TAMPA, JULY 30, 2024 – South Florida football continued to see players recognized nationally on Tuesday when senior offensive guard Zane Herring(Madison, Fla.) was named to the Outland Trophy Watch List. The Outland Trophy has been awarded to the best college football interior lineman since 1946.

In his first season at USF after transferring from Florida State, Herring started 12 games at guard in 2023 and helped the Bulls offense rank No. 17 nationally producing 451.6 yards per game. The Bulls averaged 182 yards per game on the ground and saw quarterback Byrum Brown post the first 3,000-yard passing season in program history.

Herring has also earned preseason accolades from Lindy's and Athlon, which both picked him as a First Team All-AAC selection, and Phil Steele, who selected him Second Team All-AAC.

USF returns 19 starters in 2024 (nine on offense, eight on defense, and two specialists) from a team that set 12 team and 16 individual program records while going 7-6 (a program-best six-game turnaround) and claiming a 45-0 Boca Raton Bowl victory over Syracuse in 2023.

The Bulls return record-setting starting quarterback Brown, 85 percent of their rushing yards, 84 percent of their receiving yards and four primary starters on the offensive line. On defense, USF returns nine of its top 11 tacklers led by Shuler, who logged a team-best 97 stops to go with 8.5 tackles for loss in 2023.

The Bulls open the season Aug. 31 vs. Bethune-Cookman in Raymond James Stadium before road games at Alabama (Sept. 7) and Southern Mississippi (Sept. 14) and a home clash with Miami (Sept. 21).

BULLS ON PRESEASON NATIONAL AWARD WATCH LISTS
Maxwell Award Byrum Brown, QB
Outland Trophy Zane Herring, OG

Starting a running list of guys who have confirmed they are coming

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Sean Poret is visiting FSU this weekend. I'm curious about that. They've lost some traction with one of their top OL targets in recent days.

Bulls return 19 starters, 84 percent of rushing and receiving yards



TAMPA, JULY 23, 2024 – Entering its second season under head coach Alex Golesh, South Florida football was picked fourth in the AAC Preseason Media Poll announced Tuesday at the AAC Kickoff event in Arlington, Texas.



In the 2023 poll, the Bulls were picked 13th before Golesh led the team to the greatest turnaround in program history and the second-best in FBS football with a six-win improvement capped by a 45-0 rout of Syracuse in the Boca Raton Bowl.



Golesh and returning starting quarterback Byrum Brown(Raleigh, N.C.) and senior cornerback Ben Knox (DeLand) are in Dallas for the Kickoff event. Golesh was set to address the gathered media at the podium at noon on Tuesday. That can be viewed live on ESPN+.



The media picked Memphis (23 first place votes) first followed by UTSA (4), Tulane (2), South Florida and conference newcomer Army (1) rounding out the top five.



Brown, who set USF season marks for passing yards (3,292), touchdowns (26), completions (276), and completion percentage (64.6%) in his first season in Golesh’s offense, leads a Bulls offense that also returns senior wide receiver Sean Atkins(Viera), who set program records with 92 receptions for 1,054 yards in 2023 and was named a 2024 preseason All-American by Phil Steele. Brown also added 809 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns on the ground to join Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels of LSU as the only FBS players to post 3,000-plus passing yards and 800-plus rushing yards in 2023.



Brown, Atkins, offensive guard Zane Herring (Madison), running back Nay’Quan Wright (Opa Locka), center Mike Lofton (Clearwater), offensive tackle Derek Bowman(Magnolia, Texas), wide receiver Naiem Simmons (Cherry Hill, N.J.),), cornerback Aamaris Brown-Bunkley (Tampa), defensive tackle Rashad Cheney (Atlanta), linebacker Jhalyn Shuler (Abbeville, S.C.), safety Jaelen Stokes (Auburndale) and kickers John Cannon (Fort Lauderdale) and Nico Gramatica (Tampa) where among the Bulls to earn preseason all-conference recognition from national publications.



USF returns 19 starters in 2024 (nine on offense, eight on defense, and two specialists) from a team that set 12 team and 16 individual program records while going 7-6. The Bulls return record-setting starting quarterback Brown, 85 percent of their rushing yards, 84 percent of their receiving yards and four primary starters on the offensive line. On defense, USF returns nine of its top 11 tacklers led by Shuler, who logged a team-best 97 stops to go with 8.5 tackles for loss in 2023.



