After an impressive first year with USF’s football team, junior running back Andre Hall vowed to come back for his final year with the Bulls instead of entering the NFL draft.

Hall, a 5-foot-10, 205-pound Dixie Hollins graduate, broke USF’s single -season rushing record on Nov. 20 during the Bulls’ 45-23 loss to Cincinnati when he rushed for 161 yards.

“(Hall) stayed for his education, and to get it at USF, that’s a great opportunity,” said USF coach Jim Leavitt, also a former Dixie Hollins graduate. “I always say that to my guys. Get that education.”

Hall now holds three USF records: most rushing yards in a season (1,384), most rushing TDs in a season (11), and is the only Bulls player to record a 200-yard rushing game, when he did so in the 42-35 loss to Army on Oct. 16.

“I don’t know where he would actually go in the draft, but USF is not a stepping stone for the NFL,” Leavitt said. “We have players of that caliber but when I recruit them, right out of high school, I tell them that education is important, and Andre knows that.”

Bulls to face ‘Canes, Heels

The USF football program reached home-and-home deals with two ACC programs: the University of Miami and the University of North Carolina.

The Bulls will face the the five-time national champion Miami Hurricanes on Oct. 1 at the Orange Bowl. Miami will visit USF sometime during the 2006 season.

“It’s a testament to our football program that we are able to schedule a five-time national championship team on a home-and-home basis,” USF Director of Athletics Doug Woolard said in a press release. “I know our fans will enjoy the in-state rivalry that this series will create.”

USF will visit North Carolina on Sept. 23, 2006, with UNC visiting Raymond James Stadium on Sept. 22, 2007.

“The fact that schools like North Carolina and Miami are now agreeing to play USF is testimony to how far coach Leavitt and his staff have brought the program,” said Woolard. “Our fans can look forward to seeing the best programs in the nation playing our Bulls right here in Tampa on a regular basis.”

USF guard sidelined

Men’s basketball sophomore guard Marius Prekevicius will be out for 3-4 weeks with a meniscus tear in his left knee.

The native of Garzdai, Lithuania, has started in five games for the Bulls this season, averaging 6.7 points per game. He recorded a career-high 17 points versus FIU on Dec. 20, 2004.

Compiled by Mike Camunas and John Calkins.