Jim Leavitt Press Conference Quotes

[Brad]

From the USF SID Office

USF Football Coach Jim Leavitt Press Conference Quotes

Quotes from his Press Conference, February 2, 2005

Big East Conference Room, USF Athletics Training Center, Tampa, Fla.

Opening Statement

“GO BULLS! I’m so excited about this group of guys. Our coaches worked extremely hard. Some of these guys you sign it seems you are recruiting them for years. Sometimes the signing day is a little bit anti-climatic, because it’s the night before that can be pretty busy. We’re excited about the group coming in, but I think that on the offensive side of the ball you have to look at a number of guys who have pretty good size, pretty good speed, who are pretty good athletes. We’re happy at QB, we feel good there. We have a lot of returning starters, especially on the defensive side. We’re real excited about some of the DB’s we picked up, a linebacker a defensive end; we really wanted to get a lot faster and a little more athletic. I feel we accomplished that goal.”

“We played a lot of young guys on defense and we’ve got a few guys who red shirted last season like Jason Allen and Tim Jones. Jarriett Buie we’re excited about, (Josh) Julmiste he’s 6-6 262, he runs a 4.65, we’re excited about him. I think we got some good guys all over. We got Cederic Hill who enrolled in January, he’s runs a 4.48. That’s exciting. We didn’t pick up any defensive lineman right now. We’ve got a little bit of room to make things happen. Things can still happen. We’re on the verge of doing some real big things.

On what position Cedric Hill will be playing

“He can play WR, TE he’s kind of in-between, he’ll get close to 6-4 220. He’s a heck of an athlete.”

On QB Carlton Hill

“We’re definitely excited about him. He’s really a talent. He’s a real talent. He’s big; he can run fast, he’s a humble guy. He’s been keeping us on pins and needles a little bit.”

“The hype is on Carlton, but Matt Grothe is a good football player too. I’m excited about both these guys at QB. We’re also excited about Pat (Julmiste) and Courtney Denson. He’s really talented. You have to be careful because all the hype is on Carlton and Matt, I don’t want to discount him.”

On the style of play of Hill and Grothe

“They both can run, they both can throw, one’s a little bit taller then the other one and they are both really good players. Carlton can run. He’s got such size and presence, that’s why a lot of people were hyped up about him. “

On Amarri Jackson

“Amarri Jackson, I’m excited about him. He hasn’t played football in two years. He’s a heck of an athlete. We’re going to check him out at WR. He also returns punts. Imagine a 6-5 guy returning punts.”

On Shane McElwain

He’s a big guy, it’s hard to find real big guys who can run and catch, especially if he can do it with skates on, we’re really excited about that. He can help up play hockey. (Chris) DeArmas played hockey also, they can be our big enforcers.”

On if this is the best recruiting class he has ever had

“I don’t know, it’s really hard, am I excited about this group? Yes! There are so many playmakers. There are so many guys who can potentially help up now. You look at OT and Watson, he’s a big guy. We didn’t know what he was going to do. We lost some big tackles. That was our biggest concern. Losing Newton at the one tackle was hard.”

On how the Big East and Athletic Facility helped recruiting

“It’s huge, we got the Big East, we never had a building to walk in, and we just walked around the trailers out there. They are nice trailers, don’t get me wrong, but it’s different. People see progress, it’s really important. We were so close, we got one guy last night, then we got another guy, then we went another direction and then he came back this morning. Another guy went another way then we came to us then went back. So we won one, lost one. It was very interesting.”

“You look at Ishmael Grant, he can jump and catch, and he has great range. Look at Amari and Tarus Johnson and Jessie Hester. We got three or four guys who can go. You look at our QB situation, these guys are playmakers. You have the tackles, and you add Tolly who seems like he’s 6-11, that guy can move and you get JUCO help from Watson. All three can play left tackle. That’s real important. Derek Sarosi was so big there. Don’t forget Shane McElwain. Busbee can play both TE and FB for us.”

“We really like (George) Selvie. He has such range; he can play center and DE. He’s big enough to move him to center. Gene Coleman we’re excited about him. We wanted him real bad. We didn’t know what was going to happen with him with Florida State and us, which was tight. Real excited about the DB’s. R.J. Anderson, he can run! Antwone Cox, we were real ecstatic to get him. State champs down there. The safety we found in New Jersey, such a hitter.”

On the youth of the program

“We’re so young; we won’t have many seniors next year. To go from 1-AA to 1-A to C-USA to Big East, we’re moving so fast. We red shirted some really good players last year. There isn’t anyone out there that’s going to be able to challenge Johnnie Jones at safety.”