USF opens the season on Saturday, Aug. 31 in Raymond James Stadium when the Bulls take on Bethune-Cookman in a 7:00 p.m. kick on ESPN+. The Bulls also have non-conference dates at Alabama (Sept. 7/7 pm/ESPN), at Southern Miss (Sept. 14/7 pm/ESPN+) and vs. Miami (Sept. 21).



2024 American Athletic Conference Preseason Media Poll

Is that Bry’s pet name for him?


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I am sure there are at least a couple Spinal Tap fans out there...

Nigel Tunfel: "I'm really influenced by Mozart and Bach, and it's sort of in between those, really. This piece is called 'Lick My Love Pump'."

IRVING, Texas – The American Athletic Conference has announced the men’s basketball league schedule pairings for the 2024-25 season.



Every team in The American will play 18 league games, including six of its 12 conference opponents twice and the other six once – three at home and three on the road.



The complete 2024-25 men’s basketball composite schedule with dates and times will be announced at a later date. The first conference play dates will be December 31, 2024 and will run through March 9, 2025. The 2025 American Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Championship will be held at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, March 12-16.




So USF only host North Texas, Rice and Tulsa and is on the road only at Charlotte, UTSA and Tulane. Home/Away matchups with UAB, ECU, FAU, Memphis, Temple and Wichita State.

The St Pete city council is about to vote on the Rays development deal and whether or not MLB will stay in the TB area. So far they've votes the same way as they did last time (5-3 in favor). The big vote in coming soon after the public has their say.

Kelly, every time I click on the link to the main page, I get an error code saying "Oops, We Fumbled" and a different site's name appears on the upper left corner. Today's honorary member site is MagnoliaPreps! I have to search "usf rivals message board" to get to the Bullpen. Is it a site glitch?

6 years, $50 million

Wow.

If they continue to improve in football and put that type of money behind it, they could be something.

It is a bit of a slow time for news and I am grateful that you have been trotting out commit stories, but there is one other commit I would love to hear from this summer. That would be our only 2026 commit, Elijah Dias. Would love to hear if he is still 100% committed to the Bulls. What his goals are for his junior year. Has he added any weight (he is listed here at 186 and is a linebacker recruit). He has time to put on weight, but I am wondering if he is working on that. I realize, Dave, that it is a long ways to December 2025, but I still appreciate his commitment (reservation) to us at this point. Would love to hear from him if you have time to track him down. Thanks Kelly.

Normal

I've been insanely busy and this is the first chance I've had to dive into the big wave of commits.

In reverse order:

Jeremiah Koger- there is an internet disconnect on his height. Rivals says 6'4". TOS says 6'1", as does On3. A Baltimore Banner article says he's 6'4". I didn't really see any phone booth moves or anything that made me say wow, but he ran a chair, a hitch and go, a few digs (but didn't see a huge cutback lane), so it's better than Nicklas Tshivaudi. His speed looks fine for his size. I think if he was in Florida he wouldn't have all of the ACC offers.

Brunno Reus- he has two legs, which should prove useful. That's all I know about kicking until they screw something up.

Jermichael GIllis- I found a HUDL with his sophomore tape but nothing from 2023. TOS loves him but I can't really pass an opinion without seeing tape. Guessing he and Koger used to go to school together? If there's a link to recent tape I'd appreciate it.

Antavious Richardson- Love HS QBs with good size switching to safety, and he has some big kick returns too. Good size, good speed, phone booth moves. I didn't see much violence with his hits, but that's probably because he had to protect himself- he still got into the backfield to take down RBs. Really like him.

Tywan Cox- very reminiscent of Smoke Davis and maybe Deatrick Nichols, though I didn't see the cover corner stuff Nichols showed. Looks like the classic undersized nickel/FS who will hit people. Miami produces three or four of these guys every year and we should grab one every year.

Sean Poret- so I've given up on tape and rankings of linemen. Virtually every 5.6 or higher at USF has busted, and most of our best have been 5.4 or lower. It's entirely on the line coach to determine if he likes the raw material and if they guy has the mentality to do the job. Poret looks like a great recruit but what matter is how he looks in 2026.

Brandon Kubay- the size and speed is there but the 4th clip he shows a WR wiggle to get off the line and get open. He has more lateral movement than Nicolas Tshivaudi or Frederick Lloyd ever showed.

