1997 players honored

[Guest BasketBull.]

Fans cry: "Football is going to put us on the map'

St. Petersburg Times September 7, 1997 Author: BARRY KLEIN

It had been four hours and several beers since Darryl Newton painted on his green-and-yellow game face in preparation for Saturday night's first-ever University of South Florida football game.

The afternoon heat had long ago melted the school colors into a messy smear - or was that from the drink someone had dumped over his head? Whatever. Kickoff was approaching, and Newton was in the mood to wax sentimental.

He gestured toward the rapidly-filling stands at Houlihan's Stadium, which soon would be packed with more than 40,000 cheering USF fans.

""I never thought I'd see this day,'' said the 27-year-old Newton, now a Fort Lauderdale accountant. ""USF football. People yelling and cheering for the Bulls. People actually caring about the Bulls. This is what college is all about.''

Okay, so maybe football isn't what college is all about. Maybe it isn't even close. When you live in a state dominated by Gators and 'Noles, when you've had to explain - more than once - that USF is not actually located in south Florida, it's easy to get a tad over-excited.

Take Leslie Kirk, who got juiced up for the game by being one of 28 people to participate in Saturday's ""Olympic Torch''-style run of the first game ball from campus to stadium. She won a spot by threatening to tackle one of the other runners if she wasn't included.

""I think today is going to change everything about USF,'' said Kirk, a speech pathology major. ""Football is going to put us on the map.''

Football already is changing some things at USF.

When was the last time the school got this kind of media attention for something positive? Has there ever been a time vendors hawked USF T-shirts, pennants and caps along city streets? And people lined up to buy them?

During player warm-ups, USF president Betty Castor walked the edges of the playing field basking in a scene many thought would never happen.

She smiled when the student section erupted in an impromptu cheer. She smiled even wider when talking about the impact of football on alumni.

""They've come in from all over, from across Florida and as far away as California,'' Castor said. ""Football has really been a momentum-builder. There are a lot of happy people around here.''

Some of them might better be described as bonkers.

""AARGH! Bring on the Gators,'' hollered Chris Knowles, who sported a Bulls helmet, complete with horns, to a tailgate barbecue in the parking lot of nearby Tampa Bay Center. ""We might get killed now, but just wait a few years.''

USF officials said more than 1,500 alumni bought tickets to a catered tailgate party at Al Lopez Park.

Some saw friends there they hadn't seen for years. Some brought their children.

""I wanted him to see the first game, even if he doesn't remember it,'' said Janet Kauffman, a former USF student who was referring to her 2-year-old son Joshua, fast asleep despite the live music blaring just a few yards away.

""Twenty-five years from now,'' Kauffman said, ""he can say he was there when it began.''

BULLWHIPPED St. Petersburg Times September 7, 1997 Author: SHARON GINN

No one really knows how far the fledgling South Florida football team will go, or how fast.

But after Saturday night's inaugural-season opening game, Bulls fans can hold these truths to be self-evident: that Chad Barnhardt does have a rocket for an arm, that the defense will be hard-hitting and aggressive and that first opponent Kentucky Wesleyan was hand-picked to kick off the Bulls' program with a victory.

How else to explain a 77-point pounding?

Looking like a team tired of practice and eager to play, USF raced out of the blocks and never stopped. It fired up the sellout crowd of 49,212 at a reconfigured Houlihan's Stadium with an 80-3 victory over an outmanned Kentucky Wesleyan team.

The Bulls scored and scored often: through the air, on the ground, on an interception return. They held the Panthers to 74 total yards. They fed off the support from the crowd, which was nothing less than overwhelming.

""It was awesome,'' said coach Jim Leavitt, who slapped hands with fans lining the field on his post-game walk to the locker room. ""You get tears in your eyes. You really do. We've got all that support and we haven't done anything... It takes your breath away.''

The energy ""just trickled down from the crowd,'' defensive end Brett Avery said.

""Everyone in the crowd was going crazy,'' he said. ""The fans were just tremendous. The feeling we got on the field just blew me away.''

Nevertheless, as huge a victory as it was, there was no Gatorade shower for Leavitt, and just a little bit of celebration. Kentucky Wesleyan is nowhere near the caliber of The Citadel, next week's opponent.

And how much can you really tell about a I-AA team that beats up on a Division II (non-scholarship) opponent, especially one that lost last year's opener 66-0 to Western Kentucky?

USF had some glitches on offense, such as dropped or overthrown passes and broken plays, that caused Leavitt and offensive coordinator Mike Canales concern. And it wasn't always perfect on defense. But one thing it did easily was score.

""I thought they did a pretty good job,'' Leavitt said of his players, then chuckled at the understatement.

