By
@jackward9
TAMPA, Fla. – Players and coaches at the University of South Florida are back to practice after returning from spring break. Head coach
Alex Golesh spoke with reporters Tuesday on the state of the team and their focus as a whole. Here’s a transcript of what he said followed by my takes on what it means.
On establishing a culture…
The standard at which we have to play certainly not anywhere near. My only ask of our team, just like the entirety of our program, is just continue to get better. Don’t make the same mistake twice and continue to get better every single day. We’re just attacking so many different things within the walls of our program. And when I tell you we’re attacking every single thing. We’re re-teaching what it is to be a college football player at this level. We’re re-teaching what it is to be a student athlete. We’re re-teaching how you wake up. How you come in. Hydration testing every morning to make sure were hydrated. To showing up to meals on time. The accountability factor of eating. What my locker looks like, how I treat my teammates, how I respond to questions, to what we wear when we show up to workouts while we were on a football field, how we handle everything on a football field. Like, when I tell you teaching every single aspect of our program, we are teaching every aspect of the program. There’s no stone left un-turned. There’s a huge accountability factor.
And that doesn't mean that it's rule with an iron fist. That means that we are doing what we are meant to do. Which is teach, hold guys accountable, continue to teach. And I said it from day one but everything we do within the walls of our program, there's a standard. There's a standard to every single part of our program. That's from our coaches, to our players, to support staff, to academics, to nutrition, to strength to every single person that touches our players, to sports information. There's a standard. It's really, really black and white. I think as coaches when you make it gray, you can really muddy it up. There's a standard. You’re at the standard or you're not. And once we reach a certain standard, we'll raise that standard. Right now we're still in the process of establishing standards.
My take: Golesh has made establishing his standard of winning a major focal point for this team throughout his short time on campus. He’s talked a lot about scrapping last year and starting over fresh with a new culture and a new way of doing things, which is expected from guy that was just recently hired. Off the field actions and preparation is just as important as game days, and Golesh isn’t scared to hold his guys accountable if they don’t live up to the standard he has set.
On injured wide receivers returning…
Ajou I still haven’t seen him really go. He’s gonna get back into it this week. So we need him to be a really good player for us. He’s a big body. He’s played some ball hasn’t played a ton of ball. Man, like, physically if you could draw a player that’s what they’d look like. He’s gotta go do it now, like, there’s a point where you gotta go, right? He has to go.
Khafre Brown is another one coming off of a shoulder. He’s going to be able to go do some stuff in red jersey this week. Which will be good to see. He’s been running full speed now. Can you go and actually line up against somebody and go play? Man, like, if those two guys can be really good players for us that would drastically make me feel better.
Like, Yusef Terry has, you talk about guys that have grown a ton within our program, like there's a guy that hasn't played a ton of college football. Was highly recruited, expectations were really high for him, has under achieved in every part of his college career so far. Through three practices he's, like, one of my favorite guys out there. Energy, focus, locked in. Like, he could be a dude-dude for us. He's got to continue to grow and continue to put days together but he's a guy that, you know, we talked about drawing a line in the sand and saying, ‘Alright, enough's enough. I'm going to be really, really good at my craft.’ He is one that's really like, that guy lives up here. That’s all he does. Football, school and that's it.
You know, like Shawn Atkins has been really, really steady for us. I’ve been really, really excited about him. He’s a guy, you talk about guys coming back that have played, he’s one of the very few that has. And he’s played like that he’s practiced like that.
My take: This wide out room is relatively thin, especially with injuries to guys like Ajou and Brown. Having them back in practice even in limited capacities will be important in Golesh’s process of getting a feel for this group and where they need improvement. With few wideouts returning from last season’s team, the level of in game experience is a concern for this unit in particular.
On the state of the defense…
I think that whole defensive group, you know, like you couldn’t find a more suited person to come in here and lead that group then then Coach Orlando. Because, as for every time I’ve stood in front of you guys, it’s been man, defense wasn’t good here a year ago. How do you fix it? Well guys, like Matthew and Curry. And a guy like Coach Orlando and that group of coaches leading those guys. You talk about a group of guys that don’t care what’s happened here in the past and they’ve completely scrapped it and have just looked at what’s going on the next day forward. I’m so excited where that group is going.
Moving in one direction, that’s to be the best version of us. And the standard is really, really simple. The standard is to win and be the best defense in the country. And until we get to that standard, we’re going to keep working and when we get there, we’re going to try to raise it.
My take: Everyone who was tuned into USF football last season knows that the defense struggled, however, as Golesh has emphasized again and again this spring, it’s a new season and it’s time to get better. Bringing in Todd Orlando to steer this unit in the right direction as the Bull’s defensive coordinator was an excellent move in that regard.
On player leadership…
I said it the first day I got here and I tell the guys though they can attest to this every single day in the team meetings. That the leadership part of our program is monumental for us to ever take a step. For the first three months we were here, and a lot of ways, it’s been the coaches leading. I imagine for the next year that’s how it’ll be. When it becomes player led. That’s when the program will flip. All elite programs are driven by player driven leadership.
I think defensively, Rashad Chaney, in a lot of ways, has taken it and has grown so much. No, he hasn’t practiced yet. I think it’s hard when you’re not practicing. But he’s about the most energized and in-tuned guy at practice, for a guy that’s not practicing, as I’ve been around. He’s played a bunch of college football. He was playing his best football of his career when he got hurt a year ago. He is super invested right now, and he’s been incredible from a leadership standpoint.”
Another guy that hasn’t really been practicing is Gerry Bohanon he’s done a phenomenal job. Both vocally, and I mean he takes every rep. He just has not thrown a football yet in terms of stands behind goes through every rep mentally, physically just doesn’t throw the football but he literally takes every single rep from behind the line.
My take: A big part of Golesh’s plans to create a new culture at USF involves leadership and getting players to step up and take on that role. Having guys lean into that while they are still out with injuries is especially important, not only to stay sharp but to make it easy for them to slide back into the lineup in that role when they return from injury. Even though they can’t practice guys like Gerry Bohanon and Rashad Cheney Jr. are playing a key role in the improvement of the team.
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