Early Look Ahead - Defensive Line

Ryne Giddins could have a monster season for the Bulls.

The early look ahead will now take a look at the USF defensive line. Over the past few seasons, the defensive line has been a highly productive unit, producing NFL players like George Selvie and Jason Pierre-Paul. The Bulls lose Terrell McClain, Craig Marshall, and David Bedford, but have plenty of young talent at both defensive tackle and defensive end as well. The Bulls will have a solid unit heading into this season and hope to continue the great success of the defensive line.[keep reading]

Early Look Ahead - Linebackers

Dede Lattimore and his fellow linebackers will be one of the many strengths of the defense in 2011. (Picture:www.gousfbulls.com)

The early look ahead series continues as we take a look at the linebacker position. Historically, one of the best productive positions on the Bulls defense, the 2010 linebacking squad lived up to the expectations and solidified the defense. Coming into the 2011 season, the Bull return most of their starters and have some new faces that will be in the mix come this fall. Many believe this could be the strength of the defense. Let's see who will be stepping in this season. [keep reading]

Bulls Sweep Series

The Bulls have put the rough start to the baseball season behind them and seem to be getting their act together. By sweeping the season over FAMU, the Bulls are now 5-5 and are hoping to continue their winning ways (the Bull have won 4 straight). The Bulls continue to get solid pitching and the bats are coming to life. James Ramsay is getting better with each game and is now hitting .297 on the season.

The Bulls remain at home and will play two key games this week. On Tuesday night, the Bulls will host Florida Gulf Coast at 7 PM and on Wednesday, the top ranked Gators come to town at 7 PM. The Bulls are hoping to continue their winning streak and hope to get a little revenge against the Gators at the same time. Please make sure to come out to both games and cheer for the Bulls!

Bulls Fall Again

The 2010-2011 regular season finally came to an end yesterday evening as the Bulls fell to St. John's 56 to 72. The Bulls finish the season with a record of 9-22 (3-15) and are hoping to put this miserable season behind them. The Bulls showed some fight early in the 1st half as went into the locker room with the lead. But once again, like USF always seems to do, couldn't buy a shot and fell flat as the Red Storm pulled away and sent USF down again.

Augustus Gilchrist scored 16 points in the contest as he continued his late season rally. Famous had 10 points in his final regular season contest and leaves behind a solid legacy in just his two years at USF. Noriega had 14 points and Anderson had 13 points. Crater had 2 assists and 3 turnovers as he continues to hurt the offense.

The Bulls have the 15th seed heading into the Big East tournament and will take on the 10 seed Villanova on Tuesday night at 7 PM. This season has been tough and now a game against one of the better teams in the country is what USF gets. This game could be rough for USF, but hopefully the team will actually try to show up in this game.

Bulls Make More Offers

Spring practices are almost here, but the USF coaching staff is still working hard on scout and recruiting for the class of 2012. The Bulls have offered three more players and the recruitment for each is heating up.

Athlete Dennis Andrews from Tallahassee, Florida, is the most player to receive an offer from USF. The 6' 183-pound star from Godby High School is starting to get a lot of attention, but only has two official offers at the moment, Ga Tech and USF, both of which are his favorites right now. Tallahassee has been a very fruitful recruiting area for USF, stars like B.J. Daniels, Terrence Mitchell, and recent recruit Chris Garye Jr. USF will be a favorite for Andrews during the recruiting process, but they will be in competition with other programs that are beginning to gain interest as well.

The other recruit to receive an offer is outside linebacker Noor Davis. Davis, the 6'4" 225-pound linebacker, is a top prospect from The Villages, Florida and has already received tons of offers. Programs like Alabama, FSU, UF, Miami, and Oklahoma have already offered, making the competition already tough. Davis is a star player and the Bulls would like to keep him at home, but it will be hard to compete with such top programs, but recruiting is just beginning.

Finally, the Bulls have also offered LaMarlin Wiggins, the athlete from Plant City. Wiggins is a big athelte (6'3" 195-pounds) that could play multiple positions. He runs a 4.52 in the 40 yard dash, benches 275-pounds, and squats 425 pounds. There are multiple programs chasing Wiggins. He has received offers from UCLA, Texas Tech, and Miami (Golden trying to sneak into our recruiting area). USF has offered him now and hopes to get him to stay close to home as well (time to build the fence Holtz) (from Rivals.com)

Scouting St. John's - Season Finale

Steve Lavin has St. John's back on the map, does USF have a chance on Saturday night? (Picture:www.nydailynew.com)

It's finally here, the season finale for the USF Bulls. The 2010-2011 regular season has been one to forget for Heath and his team, but they will have to take on #15 St. John's before the regular season officially comes to an end. The St. John's Red Storm team has come back to life under 1st year head coach Steve Lavin, but lost last night to Seton Hall and won't have a double bye in the opening round of the Big East tournament. St. John's (19-10 (11-6)) will be ready to defend home court on Saturday night and the Bulls (9-21(3-13)) have to be ready for a tough game.

