s stocked with young talent from a recruiting class that was ranked top 10 nationally. Check out the season schedule that's packed with 38 home games HERE.

Tennis Teams Getting Into a Groove

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The best of luck to Coach Hill’s 13th-ranked men’s tennis team during its road matches against No. 22 Minnesota and No. 4 Texas A&M this weekend. These tough tests serve as a great tune-up for USF’s first trip to the ITA Division I National Indoor Championship Sweet 16 on Feb. 12 in Charlottesville, Va.

Congrats to the women’s team on securing Coach Moros’ first win as a Bull in perfect fashion by rolling past FGCU, 7-0. I’ve been out at the USF Varsity Courts watching an impressive brand of tennis and I’m excited about what Coach Moros is passionately building. Cristina is an energetic leader, sprinting back and forth between the courts during matches to guide players, and that’s what you expect to see from a coach that won a national championship as a player at Texas. That type of drive is what will help turn the women’s tennis program back to where it needs to be.

Bulls in the Community

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Along with excellence in the classroom and competition, community is at the forefront of what we’re trying to do at USF Athletics. Nothing exhibits that more than what took place during our campus-wide Stampede of Service initiative throughout Tampa last month.

More than 100 of our student-athletes and coaches joined forces to complete landscaping projects at two Salvation Army locations and the University Area Community Development Corporation. Learn more about USF Athletics’ Stampede of Service efforts HERE.

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Nearly 2,000 hours were logged in this fall to put USF Athletics on pace to break the program’s yearly community service record. Our goodwill efforts will continue this month during projects with Paralympic Sports of Tampa Bay, the Boys & Girls Club and G3 Life Applications among other community partners.

Thank you for reading, and here's a reminder of how you can always help USF Athletics:

1. Be a season tickets holder;

2. Join the Bulls Club;

3. Wear the Green and Gold!

Go Bulls!

Mark Harlan, Director of Athletics


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Posted

exciting


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Posted

Love these updates by Harlan. Gives good insight into the month that was in USF Athletics and what to expect in the future. Thought it was very interesting he added the part about boosters contacting recruits, especially in social media. Any season ticket holder is considered one; goes to show you to never tweet at any recruit. Really looking forward to baseball/softball. Had a lot of fun at a few of those games last year.


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Posted

Preventing the tweeting to recruits is s joke. It happens all the time (maybe not as much for us) in the bigger programs. I really can't see how it could realistically be prevented(especially from season ticket holders).  


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Posted
59 minutes ago, NewEnglandBull said:

Preventing the tweeting to recruits is s joke. It happens all the time (maybe not as much for us) in the bigger programs. I really can't see how it could realistically be prevented(especially from season ticket holders).  

It can't be prevented but Harlan's still got to at least try to make sure that everyone is aware it is a violation ...

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