""I'm the type of guy who'll always say, "Where can we improve?' It's like night and day, (this game) to next week's. We're not naive.''

Barnhardt, the junior transfer from South Carolina, showed he wasn't about to let Leavitt down for naming him quarterback last week over sophomore Lance Hoeltke. Barnhardt completed 14 of 28 passes for 255 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.

Barnhardt and roommate Clif Dell hooked up for two of the most exciting plays, a 52-yard TD pass in the third quarter and a 50-yard pass at the start of the second that led to a touchdown on the next play. Dell finished with five receptions for 149 yards.

After the margin of victory, probably the biggest surprise was Clearwater High's Jermaine Clemons. He replaced the injured Rafael Williams and ran for 132 yards and three touchdowns.

Clemons, a freshman, was electric, averaging 18.9 yards a carry and scoring on runs of 15, 80 and 19 yards and on a 5-yard pass from Barnhardt in the first quarter. He came in after Williams, the starter who rushed for 48 yards and a touchdown on eight carries, sprained his ankle.

Canales spent a lot of time last week working on the Bulls' first 10 plays. He must have known something USF didn't, because that's how many plays it took to score its first touchdown.

After a 10-yard lateral by Barnhardt to receiver Charlie Jackson and a 15-yard run by Williams got the crowd juiced, things stalled a bit.

But after the Bulls made it through two incomplete passes, two short gains and a penalty, Barnhardt had his first big play, a 32-yard pass to tight end Trevor Hypolite. Two plays later, Williams entered the history books with a 1-yard run up the middle.

It got far easier after that. The Bulls scored seven more points in the first quarter, 21 in the second and 28 in the third. Kentucky Wesleyan wore down quickly as the game went along.

Kicker Steve Riggs was perfect for the night, connecting on 10 of 10 extra points and a 27-yard field goal.

Defensively, the Bulls hardly allowed Kentucky Wesleyan to cros midfield. Leavitt made a big deal about the Panthers' line being bigger than USF's, but the Bulls were unmistakably quicker and more aggressive.

And in the eyes of the officials, at least, they made few mistakes. USF was flagged just four times for 47 yards.

First season ends with USF victory St. Petersburg Times November 23, 1997 Author: SHARON GINN

The game over, the first season in the books, offensive tackle Isaac Bristol stretched his arms wide, looked up at the emptying stands, and grinned.

His expression said it all: Look at us.

It was hard not to.

Bristol and the rest of the South Florida Bulls ended their inaugural season Saturday night the way they started it: With authority.

In front of 27,919 at Houlihan's Stadium, the Bulls finished the season 5-6 by rolling to a 48-3 victory over Division I-AA non-scholarship Davidson.

USF, which has looked sharp on both offense and defense the past month, continued that trend against the Wildcats (3-8). The Bulls rolled up 524 yards to Davidson's 111. And most of the Wildcats' yards came on their first drive, which netted a field goal.

In many ways, the victory echoed the season opener against Kentucky Wesleyan, an 80-3 pounding of a clearly overmatched, less-talented team. But it also was different.

In the opener, quarterback Chad Barnhardt stayed in most of the game because he needed the practice. Saturday, that wasn't the case.

So with the Bulls up 28-3 at halftime, and Barnhardt having thrown for 211 yards and a touchdown, backup Lance Hoeltke came in on USF's first drive of the third quarter - and threw his first touchdown pass of the season, a 49-yarder to Darren Bishop.

Freshman running back Rafael Williams had the game he would have liked to have had Sept. 6. He hurt his ankle early against Kentucky Wesleyan and watched backfield mate Jermaine Clemons shine. Against Davidson, Williams rushed for 118 yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries.

""Unlike the other games, we have about six, seven months to think about this one,'' Bishop said. ""It's definitely a good way to go out.''

Coach Jim Leavitt had been worried that the Wildcats could sneak up and bite the Bulls the way Drake - their previous I-AA non-scholarship opponent - did in September. Most of the team remains bitter about that 23-22 loss, which essentially kept it from a winning season.

But by the end of the first quarter, there appeared to be no danger of the Wildcats looking like Bulldogs. So since USF is unlikely to play Drake again, the Bulls took out any lingering frustrations on the next best substitute: Davidson.

It didn't quite start like the blowout it became.

The Wildcats were indeed wild on their first drive. On third and 8, quarterback Tommy Dugan scrambled 40 yards to USF's 19. Davidson got 9 more yards before kicking a 27-yard field goal to take a 3-0 lead.

It turned out there was very little cause for alarm for USF. In the second quarter, Davidson had minus-18 yards on 10 plays. It took the Wildcats until the third quarter to double the 51 yards they got on their first drive.