On the possibility of starting a freshman QB

“We’re moving pretty fast, we just signed them today. I don’t know. We’ll look at those guys real close. We’ll see what Pat, Courtney, Severino can do. We got Gachette. We’ll see where we are at and find the top 2 guys and focus in on that in the spring. We’re going to give everyone a chance in spring. I know Pat can play, he’s already demonstrated that. He can do it; he just hasn’t been very consistent.”

“Courtney can run forever, he our number 1 guy we were after a few years ago, now’s he’s back with us. Severino, you never want to discount him. Gachette can run and throw and we’ll see what happens.”

On weather McElwain will be an OT or a TE

“A hockey player! We’re going to bring him in as a TE. He gives us great size; he can run well and has great hands.”

On McElwain not playing football for a while

“That was Earl Lane, he recruited him and he saw something there and we believe it. He had a lot of interest.”

On recruiting running backs

“We got Andre Hall! He’s our guy. He didn’t go into the draft. Everyone in HS thinks they are going to start right now. We also got Ricky Ponton and Chad Simpson, They are pretty good. We got caught a little bit at RB. Some guys thought they could go to other places and contribute right away. We did recruit some guys that we lost. To come here and play running back, they saw it might be a little bit difficult. Andre hall is pretty good. Let me tell you something, we are excited about Ricky Ponton and Chad Simpson. They are both young freshman and both can run fast.”

On Eagles Rookie and former Bull J.R. Reed

“J.R. Reed is the best. He’s absolutely the best; he’s the best young man, work, instincts, competitive. He is what you dream of having guys like that to coach. They guy is that good. We miss him. You can’t play here forever. He’s just so motivated and drive. I remember when we offered him a scholarship and he was going to go on another trip and I told him, no you’re not. You’re going to come right here. I said you are going to cancel your trip, you are going to come to South Florida, you are a great player, and we need you. So he said OK. That’s a true story. All e did was come in and get better every day and drive himself so hard. To coach a guy like that is a once in a lifetime experience. We’ve had a lot of driven guys come in here and he’s pretty unique.”

On having four former Bulls play in the SuperBowl

“That’s not bad. I’m for the Eagles; I want the eagles to win pretty bad. Nothing against New England. A couple of our guys were with New England, but they got their rings. I’m a J.R. guy. I think it says a lot for this community and this university (of the success of former Bulls playing in the SuperBowl) because these guys came to this university when we had trailers. We didn’t have any tradition; we weren’t even playing division 1-A football. This program has been built because of the community in Tampa. We are here right now because of the people in this city. There are so many people in the Bay area that have supported it and have stepped out when nobody thought it can happen. Nine years ago there were people who never thought South Florida would beat anybody.”

“I imagine we got people again who think we won’t compete in the Big East. Again, keep underestimating us. That’s fine, keep telling us what we can’t do because I’ve heard it every year. You can’t compete at the 1-AA level and all we did was win a lot of games. We can’t compete at the 1-A level. People said we couldn’t compete in C-USA, I know we didn’t do all that well but now we are moving on here. The same people are going to count us out but 99% of the people around here are pretty positive. We’re fortunate for that. There are great people who have done a whole lot for this program. It says a lot about the community that four guys are playing in SuperBowls because they had the faith to come here.”

[Guest BasketBull.]

GO BULLS!!!

...Coach Leavitt is awesome. ::toasting::

[USFMikeB]

[Markeymark]

I think it's safe to say that he's excited  ;D

[The Sheriff]

Give 'em hell coach!

It's amazing how I used to be anti-Leavitt... and now I dig the dude and think he made me a better person in the long run...

Just keep Frye and company happy and we'll keep getting big time recruits!

[S p e n c e]

I can feel his excitement!

[Bull Matrix]

Those have to be Leavitt's best quotes that I have read in a long time. If reading that does not get you excited about the future of the program than I dont think nothing will. Thanks for all the hard work from the USF coaching staff. You recruited very well this season which makes me very proud to be a USF BULL.

[MatRatUSF]

He was very excited, joking around a lot, messing with the media that was there. He was in a good mood

[BullWriter]

I was at the conference, and Leavitt was fired up!  One of the best segments of the conference is linked below in MP3 format... LOVE the enthusiasm at the end.

BW

[Brad]

Yes, they're all right here - a great job by BullWriter:

Coach Jim Leavitt's Signing Day Comments

Listening to all the comments right - getting psyched.