I'm in Europe for a quick vacation before the season started so today was the first day I've had time to sit at a computer for more than 15 minutes.
Golesh opened his presser wishing luck to USF men's soccer which opens on Friday with Seattle in Corbett Stadium.
Golesh mentioned it is week 0 and they finished camp Saturday night and they stayed in the hotel on Saturday night and they had 500+ family members over for a cookout to close camp out. They are into a normal game week with Sunday off and Monday was workouts and meetings and then Tuesday they hit the field.
The staff started on Bethune to get their feet under them with game planning and the normal process and they'll do mock game/practice and work end of game situations to get subs finalized and then get to a normal game week next week.
They started looking at Bethune and then Tuesday was a normal Tuesday practice. The team is on to Bethune. There is no school this week, so the challenge is to get their process back after three weeks in a hotel with everything set up and then football all day. Now they are doing install, special teams meetings and normal down and very little work against each other, scout team work instead. Normally they'd eat lunch and go to class so they have nothing right now so the challenge is to get extra treatment and extra work done. The staff wants them to do a normal Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday in preparation for a game.
Saturday won't be as physical as a normal scrimmage, but it is more about the routines and getting used to that. He said they have a veteran team, but there are many of them who were not at USF a year ago. A lot of guys are new to morning practices for example and getting in their routines is big.
Golesh said that Andrew Stokes is probably his favorite person on the whole football team. He has gotten to know him over the last two years and he is 30 and is older than most of the young coaches the GAs and analysts on the staff. He brings a veteran/older presence while still fitting in. He said when you talk about the specialist room they follow him around like Papa Bear. His mental approach to the game is phenomenal and he was coming off an injury and a rough year when they got there and was better last year and had a great offseason. Golesh said he jokes he will never have to use him in a game, but he has so much confidence in him. He is 30 in college and hanging out with college kids and a lot of us would pay money to do that. He brings a mature approach with the special teams unit overall. He has a bright future.
Golesh said Sean Atkins is another guy he loves. They have a leadership counsel on the team and every night at camp one of the guys spoke to the team and Sean spoke toward the end of camp and he told his story for 15 minutes to the team and it was really the first time he opened up in front of the team and his challenge of coming out of HS not being recruited and his family's belief in him and how that got him through stuff. He said that last year he was coming off a shoulder and he was a little down and Golesh said he told him that slots are really special in this offense and he would be very special and Golesh and his staff were the first people to believe in him like that not a knock on the old staff, he has juice and energy now and is fun and he has a crazy amount of confidence and when he is out there. He doesn't look like a prototypical slot WR but he plays like one. He has a soft spot for walk-ons and he is so proud of him. He said a bowl game on Dec. 21st isn't the standard for this program, but seeing his parents and celebrating afterward was a pretty great moment for a kid who was working at a meat market a few years ago running food.
On being player-led as a culture, he said as long as the coaches are holding them accountable and their body language and everything like that they are capped at like 7-6 but when it is player driven and controlled in the locker room there is no ceiling. They are getting closer to that. When that happens you are there. They are creeping toward that and hear and see more at practice of guys speaking up and having QBs meet with WRs and let the QBs run it and DL with the LBs and let the D-line coach it and let them coach it, effort, attitude and body language but they are force feeding it.
On Stokes coming from Pro Kick Australia, they've taken a lot of Aussie rules football players, rugby and soccer players and taught them how to punt and kicker. It is a little unorthodox in some ways in the punt game, but that gives you something extra there and something in their toolbox like rugby one way or the other, or pocket punt and Aussie punters can do that and move the pocket and American's traditionally haven't. They don't have an allegency to any schools either, they just want to make sure their guys go to school for free, get a good education and have a chance to play in the NFL. Now the NFL is catching up with Aussie punters now. You can hop on a zoom call and see 20 guys that are special and they do tours in the summer and it is the first time you can see it.
On Stokes last year, he was inconsistent and things to fine tune in terms of pooch punting and pinning them deep, he will be the first to tell you. He had a great spring and summer. Stokes had no touchbacks last year and Golesh said the 19 is better than the 20 and the 5 is better than the 10, Stokes would like to get those deeper and sometimes you risk the touchback.
On how he handles 4th down calls, does he use the chart, Golesh said analytics go into and they have them have for every drive and they have a service that charts all of that every week and every game is different based on factor, but he also has a feel for whether it is worth the risk, how the D is playing and the tempo of the game. He knows going into the game how many drives they will have based on how fast USF plays and how fast/slow the opposing team plays and it is often about stealing a possession from an opponent and how are they playing. They don't want to put the D in a bad spot. He felt every time they went for it on 4th down they were going to convert. If he doesn't like the plan or if the D is playing lights out they will punt it. Golesh said they were in a weird spot a lot on 4th down in the 35-45 yard range of the field where you are 4th and 5 and you are just out of FG range a year ago, they've addressed that, they are too tight to punt it but you don't feel great on 4th and 5 and they've taken delays to punt it and sometimes gone for it because it is a gray area. They like what they got in the FG situation with John Cannon, Ty Ippolito and Nico Gramatica still competing for that job they have better options and deeper range now where they can kick it or be in 4th and 1,2,3 and going for it.
On if they have future FB coaches on the team, Golesh said he jokes with the players about it and they joke that they don't want to work those hours and he said with NIL it would be a paycut for some of them. He sees a bunch of future coaches and he tells them, they always say the hours and they see when your car is there. Sean Atkins is one, Mike Lofton is another, Mac Harris, Rashad Cheney and Byrum will end up coach, he says no way. Jaden Alexis is like a coach in there non-stop.
On teams game planning for Atkins, the secret was out after a few games last year and you saw more bracket coverage and guys playing softer, Sean will be the first one to say you still have to stop him, if you bracket someone out and we will go, that is beneficial if he draws coverage like that, he can do whatever his body can do and he knows he is the best WR in the conference and one of the best in the country. A year ago we knew that, last year he was starting to believe it. He didn't have a spring a year ago, now he has had a spring and summer with us and last year and you still got to stop him.
Another terrible Leo question(s), he asked Golesh when he felt like he belonged as HC and his pens around his neck.
