With 12 practices and a scrimmage behind them, USF football head coach Alex Golesh said the offense was not where he expected it would be in a press conference on Tuesday.

Last Thursday, the Bulls had their first scrimmage in Lakeland. Golesh said the offense took a while to get going during the exhibition. 

The offense had 13 drives and the first nine stalled out. The scrimmage was littered with pre-snap penalties, according to Golesh. He attributed it to it being the first time the players were practicing without the safety net of the coaches and figuring things out on their own.

“Typical first scrimmage stuff. Our standard is that it doesn’t happen, but it happened,” Golesh said.

At his previous gig with Tennessee, Golesh was the offensive coordinator for one the most uptempo offenses in the country. The Vols ranked No. 1 nationally in scoring at 47.33 points per game, 538.1 yards per game, 3.24 points per possession and 7.35 yards per play.

That offense featured players like current Detroit Lions quarterback Hendon Hooker and 2022 Biletnikoff Award winner and New York Jets wideout Jalin Hyatt. Both Hooker and Hyatt had three seasons to develop under Golesh’s offense before declaring for the 2023 NFL Draft.

USF’s situation is nearly the opposite. Heading into this season, the Bulls recruited 49 new players with 36 on scholarship. Golesh compared the process of integrating the players to a giant puzzle.

Junior tight end Gunnar Greenwald, a player the Bulls retained from the Jeff Scott era, voiced similar sentiments about the scrimmage. In 2022, he played in eight games and started in one.

Greenwald said he aims to improve the energy the offense plays with during their next scrimmage on Tuesday.

“What we need to work on is just getting the juice going from the beginning and getting everybody ready to play, rather than coming out kind of slow and then picking up the pace as we’re going,” Greenwald said. “I feel like as we hit the ground rolling, we’ll be able to put some balls in the endzone.”

Greenwald was encouraged by how the tight ends could be used in Golesh’s system. While serving as offensive coordinator, Golesh was also the tight ends coach with the Volunteers.

“I think it’s gonna be a lot more positive for us,” Greenwald said. “They’re going to find ways to get us open…and I’m excited because it seems like coach Golesh likes to find ways to get off the ball [and] get the ball in our hands, so we’ll be able to show what we can do.”

Despite the challenges of implementing a new offensive system, Golesh said that he was proud of the offense for limiting their turnovers. He also said that Monday was the best the offense looked from “a mechanic standpoint.” He highlighted the competitive environment the players have set so far. 

While setting the right atmosphere matters, the production on the field must match — especially since fans want to see more than four wins in three seasons.    

“Does that result in wins? I don’t know,” Golesh said. “But I think it certainly gives us a chance as we’ve come together as a team to really trust each other and learn about each other.”