USF offensive coordinator Todd Fitch can find comfort in his experienced offensive line — one that could be ideal for going into a hostile environment and neutralizing a talented defensive front.
When Skip Holtz left his post as Colorado State receivers coach in 1989 for Notre Dame, he met his replacement, Urban Meyer.
It was a painful blister that kept redshirt freshman defensive end Ryne Giddins out of Saturday’s opener against Stony Brook, but Giddins practiced Sunday and should play this weekend against Florida, said coach Skip Holtz.
USF’s opening day blowout win against Stony Brook on Saturday night provided a strong, emotional start to the Skip Holtz era.
With a brand new coaching staff and the loss of several players to the NFL, it’s been quite the makeover for USF football over the last eight months.
Redshirt freshman defensive end Ryne Giddins, who is listed as a second-teamer, missed his second straight practice on Wednesday with what coach Skip Holtz said was a blister on his foot. Giddins’ status for Saturday’s opener is unclear.
After an exhibition win over No. 1 Akron on Saturday, USF coach George Kiefer’s squad was quickly grounded in its season opener, losing 2-1 to Florida Gulf Coast at the USF Soccer Stadium on Wednesday night. With the score tied 0-0, USF sophomore forward Hasani Sinclair received a red card in the 54th minute.
Since the start of spring camp, several players have had to switch positions to compensate for a lack of depth at wide receiver. Evan Landi switched from quarterback and sophomores Lindsey Lamar and Joel Miller from running back, to name a few.
USF coach Skip Holtz said he hoped for a more energetic practice Tuesday, but he understood what his team was going through. “I’ve never had a real good first day of practice with school,” Holtz said. “… Right now, they have a lot going on … picking up their books, finding their classes, doing all those types of things.
In the midst of gearing up for the season opener against Stony Brook, USF’s coaching staff has also been busy on the recruiting trail. The Bulls picked up a verbal commitment from offensive lineman Max Lang out of Boone High School in Orlando on Tuesday, according to usfbullseye.
USF coach Skip Holtz likes to categorize his team’s progress in stages. Stages one through four consisted of offseason preparations. When the Bulls hit the practice fields today, stage five will be under way. “Stage four is over, and we are now beginning stage five, which really gets into our season,” Holtz said at a press conference during Sunday’s Fan Fest at Raymond James Stadium.
After a disappointing 2010 season, USF coach Lelo Prado got some good news to start the school year. With the passing of the recent Aug. 16th signing deadline, the Bulls will return perhaps their two most important pieces — top starters Andrew Barbosa and Randy Fontanez, as both decided to retain their amateur status and play their senior season at USF, the school officially announced Monday.
USF coach George Kiefer can take it easy on his freshmen, especially with the experience he’ll put on the field this year. “The biggest thing I’ll look at right now is leadership and having good older players,” he said. “I ask the question the first day to the freshmen: how does a game get decided if it’s tied at the end? The freshmen don’t even know.
After a Big East championship in 2008, the USF men’s tennis team labored through a season of adversity in 2009. The Bulls lost their No. 1 player for the season — Lucas Jovita sat out all of last year with a shoulder injury — and the team went 8-14, losing in the semifinals of the Big East tournament in April.
USF coach Stan Heath and the Bulls weren’t accustomed to playing with so much at stake in August. However, the Bulls went 4-1 at the Pan American University Championships earlier this month, losing only in the final to Brazil. More importantly, though, Heath now knows what his main focus will be in preparation for the 2010-11 season.
On Monday, The Oracle began a countdown of the top 10 players to watch at fall practice. As the paper takes a summer recess, we’ll leave you with the top five players on our pre-camp list. 5) Todd Chandler, freshman defensive tackle A blue chip recruit, Chandler expects to contribute in a big way for USF in the future.
With fall camp on the horizon, there will be no shortage of football talk anytime soon. USF is in an interesting position, having plenty of holes to fill, a new set of coaches and ideologies and the first year in awhile that expectations aren’t high.
Remembering George Steinbrenner, who died Tuesday of a heart attack in his Tampa home, USF baseball coach Lelo Prado recalled the generosity the legendary New York Yankees owner showed to him during his time at the University of Tampa, where he won two Division II national championships.
Former USF star and NBA first-round draft pick Dominique Jones signed a rookie deal with the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday. Terms were not disclosed. Jones, a 6-foot-4 shooting guard from Lake Wales, was taken 25th in last month’s draft by Memphis but traded to Dallas.
Exemplifying the notion that academics should come before athletics, the USF men’s tennis team was nationally recognized for their excellence in the classroom. On Monday, the Big East announced the Bulls as winners of the Team Academic Excellence Award for the 2009-10 school year.
One of the most intriguing questions surrounding USF athletics is how the football program will fare in the Big East in the first year of the Skip Holtz era. If preseason magazines are any indication, USF fans shouldn’t expect much. The Bulls, who finished a>combined 5-9 the past two seasons>in conference play despite strong starts, are picked to finish in the lower half of the Big East by most media despite hiring Holtz as coach and returning one of the best quarterbacks in the Big East in sophomore B.
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