Gene Coleman fails to qualify

[S p e n c e]

TAMPA - Gene Coleman, considered the University of South Florida's top incoming defensive recruit, did not graduate from Pearl River Community College and is not eligible to play this fall.

Coleman, of Lake Wales, was MVP of the junior college national championship game last season at Pearl River.

Coleman (6-0, 245) said he will enroll at Hillsborough Community College this fall and enroll at USF in January. He would have two years of eligibility, in 2006 and 2007.

"This can work to my benefit, because instead of coming in late this year, I get more time to get in shape," Coleman said. "This will give me next spring and summer to get in better condition and be a better all-around player."

Also, freshman WR Ishmael Grant is still awaiting NCAA Clearinghouse approval. DB Antonio Cox and NT Paul Uhatafe have been cleared by the NCAA, but are still completing their registration.

USF NO. 83: Sports Illustrated's college football magazine ranks USF 83rd out of 119 Division I-A teams and sixth in the Big East. The only league teams lower are Rutgers (96) and Cincinnati (100).

Last year, SI ranked USF 66th (sixth in Conference USA) and the Bulls went 4-7. In 2001, SI ranked USF as the nation's second-worst I-A program, but the Bulls went 8-3. In 2002, the Bulls, ranked No. 84 by SI, went 9-2. In 2003, USF was 49th and second in C-USA and went 7-4.

ODDS AND ENDS: Former NFL and Florida State CB Terrell Buckley attended Thursday's practice. ... For the fourth time in the past five years, offensive coordinator Rod Smith, offensive line coach Greg Frey,and strength coaches Ronnie McKeefery and Travis Larimore won the coaches' annual bowling tournament. "Let's just say the word 'dynasty' is starting to be used around here," Smith said

Disappointing news, he could have made a huge and immediate impact on the defense, although the good news is, that will still happen...just not 'til next season.

http://sports.tbo.com/sports/MGB2JBHW9CE.html

[Velcro]

i guess you can never trust their coaches :

[S p e n c e]

I know it, pretty shocking news considering what we have been hearing for the past few weeks.  

[E.T.]

Well, it hurts depth for this season. Hope we DO see him in 2006.

Go BULLS !!!

[Big_Hairy_Bull]

Well, it hurts depth for this season. Hope we DO see him in 2006.

Go BULLS !!!

That is one position we already have tons of depth in. This will not hurt us one bit.

[Jake_Ryan]

That is one position we already have tons of depth in. This will not hurt us one bit.

Are you crazy?  Every MLB on the roster is undersized.  There are a couple of decent players, but no real standout.  Coleman had the size, motor, and mean streak necessary at MLB, from all published reports.  We won't know for another year whether that is true, but assuming it is, this hurts BIG TIME.

[Guest S.  Bien]

Are you crazy?  Every MLB on the roster is undersized.  There are a couple of decent players, but no real standout.  Coleman had the size, motor, and mean streak necessary at MLB, from all published reports.  We won't know for another year whether that is true, but assuming it is, this hurts BIG TIME.

I wouldn't say it hurts "BIG TIME" had Coleman been in here during the spring and notched himself as one of the starters then it would have hurt "BIG TIME."  However, Moffett firmly entrenched himself at MLB, so much so that Coach Burnham believes he could follow in the footsteps of the greats.  That was Ben's problem last year because the middle was his natural position.  He also got bigger, up over 235lbs, not gigantic, but still over 10lbs bigger than last year.  

Gene's loss hurts, but how much remains to be seen.  At least to start the season it isn't "Big Time" because he wasn't a starter.  The fact he missed the entire spring and summer workouts means this guy probably wouldn't have contributed meaningful minutes until the second half of the season.

I hope he makes it in for the spring but I always have my doubts.  When a kid enrolls at HCC to gain eligibility for USF often that's the kiss of death.  Hopefully Gene becomes one of them that bucks the trend and makes it.  Besides with the potential of Nicholas leaving for the NFL a spot could be waiting him.  

[BullDoug]

Ya know, I had a funny feeling this was gonna be the same situation as the other juco LB from last yr.  I wouldn't bet a wooden nickle on this kid ever making it to campus.  I will never believe what a JC HC says either.  How could this kid fail to make the grade when it was so important?  It's call lack of discipline.  I say that because I spend many a Saturdays 6-10 yrs in the library gettin' my academic sh_t together.  I don't know why but I'm kinda irritated about this.  I do not even wanna know about the next Juco wonder at all even when you consider Andre Hall.  It's really kinda disappointing.

