Trib: Dontavia Bogan gives Bulls a spark

[USFishin]

Dontavia Bogan gives Bulls a spark

By ADAM ADKINS | The Tampa Tribune

During his weekly press conference Tuesday, University of South Florida football coach Skip Holtz likened his receiving corps to "the land of misfit toys." The analogy seems fitting.

The Bulls' current collection of healthy wideouts is a mostly inexperienced group, one that consists of several players who have converted to receiver from other positions in the past year - including true freshman cornerback Terrence Mitchell this week - and a few others who are in their first year with the program and first at the Division I level.

Dontavia Bogan, however, stands out among the mass - kind of like a brand new bicycle.

Bogan entered this season as USF's most experienced and accomplished healthy option at receiver, and he's provided in that role as one could have hoped. The Bulls senior is on pace for the best season of his collegiate career and he's coming off arguably his best game in a USF uniform in last week's loss at West Virginia, where he caught a school record tying 11 passes for a career-high 98 yards.

That productivity, however, has been severely overshadowed by the lack of production from USF's offense as a whole. The Bulls will enter Friday's nationally-televised game at Big East Conference foe Cincinnati having not scored an offensive touchdown in two consecutive games, the first time that's happened in the program's 14-year history.

"We just have to get on the same page," Bogan said. "We just have to get our focus back."

What the Bulls offense needs to get untracked, according to Holtz and offensive coordinator Todd Fitch, is someone who can provide some big plays, and Bogan appears as one of the top options. USF has just nine offensive plays this season of 30 yards or more and Bogan has been involved in three, including touchdown receptions against Stony Brook (59 yards) and Florida Atlantic (38 yards).

"I feel like I'm capable of doing that," said Bogan, who leads the team in receptions (24), receiving yards (329) and touchdown receptions (two). "I feel like I'm capable of making big plays down the field."

Bogan believes he has the necessary speed to stretch the defense if the Bulls want to take more deep shots, but it may not require long throws from quarterback B.J. Daniels to give him more opportunities to provide big plays. One thing Fitch was particularly impressed with in the loss to the Mountaineers was Bogan's ability to take a short pass and fight through tacklers to pick up extra yards after the catch, and that is essentially Bogan's forte, according to USF receivers coach Phil McGeoghan.

"You can see some of those yards after catch, some of those runs after catch that he had where he's a yard from the sideline and there's two guys who have him pinned in, and the only way to get out of a situation like that is to have some lateral quickness," McGeoghan said. "So he has some genetic gifts there as far as his hip flexibility and to make hard, sudden, decisive moves. You can see him get out of some things."

Bogan aims to help the Bulls get out of their current offensive funk this week. Like many of his teammates, he believes the Bulls are close to making that happen.

"There's just little things we have to correct to make it a different ball game," Bogan said.

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