The Bulls took the lead midway through the first quarter when Williams ran 26 yards for a touchdown. They made it 14-3 a few minutes later when Barnhardt connected with Charlie Jackson for a 56-yard touchdown pass, Barnhardt's longest of the season.

The rout was on. And nearly everyone had a chance to add to their highlight reel.

Anthony Henry had an interception in the third quarter. Not to be outdone, Roy Manns picked off Dugan three minutes later for his fifth interception of the season.

Williams had two touchdowns and several long runs, including a weaving, dodging, spinning, crowd-pleasing 51-yard run in the third quarter.

Even tight end Brian Erb, one of two seniors, got into the action. He got his first start and his first reception of the season, a 6-yarder in the third quarter.

Shortly after, reserve Wes Marshall won the tight end sweepstakes, catching a 1-yard pass for his first score of the season. The ensuing chaos in the end zone earned the Bulls a 15-yard penalty for celebrating. Steve Riggs, the other senior on the squad, made the long extra point anyway.

The Bulls were having such an easy time with Davidson that they sent in their backup Williams - fullback Keith, a sophomore from Fort Myers. He scored on a 1-yard run with less than four minutes remaining.

Before the game was over, USF sent in two more quarterbacks: freshman Glenn Gauntt, and sophomore Brian Freese, who made headlines in the preseason when he was accidentally shot in the neck.

USF couldn't pull off a winning season its first year out. But if the Bulls slept easy after Saturday night's game, that's something for them to be thankful for.

For if they have their way, this time next year they'll be anxiously awaiting the NCAA's I-AA Sunday selection show in hopes of being invited for their first playoff berth.

Some of the players already are setting their sights that high. Leavitt has said he expects to make the playoffs before making the jump to I-A, and for the first time Saturday night hinted that it may be a goal for the second season.

Bulls destroy Davidson, end successful first year The Tampa Tribune November 23, 1997

Author: BILL WARD

TAMPA -- In front of an announced crowd of 27,919, USF finishes its first season 5-6 with a 48-3 win over Davidson.

South Florida's football finale was similar to its opener -- a rout of the opponent. Saturday night at Houlihan's Stadium, Division I-AA Davidson College, a non-scholarship school from North Carolina, was the victim by a 41-3 score. Ten games ago, Division II Kentucky Wesleyan, also non-scholarship, sacrificed itself, 80-3.

But despite the similarity in results, the Bulls clearly have come a long way in its first season. In between the two blowouts, they've managed to become a respectable I-AA squad capable of playing the elite of this division with respectability. But to reach the I-A level by 2001, Coach Jim Leavitt probably knew his team should have made this much advancement after one year of play.

"You can see this thing starting to build a little bit," Leavitt said. "A lot of people would probably say we're a legitimate I-AA team. How good we are in I-AA we'll find out as we go through next year but I would say we are."

The freshmen-dominated Bulls take a better-than-most-expected 5-6 mark into the second season, in which they will play a schedule similar to this year's. And if they can maintain Saturday's level of excellence -- maybe even improve over the spring with a few new prep signees and an influx of redshirts -- they've got a good shot at posting a winning season.

In USF's last four games, it went 3-1 and outscored the opposition 139-33. The lone loss came to No. 8 Georgia Southern, a four-time national champion in I-AA that edged the Bulls by a point. Against Davidson, a team with decent size but a definitive lack of overall speed, USF made more strides toward its I-A goal, particularly on defense. In the first half, the Wildcats managed just 47 yards of total offense and one first down and 40 of those yards came on one play.

The Bulls' offense, meanwhile, racked up 299 first-half yards -- 211 through the air by junior quarterback Chad Barnhardt -- and 11 first downs. Barnhardt, who was replaced by sophomore back-up Lance Hoeltke for the remainder of the second half, was virtually flawless with a 56-yard touchdown pass to freshman Charlie Jackson and, for the fourth straight game, didn't throw an interception. The running of Rafael Williams produced two first-half touchdowns, and Jermaine Clemons scored another en route to a 28-3 halftime lead.

Williams, a freshman, finished with 118 yards, 51 coming on one run, and ends the year with 729 yards and seven scores. Clemons, a sophomore, finished with 82 yards for the game and 710 yards for the season.

Despite plenty of substitutions by South Florida, the Bulls continued to dominate in the second half

Leavitt prepares Bulls for long run St. Petersburg Times November 29, 1997 Author: SHARON GINN

South Florida coach Jim Leavitt did his best to keep the ""E'' word - expectations - out of his team's inaugural football season. This year, he insisted over and over, was more for learning than winning.