The Bulls fell apart in the second half to Pitt. Leading at half time, the Sun Dome was alive and momentum was on the side of the Bulls, but the poor shooting led the Bulls to another defeat. Now they have to travel to St. John's. The Bulls are 1-11 on the road (thanks to DePaul) and will be facing a St. John's team that is not happy about the loss to Seton Hall and will be ready to defend home court.

Here are the players to watch for during this game as the Bulls hope they aren't run out of the building. [keep reading]

Ladies Come Up Short Again to Pitt

The ladies 2010-2011 basketball came to an end this afternoon as the Bulls lost again to Pitt, this time in New York City in the first round of the Big East tournament 63 to 60. The Bulls, 112-19 (3-13), were down big early in the first half, but were able to rally in the second and come within just a few points in the last seconds. They did all of this without leading scorer Andrea Smith, who missed the entire game after suffering a knee injury just a minute into the game. The lack of Smith's presence on the court hurt the offense, but the Bulls rallied and made it one hell of a game.

Leondra Doomes-Stephens, in her final game as a Bull, had 13 points. Andrell Smith made up for the lost production from her sister and scored 17 points. Kaneisha Saunders had 17 points coming off of the bench as well.

I truly felt the Bulls would win this game. They had the momentum (2 straight wins), had Grant back, and knew how to beat Pitt. But when Andrea Smith went down that early, it was heartbreaking to see. Smith was the heart of the team and the loss of her shooting and scoring hurt the Bulls and put them down early. Hand it to Fernandez and his amazing staff. They were able to rally the team and get them focused again after falling behind big early. The ladies pulled together and fought to the bitter end. Thank you ladies for a great season. I will have a full season recap later on. Go Bulls!

Way Too Early Look Ahead - Wide Receiver

Wide receiver A.J. Love is healthy and should help the passing game this season.

The early look ahead series rolls on as we take a look at the wide receiver position. Last season, the USF passing attack was inconsistent at best and depleted due to injury. Entering the spring, the Bulls have added depth from recruiting and return two key players that missed all of last season due to injury (Griffin and Love). If the unit stays healthy, it should have a great season and help open up the USF offense. [keep reading]

Sterling Griffin and AJ Love return as the top two receivers for the Bulls. Love was granted a 5th year of eligibility after injuring his ACL in the Spring game last year. Love is healthy and gives the Bulls as solid, fast veteran receiver. Love has been a solid target all his career and if healthy, gives the Bulls a tremendous target. Griffin missed last season after injuring his ankle during Summer workouts. He is healthy and gives the Bulls a deep threat which should help open the field and spread opposing defenses. I am very high on Griffin. Griffin emerged two years ago and proved to be a deep threat weapon with nice speed. If he is healthy, he could have a monster season.

The Bulls had to move a lot of players around during the season to try to help the passing game. In doing so, the Bulls were able to build up some depth with multiple players and are a step ahead this season. Evan Landi is the most productive receiver returning this season. Landi made the full transition to receiver last season and had a solid season, going over 400 yards receiving. He is a big target that can battle over the middle and gives the Bulls a solid target. Lindsey Lamar is a dangerous speed weapon and should be worked more into the offense this year. He will miss the Spring practices after off-season shoulder surgery (minor surgery) and should be at full speed this fall. His cousin, Terrence Mitchell, an All Big East freshman performer, should be another fast weapon on the inside. The Bulls mixed Mitchell more and more into the offense because of his ability to create plays and could be a huge weapon this year.

The Bulls also have T.J. Knowles, Faron Hornes, Stephen Bravo-Brown, Derrick Hopkins, and Joel Miller. All of these receivers should be in the mix this season because they all got playing time last season.

There are a few other players that didn't contribute during the 2010-2011 season as well, but will certainly work hard to get onto the field this season. Bermanley Augustin, Jordan Duval, Tyler Stowell (didn't contribute at receiver) and Justin Wilkins. Deonte Welch is the one receiver coaches keep talking about and could find his way onto the field this season.

There are also some highly talented freshman coming in during the fall and will surely add more depth to the position and could even sneak onto the field. Alex Mut will redshirt as he rehabs from ACL surgery. Ruben Gonzalez is a very physical player that could play right away and Andre Davis is a polished receiver that could play right away due to his route running and great hands.

So there are the receivers as the roster stands today. Now there will be players leaving, transferring, or changing position so the depth chart will change by the time the season rolls along, but for those eager beyond belief for the football season, this is something to look at and get use to the names that could be scoring touchdowns for the Bulls all season.

