Sorry for getting this up so late. Russ had a flat tire and I was at the eye doctor today getting all that and new glasses made up.
JEFF SCOTT
Today was the 11th practice, get 15, 2/3 of the way through, pleased with what he has seen so far. He said that Saturday was one of the most competitive scrimmages that they've had with depth too in the first two groups. They had six sacks and 8 TFLs on Saturday which was probably more than they had all last year. He said he is pleased with both sides of the ball but the D has really improved.
Scott said they have 21 new players and two new coordinators that have never played in Ray Jay suiting up for the spring game. They will do a draft format and split up both sides and play it like a game. They will do special teams except for KR and kickoff coverage obviously. Just put the ball at the 25.
Scott said that 43 players are coming including 15 former or current NFL players to the spring game.
They will have a flag football alumni game. BJ Daniels and Ciera White tracked down the players to do it.
The Green Team will be coached by Leroy Selmon Jr. and MVS, George Selvie and Austin Reiter.
Playing for the Green team will be Matt Grothe, Pat Julmiste, Isaac Virgin, Cedric Hill, Amarri Jackson, Darren Bishop, Andre Hall, Marc Dile, Jeremiah Warren, Mike Jenkins, Jay Mize, Sam Miller, Keith McCaskill, SJ Green, Nigel Harris, Louis Gachette and Thor Jozwiak
The Gold Team will be coached by Sam Barrington, Kayvon Webster, Mitch Wilcox, D'Ernest Johnson and Kawika Mitchell.
Playing for the Gold Team will be BJ Daniels, Vincent Jackson Jr., Sean Price, Theo Wilson, Andre Davis, Sampson Genus, Marcus Shaw, Tyson Butler, Quenton Washington, George Baker, Kevin McCaskill, Josh Julmiste, Eric Lee, Michael Lanaris, Jerrell Young, Terrell McClain and Patrick St. Louis.
He said it will be a really strong group of former players in the alumni game and he is going to leave his players out at halftime to watch the older guys have fun. He said the current players are excited to watch.
He congratulated Rhea Law the new school president. He said it is special since she is the first alum to be a president at USF. She came out her first full day on the job as interim president to a USF practice and he really enjoyed the message from Law that day and he is excited that she wants athletics and academics to work together. He is very high on the current leadership of USF and the board and he feels like everyone is aligned in their vision. He said it reminds him of a similar time when Dabo Swinney took over at Clemson and how that alignment can lead to a lot of success.
Scott said they will have an alumni social with former players before the spring game on that Friday night and that is something he really is trying to help foster, wanting involvement and support from the former players and they are fans now and give great feedback and they are trying to put in some of the changes suggested by those former players and they've invited them all out to scrimmages and practices and he wants to have them be able to eat soon with the current players and get the almuni players bonding with the current ones.
Scott said they want to add at least one more DL (they did that with Jonathan Ross today) and an OL as well because they are going to graduate four OLs after this season. They want a DL and an OT and they will go through meetings and they may have additional attrition after the season that opens up a spot here or there.
Derrell Bailey who they felt really good about will miss the rest of spring with an undisclosed surgery. He thinks he will be a special player.
Mike Lofton has been running with the first team OL with Brad Cecil and Dustyn Hall both being out for spring ball.
Scott said that Aamaris Brown has really stood out, local kid from Armwood that went to K-State and he has had a terrific spring and made as many plays as anyone on the defense and plays with great energy. He said other kids on the team are attracted to his energy and playmaking abilities and quickness and he has stepped up as a leader.
Scott said on offense the veteran OLs and Timmy McClain have stepped up in leadership roles.
Scott said that Timmy played like a talented freshman last year and he did a lot of wow things and a lot of that's not a good play things, freshman mistakes. He said if you go back and look at Charlie Ward's freshman year at FSU he was punting and then he played in 1991 a little and in 1992 threw 17 interceptions as a starter (he gave an incorrect stat I've fixed on here). So there is a price young QBs pay for experience and they learned that last year with Timmy. He has made enough plays to give them optimism for the future and he has made a lot of progress this spring and he got a chip today for an outstanding practice.
Scott said the chips they give out are a way to recognize guys doing things in a competitive way, they keep score for everything like one-v-ones WR/DB and have winners and losers or on an inside drill and they try to get keep things competitive. Scott, Coach Trickett and Coach Shoop meet up and give them out at the end of each practice.
Scott said part of the on-campus stadium will be a new football operations center, the Leroy Selmon Center is a huge step up from where they started, but 17 years later they've outgrown it and they have some needs for football and more space and new meeting rooms and it will be a big part of recruiting as well and special atmospheres that you can only get on a college campus. Scott said he rides around in a golf cart every once in a while envisioning what it will look like. He said this is USF's 26th season and he compares playing in RayJay to still living with your parents when you are 26, it gets the job done, but you are still living with mom and dad, it is not your own things. You are not going to bring your buddies over and have a good time! He wants USF to have their own place they can have a good time and celebrate (I found this really interesting and entertaining).