Jayden Fry- I didn't see a special first step. Also don't understand why he doesn't have an ECU or Appy State offer. Those schools whiffed on BB but it's just something worth considering. Every school wants edge rushers regardless of system or scheme, especially one with prototype size- pretty easy to see Fry at 6'4" 250/260.

Deangelo Bowden- I know that Pitt brought him in for a workout and passed. He does have a lot of regional G5 offers though and that's a good thing. I wonder if he can play a complete game or if he's a 3rd down pass rushing specialist. There's nothing wrong with that- Chris Robinson was great at it- but I have to wonder if there was a similar kid from Florida.

Kory Pettigrew- Sorry, I don't see it. Three minutes of running go routes against soft coverage with a couple of curls mixed in. Didn't see a single clip with lateral movement. Time and again we've seen big receivers who run in straight lines come to USF and do nothing, because college DBs can cover anything if they know what is coming and don't have to worry about getting fooled. Maybe he has fancy footwork and just didn't put it at the beginning of his tape, but I don't understand going out of state for a guy that there are three dozen of in Florida every year. To say something nice- he located underthrows well.

Colin Bellomy- now this is who you go out of state for- a size prospect that doesn't always exist in-state. I'm 99% sure he ends up inside because guys his height tend to put on weight pretty easily, but he has the frame for 290 and uses his hands. He also sets his edge, so if he stays at DE, that is something we've been sorely lacking.

Evan Ward- I like the size and the blitzes, but a lot of his highlights are chase downs. On one punt coverage, he blasted the returner in the back 20 yards downfield, but he could have just downed the punt before it bounced and saved his team 15 yards. Pretty easy to see him getting to 240 though and being a grown-up sized LB, but it's worth mentioning he's bigger now than Mike Love as a recruit and Love ended up in the 260s. At that point, he's got his hand on the ground and I'm not sure about the instincts and block shedding.

Jeremiah Jones- nothing was jaw-dropping, but he has prototypical size and should play at 195-200. If you're going to take under-the-radar guys, take them from here. I think Mekhi Lapointe is a really good comparison- lightly recruited, very similar size, and while Lapointe was the victim of bad coaching, if we had a real coach, he would have been a player.

Khalil Collins- see Poret.

On the class as a whole, I really like what is happening in the secondary. With good coaching I think Antavious Richardson is going to be a playmaker. D-line as well, though there is a lot of size projection there (I have Hines and Bellomy growing into inside guys, and possibly Jones). I don't really understand the WRs- I really like Bartley and Koger is fine, but Pettigrew and Cole feel like Skip/CJS recruits to me. We'll need to see who the RB is, but on the whole, Hewlett, a good RB with Kubay and Bartley is a nice offensive haul if one of the taller WRs proves he can turn his hips. Chase Garnett runs like Darius Tice and is probably a step faster. He wasn't jaw-dropping, but it's not a size profile that lends itself to crazy agility or trucking a lot of people. It's just a solid guy who can move the ball in traffic. On the OL, I don't worry too much about size (unless everyone is 6'2"), and it seems like we have three guys who can play inside and two who can play tackle. I'd also like to see a big stand-up off-ball LB. I'm not sure if the plan is to teach Bowden or Ward to play off-ball, but Ward is the same size. A big boy DT would be nice to start prepping for life after Blue-Eli, but I'm guessing that'll be a portal guy. Lastly, I'd like to see another WR who can move laterally. Christian Neptune would be perfect.

I must say that I am concerned with the national approach. It's never worked here. It makes sense in specific circumstances to go out of state, especially going to Georgia for size prospects, but in general I only like doing it for a guy who has a slew of G5s. I don't really like being the biggest offer when a guy doesn't have smaller offers from programs that would scout the high school on an annual basis. If you're going to take a guy with a light offer list, take a guy from here. It worked out amazingly well with BB, but that's the exception. Antoine Pozniak is the rule. Pettigrew falls into the Pozniak category for me- you don't see it on tape and the schools around him also don't see it. Fry comes close as well, other than the size projection is there and there's direct connection through BB. Obviously I hope every Bull succeeds, but our best teams have always been filled with Bay Area and Miami-Dade guys. Most of the guys I can see why you'd want them, but there are a few that I am sure you could find a reasonable facsimile of in Florida.