The receiving corps was depleted last season and Daniels struggled to find a receiver he was comfortable with (aside from Dontavia Bogan). This season, he gets back two experienced targets (Griffin and Love), an experienced Landi, and speed everywhere, including possession receivers. This can be a great group if they are able to mesh together and stay healthy.

Early Look Ahead - Quarterback

B.J. Daniels is the starter heading into this Spring, but he will have plenty of competition. (Picture:www.usfnation.com)

Here we go again, taking an early look at all of the positions and this time I look taking a look at one of the most talked about positions on the team, quarterback. B.J. Daniels, entering his junior season, will be the starter, but he will have plenty of competition and will be looking over this shoulder all throughout practices.

Daniels struggled during the 2010 season as he learned the new offense, but had a break out game against Clemson and is finally healthy headed into the Spring and Fall. When Daniels is healthy and playing up to his talent, he is one of the best duel-threat quarterbacks in the country. Let's take a look at Daniels and the rest of the quarterbacks entering the Spring practices.

B.J. Daniels - 6'1" 212-pounds

The junior quarterback had a rough 2010 season, but the bowl victory over Clemson seemed to be the break out performance everyone was waiting for and seemed to renew Daniels's confidence. Daniels is a very athletic quarterback and can cause defenses headaches. He is a great runner, has excellent field vision, and enough speed to run past anyone (plus great lateral movement). He does have a strong arm, but his decision making and ability to read a defense are questionable at times and when pressured, even worse. He often locks onto a receiver and does not make the necessary progressions in his reads.

Holtz did not want Daniels to run as much last season and in the beginning of the season, you could see the difficulty Daniels had with the play calling. As the season progressed, Daniels became more comfortable and Todd Fitch began mixing in bootlegs and option plays that allowed Daniels to move around more and made him more comfortable in the offense.

Daniels will be the starter heading into this season, but the competition will be open for him. With more quarterbacks on scholarship this season, the competition should help push Daniels to be better and also give Holtz a few more options in case he does struggle.

Bobby Eveld - 6'5" 200-pounds

The redshirt freshman stepped up in the win over Miami and played well in the game against UCONN. Eveld just received a scholarship and has some fans wishing he was the starter (they will have to wait). Eveld seems to be the ideal Hotlz-type quarterback; a pocket passer that can move out of the pocket when forced, a strong arm, and very accurate. Eveld is a very tall, slender quarterback that has a strong arm and can make the throws. He will push Daniels this year and if he struggles, the coaches have shown that they are not afraid to hand the offense over to Eveld. Keep an eye on him, he might be on the field quite a bit this season.

Others: The Bulls do have some depth now at quarterback. Ryan Eppes and Brandon Smith are both walk-ons and probably won't play this season unless something amazing happens during all of the practices (but they will continue to work hard and do anything they can to help theetam out). Jamius Gunsby is a big quarterback (6'4" 235-pounds) that seems to be a rising name and could find his way into the mix this season and will be a factor in the years to come. Matt Floyd enrolled early and will be in Spring. Enrolling early will help him learn the offense early, but with the depth and talent ahead of him, I don't expect him to play this season, but will be eagerly watching him all year.

Daniels is the trigger man of this offense. When he is playing well, making reads, and delivering strikes, the Bulls offense can take over a game. With healthy receivers (Griffin and Love) and new, powerful running backs (Scott and Aycock), the offense should be much more productive this season, as long as Daniels plays better.

Ladies Take on Pitt

Coach Fernandez is hoping the 2010-2011 season does not end today.

The ladies take on #12 seed Pittsburgh tomorrow in Madison Square Garden in the first round of the Big East tournament. The Bulls, 12-18 (3-13), fresh off of a big upset win over #19 Georgetown, are eager to play this game.

Leondra Doomes-Stephens had a monster game on senior night, scoring 25 points and pulling down 13 rebounds. She is hitting her stride at the right point and should continue her high production. Andrea Smith has led the team all season is scoring (scored 24 on Monday) and will continue to shoot down the nets in New York (named second team All-Big East). The Bulls will also be boosted by the return of Porsche Grant who is eligible again after sitting out the last two games of the season. Her presence in the paint will help the Bulls gain a rebounding edge and help the offense even more. McDonald, Connor, and Andrell Smith, will all have to step up their games to help get the win over Pitt.

The Bull lost the first match up with Pitt this season, falling 70 to 66 on the road. The Bulls actually led that game for most of the first half before a late run stopped the Bulls. The Panthers are coming off of a loss to Villanova, a team that USF beat just a week ago on the road.

The postseason is beyond a long shot for the Bulls now, but getting a few wins to keep the season going and build the confidence for the future is key now. The Bulls could not have a better match up heading into this game and the team seems to be firing on all cylinders now. The team can win this and needs to win this game. Coach Fernandez has a solid team returning next year and making a statement in the Big East tournament would be huge for the program. Good luck ladies!