Sports Notebook: Sixth recruit to join team

South Florida women’s basketball coach Jose Fernandez confirmed that the Bulls received their fifth oral commitment of the 2009 class Tuesday, but an unidentified sixth player will likely be announced this week.

Jessica Monroe, a 6-foot-2 forward from Durham, N.C., pledged that she would join the Bulls in the early signing period, beginning today and running through Nov. 19.

The Bulls have already signed another forward, Tahira Johnson, as well as guards Taneisha Saunders, Tiffany Conner and Sequoyah Griffin.

Fernandez, however, said the 2009 recruiting isn’t finished.

“We have a sixth commitment as well,” he said. “We can confirm we have a sixth signing, but we are just waiting on paperwork to come back to make it official.”

Fernandez said there would be a press release either today or Thursday identifying the player.

“We signed six national letters of intent, and we sent them out,” he said. “Now we are just waiting to have them returned, but there will be six new signings.”

Football rallies around seniors
With the USF football team facing mathematical elimination from the Big East title race — and projected to finish in the bottom five for penalties committed — junior quarterback Matt Grothe said it’s time for a change in team attitude during the bye week.

“We had a team meeting this past week,” he said. “It was just us players there, and we talked about all the things we needed to do, and the things that have to happen from now on.”

The Bulls have a lot to do if they still want to win the Big East championship.

The Bulls would have to win all three of their remaining games; West Virginia would have to lose two games; and Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Louisville would each have to lose one of their remaining games this season.

With those kinds of odds, Grothe said he’s no longer worried about winning a championship.

“A lot of things that were said were just about having fun,” he said. “We just need to go out there and play football like we were little kids again.”

Seniors organized the meeting Nov. 3 during the bye week.

Carlton Williams, a senior safety, said it’s refreshing to be able to discuss issues with his teammates.

“It was just all about expressing how we felt,” he said. “Everybody got a chance to stand up and say what they think we’ve been missing. It’s not that we’ve played teams that are that much better than us. It’s just been mistakes by us.”