[Jake_Ryan]

I wouldn't say it hurts "BIG TIME" had Coleman been in here during the spring and notched himself as one of the starters then it would have hurt "BIG TIME."  However, Moffett firmly entrenched himself at MLB, so much so that Coach Burnham believes he could follow in the footsteps of the greats.  That was Ben's problem last year because the middle was his natural position.  He also got bigger, up over 235lbs, not gigantic, but still over 10lbs bigger than last year.  

Gene's loss hurts, but how much remains to be seen.  At least to start the season it isn't "Big Time" because he wasn't a starter.  The fact he missed the entire spring and summer workouts means this guy probably wouldn't have contributed meaningful minutes until the second half of the season.

I hope he makes it in for the spring but I always have my doubts.  When a kid enrolls at HCC to gain eligibility for USF often that's the kiss of death.  Hopefully Gene becomes one of them that bucks the trend and makes it.  Besides with the potential of Nicholas leaving for the NFL a spot could be waiting him.  

I hope that Moffett really has bulked up and entrenched himself.  I'm going on what I saw last year, and there wasn't a MLB that I saw who could get off the blocks and get up in the middle and make some plays.  I hoped Coleman could do that, and follow in the footsteps of Mitchell and Jones.  If Moffett can do that, then that's fine by me.

I'm just real concerned about the D up the middle.  Depth and size at DT and MLB is a concern.  For USF to get back to winning, the D really has to return to form.  I was hoping Coleman was the real deal to complement Jones and Jones and give the D a big boost this year.

[Guest S.  Bien]

I hope that Moffett really has bulked up and entrenched himself.  I'm going on what I saw last year, and there wasn't a MLB that I saw who could get off the blocks and get up in the middle and make some plays.  I hoped Coleman could do that, and follow in the footsteps of Mitchell and Jones.  If Moffett can do that, then that's fine by me.

I'm just real concerned about the D up the middle.  Depth and size at DT and MLB is a concern.  For USF to get back to winning, the D really has to return to form.  I was hoping Coleman was the real deal to complement Jones and Jones and give the D a big boost this year.

What you saw last year was Moffett playing on the edge not inside.  He played weakside often and he's not great in space, not to mention he was still fresh and new.  Once they put him in the middle last fall (he didn't play a minute for this team in the middle) it was like OJ finding his glove.  It fit, and Moffett has beefed up and now is like the defensive general- barking orders, he knows all the formations, and that's his forte plugging the inside, shading RB's, attacking ball carriers.  

Of the multitude of problems that this defense was plagued with last year one of them was their inability to find an effective MLB, the defensive general/floor leader.  Nicholas couldn't do it he's an edge guy, Davis bombed, McCollough looked OK but was still learning, and St. Louis is an edge guy a speed demon.   Having a general like Moffett that's confident and knows the plays will help this defense improve automatically.

Moffett is all inside, think Barrett Ruud the MLB the bucs signed from Nebraska.  I am not saying he'll be a Ruud, but they have similar skills, approach, and attitude.  I was hoping Coleman could have contributed too, but he wasn't slated as a MLB.  The depth chart had him backing up St. Louis.  Coleman's another fast guy that works well in space.  The MLB's behind Moffett are McCollough, and Mompremier.

On a positive, some of the premium sites have a multitude of practice pics, and info.  That recent article stated Tim Jones is now over 280lbs, and he looks like a solid brick.  Also, Clebert and Cray are each pushing 300lbs, and look like mini-tanks; also a report stated Eric Thomas was 285lbs- in the pic he looks it.  While we don't have some 325lbs fatty to plug things up, I think a middle rotation of Cray, Clebert, Tim Jones, and Thomas gives us a nice combination of size and athleticism that should hold its own against most lines.

Here's something people don't realize last year.  Our first five games the starting DT's were LRS and Cedric Battle.  Neither weighed over 290lbs.  We did plug in Antonio Searcy and he was effective, Groelinger is another guy that was pushing around 280lbs.  Ramon McCollough was huge but he wasn't very effective.  In fact, did you know that from the Army game on Cray started ahead of Cedric Battle, Curtis chance ahead of him against UAB, and Clebert in during Pitt.  LRS Jr. was the only constant starter for every since game last year, and he was probably around 280-285lbs at his heaviest.

The interior defensive line this year, now that Cray and Clebert have blown up in size, and Eric Thomas is not to far behind, could be as big as we were when we started Walls and Jurineak!  Our biggest DL, Ramon McCollough, and Searcy were not in the two deep most of the year last year, and outside of Cray and Chance everyone else weighed less than 290lbs!