The glitz and the glamour

During the Media Luncheon on Friday, players such as Chris Carothers, Andre Hall, Jon Simmons, Frank Davis and Johnnie Jones answered hundreds of questions from media all around the nation and talked about the bowl gift packages each player received.

The package included an 8-inch portable DVD player, a personalized football, a rolling duffel bag and a Fossil watch and wallet gift set.Team members said they enjoyed the DVD players, but Jones admits many of them aren’t watching movies.

“They’re watching their highlight films from high school,” Jones said. “Some are pretty fun to watch.”

Hall said players such as Josh Julmiste brings his highlight films to every game to watch, while Ricky Ponton’s reels are top notch because his former high school coach was Earl Garcia at Hillsborough High School. Hall said he enjoyed the present but probably won’t keep it.

“I’ll probably give mine to my little girl,” Hall said. “Though I can’t watch my highlights. I’m still VHS. I’m old school.”

Later in the day, the Bulls would load up in their charter buses and take the walkthrough of Bank of America Stadium, which ironically is home of another NFC South NFL team: the Carolina Panthers, who travel once a year down to Raymond James Stadium, the home of both USF and the Buccaneers.