Scott said the OCS shows a commitment to FB and he thinks they can keep the kids that are going to lower P5 teams by doing a great job recruiting and building relationships and building their process and being successful and the OCS is a piece of that or the locker rooms or all the stuff that Clemson, Bama and Georgia are building, they can have something similar to show kids and they don't have to have the exact same thing, but he said he believes in an old Chinese proverb, "the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the next best time is now." That is what they are focusing on and that will give USF the best chance to win and thrive long term. He said the group of kids they are recruiting now for 2023 will be the first group to play in the stadium as JRs and SRs.
Standouts to Scott so far this spring, CB Aamaris Brown, LB DJ Gordon, he has really stood out and made a lot of big plays, Rashawn Yates is a really talented player who was inconsistent last year and he has committed himself to being good now and he has been their best DL in spring ball. On offense, RBs Kelley Joiner, Brian Battie and Jaren Manghum have been really strong even adding Mikey Dukes to that group. Before he got hurt Derrell Bailey the transfer from VT was running with the ones. Receivers Jimmy Horn Jr., Xavier Weaver and Ajou Ajou is a guy that has made some really big plays and is a little different than the other guys.
Dequan Stanley who they signed as a CB has moved to WR and he is playing in the slot behind Horn and he can really run and is natural catching the ball and will be a good fit at WR after they were hesitant to move him. He asked to move to WR.
On Byron Matos, he said they saw what they don't have 6'8" 265, length, he came to see him after basketball season and he knew who he was. He sent him to talk to BG and then he came back and asked to try it. He has played zero football, he had never put a helmet on, he has a lot to learn, he is figuring out parts of the game, he wants to do it. He is serious. Sometimes you have basketball guys that put one toe in but he is passionate and he is trying to learn what to do. They will have him block field goals he has blocked two FGs in four or five practices and he had two sacks in the scrimmage on Saturday and the team was very excited. He has four year to play too, he is like a mid-year guy getting here too. He is long with good twitch for a long guy, he said if he continues to make progress he will be one of those guys that people ask where did he come from next year.
Scott said they opted to not televise or broadcast the spring game because they have two new coordinators and a major game against BYU to open the season and with the portal and the coaching changes they don't want to give BYU film. He said at Clemson they used to cut up and watch every spring game of that season's opponent they could get especially the years they opened with an SEC team. They want to be as difficult as they can to prepare for. He said also not streaming or televising it they can open things up for the fans that go a little more instead of having a vanilla practice (he went on and on about this but this is the gist of it.
JEFF SCOTT
Today was the 11th practice, get 15, 2/3 of the way through, pleased with what he has seen so far. He said that Saturday was one of the most competitive scrimmages that they've had with depth too in the first two groups. They had six sacks and 8 TFLs on Saturday which was probably more than they had all last year. He said he is pleased with both sides of the ball but the D has really improved.
Scott said they have 21 new players and two new coordinators that have never played in Ray Jay suiting up for the spring game. They will do a draft format and split up both sides and play it like a game. They will do special teams except for KR and kickoff coverage obviously. Just put the ball at the 25.
Scott said that 43 players are coming including 15 former or current NFL players to the spring game.
They will have a flag football alumni game. BJ Daniels and Ciera White tracked down the players to do it.
The Green Team will be coached by Leroy Selmon Jr. and MVS, George Selvie and Austin Reiter.
Playing for the Green team will be Matt Grothe, Pat Julmiste, Isaac Virgin, Cedric Hill, Amarri Jackson, Darren Bishop, Andre Hall, Marc Dile, Jeremiah Warren, Mike Jenkins, Jay Mize, Sam Miller, Keith McCaskill, SJ Green, Nigel Harris, Louis Gachette and Thor Jozwiak
The Gold Team will be coached by Sam Barrington, Kayvon Webster, Mitch Wilcox, D'Ernest Johnson and Kawika Mitchell.
Playing for the Gold Team will be BJ Daniels, Vincent Jackson Jr., Sean Price, Theo Wilson, Andre Davis, Sampson Genus, Marcus Shaw, Tyson Butler, Quenton Washington, George Baker, Kevin McCaskill, Josh Julmiste, Eric Lee, Michael Lanaris, Jerrell Young, Terrell McClain and Patrick St. Louis.
He said it will be a really strong group of former players in the alumni game and he is going to leave his players out at halftime to watch the older guys have fun. He said the current players are excited to watch.
He congratulated Rhea Law the new school president. He said it is special since she is the first alum to be a president at USF. She came out her first full day on the job as interim president to a USF practice and he really enjoyed the message from Law that day and he is excited that she wants athletics and academics to work together. He is very high on the current leadership of USF and the board and he feels like everyone is aligned in their vision. He said it reminds him of a similar time when Dabo Swinney took over at Clemson and how that alignment can lead to a lot of success.