But he couldn't help but be pleased when the Bulls entered their final game, against Division I-AA non-scholarship Davidson, as a heavy favorite over a team celebrating its 100th year of football. He was even happier when his players delivered a 48-3 victory.

""It was only our 11th game ever, (and) the expectations were for us to beat Davidson pretty handily,'' Leavitt said.

""I think we've already created the expectation that this team is a respectable football team. This team is moving in the right direction. I think most people look at us and say, "Yes, they can be a competitive I-AA team.' ''

Phase 1 of Leavitt's building project is over; it ended with a 5-6 record. Many players are disappointed USF didn't pull off a winning season, but Leavitt, his coaches and almost everyone around him are convinced his team is on the right path.

Is Leavitt taking much time to savor the moment? Forget it.

The period during which coaches can visit potential recruits starts Monday, and at times Leavitt has looked like a wind-up toy waiting to be released. After all, there are only two months to get more players to build with, and less than four years before USF hopes to make the leap to Division I-A.

This week, in between reflections on the season, Leavitt seemed to be practicing his speeches for recruits. (""You can certainly understand why a young man would come here as his first choice in the state of Florida. The opportunity is just that much stronger here '')

Leavitt did, however, take a few minutes to look back on the meaning of USF's first season, in which the Bulls closed and opened with big victories but had many roller-coaster moments in between.

+ His favorite moment: ""Probably when we kicked off our first game, the fact that we were out there playing. There was a lot of work to get our team on the field. To run out and see the crowd and see the excitement that was pretty special.''

+ On his players, only about 35 of whom were on scholarship: ""They go to classes all day long. They go to weightlifting. They go to meet with tutors, they go to meet with counselors. They go out to practice. They come back. They come in and look at film. When people say I work hard, I look at our players, and I say, "Are you kidding me?' What do I do? I don't even go out there in a helmet. I just stand there on the sidelines. Do a little signal here and there. Really, they do everything.''pretty incredible if you think about it.''

But most people likely will expect the Bulls - with every starter back - to exceed .500 next year, considering the standard they set late this season.

After a 2-5 start, the Bulls went 3-1 over their last four games, dominating in the three victories and barely losing to I-AA No. 8 Georgia Southern 24-23.

Though the mood in the football offices is upbeat, you won't find anyone who will admit to being surprised the Bulls have become competitive so quickly. Not the players, not the coaches, and not athletic director Paul Griffin.

If anything surprised Griffin, it was the support. USF sold nearly 22,000 season tickets, a I-AA record.

""People seemed to be so happy there was college football i Tampa,'' Griffin said. ""I was expecting more of a nonchalant, passive consumption of our product. A lot of people really got into it and enjoyed themselves.''

In the coming months, Griffin will search for ways to bring in even more fans. Leavitt and his staff will work on everything else.

""I said (to the coaches), our off-season, we need to pick it up,'' Leavitt said. ""We're serious. Our off-season needs to be the best off-season of anybody in America.

""It needs to be unbelievable. And it will be. Because we have players that care. We have players that want to do well.''

[HOTMello2005]

I'm dizzy....

[Kyle]

Kawikia was also on the sideline.

[usfbullcpa]

Did they let Kenyatta Jones out of the psych ward for last night?  Just curious.

Mitchell was there?

[jstewholymoly]

we had a live bull..

[snarling Bull]

[

Mize is easy to spot ... is that Charlie Jackson in the last pic, on the right ?

Go BULLS !!!

Yes, that is Charlie Jackson

[fbdo79]

[

Mize is easy to spot ... is that Charlie Jackson in the last pic, on the right ?

Go BULLS !!!

Yes, that is Charlie Jackson

  No, the last picture has Marcus Rivers (#81) and Jermaine Clemens (#22).

[RealitySmackdown]

For those interested, I can id a few of the players in the pics.

Marshall Smith, a LB, has a cast on his right arm.

Jay Mize has a white USF shirt on, sun glasses and black slicked back hair, he is dead center of one of the pics.

Roy Manns is in the background of one pic, he wore his old green game jersey, you can see his head between 2 other players.

Cedric Tate is in the same pic as Roy Manns, he is wearing a white #8 jersey (the number is either red or orange)

I would love other to help id the rest, but please only do so if you are sure, not just a guess of who looks like who.

[IncrediBULL]

I thought it was crappy the way they announced them...  Very week.  Just "here is the original 1997 team, blah blah blahh"

I wanted them to announce each of the guys who made it to the game.  They should have announced them all. 

We cheered loud when they did annouce the group, but really thought they missed an opportunity to recognize these guys who took a chance on this inaugural team.