Scott said they will have an alumni social with former players before the spring game on that Friday night and that is something he really is trying to help foster, wanting involvement and support from the former players and they are fans now and give great feedback and they are trying to put in some of the changes suggested by those former players and they've invited them all out to scrimmages and practices and he wants to have them be able to eat soon with the current players and get the almuni players bonding with the current ones.
Scott said they want to add at least one more DL (they did that with Jonathan Ross today) and an OL as well because they are going to graduate four OLs after this season. They want a DL and an OT and they will go through meetings and they may have additional attrition after the season that opens up a spot here or there.
Derrell Bailey who they felt really good about will miss the rest of spring with an undisclosed surgery. He thinks he will be a special player.
Mike Lofton has been running with the first team OL with Brad Cecil and Dustyn Hall both being out for spring ball.
Scott said that Aamaris Brown has really stood out, local kid from Armwood that went to K-State and he has had a terrific spring and made as many plays as anyone on the defense and plays with great energy. He said other kids on the team are attracted to his energy and playmaking abilities and quickness and he has stepped up as a leader.
Scott said on offense the veteran OLs and Timmy McClain have stepped up in leadership roles.
Scott said that Timmy played like a talented freshman last year and he did a lot of wow things and a lot of that's not a good play things, freshman mistakes. He said if you go back and look at Charlie Ward's freshman year at FSU he was punting and then he played in 1991 a little and in 1992 threw 17 interceptions as a starter (he gave an incorrect stat I've fixed on here). So there is a price young QBs pay for experience and they learned that last year with Timmy. He has made enough plays to give them optimism for the future and he has made a lot of progress this spring and he got a chip today for an outstanding practice.
Scott said the chips they give out are a way to recognize guys doing things in a competitive way, they keep score for everything like one-v-ones WR/DB and have winners and losers or on an inside drill and they try to get keep things competitive. Scott, Coach Trickett and Coach Shoop meet up and give them out at the end of each practice.
Scott said part of the on-campus stadium will be a new football operations center, the Leroy Selmon Center is a huge step up from where they started, but 17 years later they've outgrown it and they have some needs for football and more space and new meeting rooms and it will be a big part of recruiting as well and special atmospheres that you can only get on a college campus. Scott said he rides around in a golf cart every once in a while envisioning what it will look like. He said this is USF's 26th season and he compares playing in RayJay to still living with your parents when you are 26, it gets the job done, but you are still living with mom and dad, it is not your own things. You are not going to bring your buddies over and have a good time! He wants USF to have their own place they can have a good time and celebrate (I found this really interesting and entertaining).
Scott said the OCS shows a commitment to FB and he thinks they can keep the kids that are going to lower P5 teams by doing a great job recruiting and building relationships and building their process and being successful and the OCS is a piece of that or the locker rooms or all the stuff that Clemson, Bama and Georgia are building, they can have something similar to show kids and they don't have to have the exact same thing, but he said he believes in an old Chinese proverb, "the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the next best time is now." That is what they are focusing on and that will give USF the best chance to win and thrive long term. He said the group of kids they are recruiting now for 2023 will be the first group to play in the stadium as JRs and SRs.
Standouts to Scott so far this spring, CB Aamaris Brown, LB DJ Gordon, he has really stood out and made a lot of big plays, Rashawn Yates is a really talented player who was inconsistent last year and he has committed himself to being good now and he has been their best DL in spring ball. On offense, RBs Kelley Joiner, Brian Battie and Jaren Manghum have been really strong even adding Mikey Dukes to that group. Before he got hurt Derrell Bailey the transfer from VT was running with the ones. Receivers Jimmy Horn Jr., Xavier Weaver and Ajou Ajou is a guy that has made some really big plays and is a little different than the other guys.
Dequan Stanley who they signed as a CB has moved to WR and he is playing in the slot behind Horn and he can really run and is natural catching the ball and will be a good fit at WR after they were hesitant to move him. He asked to move to WR.
On Byron Matos, he said they saw what they don't have 6'8" 265, length, he came to see him after basketball season and he knew who he was. He sent him to talk to BG and then he came back and asked to try it. He has played zero football, he had never put a helmet on, he has a lot to learn, he is figuring out parts of the game, he wants to do it. He is serious. Sometimes you have basketball guys that put one toe in but he is passionate and he is trying to learn what to do. They will have him block field goals he has blocked two FGs in four or five practices and he had two sacks in the scrimmage on Saturday and the team was very excited. He has four year to play too, he is like a mid-year guy getting here too. He is long with good twitch for a long guy, he said if he continues to make progress he will be one of those guys that people ask where did he come from next year.
Scott said they opted to not televise or broadcast the spring game because they have two new coordinators and a major game against BYU to open the season and with the portal and the coaching changes they don't want to give BYU film. He said at Clemson they used to cut up and watch every spring game of that season's opponent they could get especially the years they opened with an SEC team. They want to be as difficult as they can to prepare for. He said also not streaming or televising it they can open things up for the fans that go a little more instead of having a vanilla practice (he went on and on about this but this is the gist of it.
