Sept 28 - @USF
In Part 4 of the 12 part 2013 CANE opponent series, we’re going
to talk a team that that made a big splash in recruiting this offseason and
that’s the South Florida Bulls, whom we play up in Tampa at Raymond James
Stadium on Sept 28th for our first road game of the season.
Here’s what you need to know about the Bulls: Like with the
previous opponent, they have a new Head Coach. Unlike Earnest Wilson III,
Willie Taggart, comes in with big expectations in the Bay area. Taggart became
the 3rd Head Coach in their history. He comes over from Western
Kentucky (his alma mater), to come back home to the Tampa Bay area and build
the Bulls into a national power and have them take that next step, He
didn't keep any of Skip Holtz's assistants. When Taggart came in, he cleaned
house from top to bottom. He brought many of his staff from WKU down to Tampa
with him, Here’s a list of coaches
brought with him down to Tampa from WKU:
·
OC and OL coach Walt Wells
·
Special teams coordinator Stu Holt
·
DL coach Eric Mathies
·
QB coach Nick Sheridan
·
LB coach Raymond Woodie.
Those names won’t jump out at you right away, but the one thing
Taggart values is loyalty and with the Woodie hire, who knows every coach in
South Florida, Taggart wants USF to be a bigger presence in the Tri-County area
(Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach), and in the ’13 class, since he took
over, has 4 commits from the Tri-County area (3 from Miami-Dade and 1 from
Broward). When you add to the fact that he hired former NFL assistant
Chuck Bresnahan as his DC and had a coup when took Ron Cooper away from LSU,
and is very familiar with the Bay area, having being a former Bucs assistant,
as the Secondary coach, and you have a staff that’s committed to taking that
next step into a national power and a force to be reckoned with. The Bulls have never had
a 10 win season in their history. You give him 2-3 years, and they’ll be
winning 10+ games on a consistent basis.
Last year, they were 3-9 and just 1-6 in the former Big East
(now American Athletic).
Let’s break down the
2013 Bulls.
Offensively: There will be a change
in philosophy in Temple Terrace. You won’t see the QB get a majority of the
rushes. While we’ll still see some running from the QB, you’re going to see
more a power running game from them. On the surface, you’d think senior Marcus Shaw (248
yards in 2012) would have a big lead on the competition due to the fact no one
else has done anything of note in the offense.
However, the thing you have to consider is that Shaw is not the back
that can go 25-30 carries a game. That opens the door for returnees like
Sophomore Willie Davis and Junior Michael Pierre, and also newcomers like
Darius Tice and Sta'fon McCray. Taggart will give Shaw every opportunity to be
that go to back. However, the main competition will be for the reserve
position(s). The QB competition will be fierce, and it was the case back in the
spring when Senior Bobby Eveld and Sophomore Matt Floyd were battling for the
job. No one stood out there and this fall practice will be one to watch to see
who ends up winning the job in Tampa.
Neither one seems to be the one for the long haul. Floyd is a nice
dual-threat quarterback, however, with him more of a running QB than a passing
one, you have to ask yourself would he give them the balance Taggart wants from
his QBs, which is some mobility, but not sacrificing the passing game too much.
On the other hand, Eveld has much more experience at the position, but did not
produce at a high level the last two years when he was B.J. Daniels' backup. After
the Spring, it seemed that his pro-style tendencies would have him be the guy
to run the offense Taggart and Wells wants. Now, Floyd could be the change-of-pace
option in certain packages, but its likely Eveld is going to ultimately win the
job. A wild-card to consider is Penn State transfer Steven Bench (transferred
from Penn State to USF in late May.
If Eveld struggles early, keep an eye on Bench because of what
he brings to the table which is his own skill set, and its huge to boot, and
the experience learned under Bill O'Brien in Happy Valley. It’ll be his job to lose.
Another name to watch in the coming years, incoming freshman Mike White, who
was hand-picked by Taggart in his first recruiting class. Having that
endorsement is huge, however he’s going to need a full season to properly know
the offense, and put on some much-needed weight before ascending the depth
chart.
On to the receivers: This group was nothing to write home about
here. They did lose Victor Marc to graduation, and Terrance Mitchell to a
violation of their team rules. The latter wasn’t a big deal for the offense, since
he was going to be moved to the other side of the ball anyway. The receivers
that do come back in 2013 are led by Junior Andre Davis (46 receptions for 534
yards in 2012), who just might become the first USF receiver to crack the
750-yard mark and that would be saying something. The likely starter alongside
Davis is junior Deonte Welch (18 receptions for 183 yards in 2012). After that,
you have Senior Derrick Hopkins (19 receptions for 278 yards in 2012) and
sophomore D'Vario Montgomery. They would get a huge shot in the arm when former
Florida transfer Chris Dunkley comes aboard. He should be reinstated to the
program by the start of the season. They have a pretty good TE in Sophomore
Sean Price (21 receptions for 209 yards in 2012), and in Taggart’s offense, it
wouldn’t be a shock if he were near the top on the team in receptions. Lets
talk about the offensive
line: Not much in terms of surprises here
or even any competition here. There aren’t really any surprises up front, or
even much of a competition, At OG they have are sophomores Brynjar Gudmundsson
and Thor Jozwiak. A fun fact here: Jozwiak's real name is Thornton, but as
Vanderbilt coach Herb Hand, a friend of the Jozwiak family, told USA Today’s
Paul Myerburg, and I found this pretty interesting too, "If he wants to
play piano, it's Thornton, Football, its Thor." From a football end, he
moves over from RG to LG, which opens up a starting role for Gudmundsson. Junior
Austin Reiter is back at the Center position and Junior Quinterrius Eatmon is
back at RT. The two new starters on their line are Gudmunsson and Junior LT
Darrell Williams. Williams has some big shoes to fill, considering that all-conference
pick in Mark Popek is gone to Graduation. Their staff believes that Williams,
who started several games on that side in 2012, is very ready to assume a
full-time starting role. That line was terrible last year, but you have to
factor in, there were losses and attrition played a major role here. If they
stay healthy, this could be a unit that will be one to deal with.
Defensively: Their front 4 is going
to be the best in the American Athletic Conference. Look what they have coming
back at the Ends: You have Senior Ryne Giddins (25 tackles, 3.5 sacks) and Sophomore
Aaron Lynch, but especially Lynch, who is going to be an All-American. While at
Notre Dame, in his freshman year, he was already becoming a force on the
D-Line. This guy has tremendous talent and with the right coaching, this guy
could be a great Bulls fans talk years after he leaves the program. With Lynch
on one side and Giddins on the other side, harassing linemen and quarterbacks,
anything is possible.
Their entire front is already pretty darn good. After Giddins
and Lynch, you have in the rotation, Seniors Julius Forte and Tevin Mims, and
they are going to get a lot of work in the rotation for them. They did lose Cory
Grissom (signed as UFA by New England) inside, they get back Seniors Luke Sager
and Anthony Hill, as well as Juniors Elkino Watson and Todd Chandler, as well
as Sophomore James Hamilton. The staff and the fanbase in the Bay area are
really waiting to see If Chandler becomes the beast people thought he would be
when he came out of Northwestern High in Miami. They are deep here so they can
absorb the loss of Grissom. Lynch is the impact player on their D-Line.
While the D-Line is very strong, the same cannot be said for
their back seven. In 2012, they lacked
production and reliability and the results proved that pretty painfully.
Their staff believes that Cooper has to step up and be an immediate impact player
in their secondary, which like many groups on this team, doesn’t lack talent,
but do lack consistency. With the LB core, they get back a leader in Senior
DeDe Lattimore (76 tackles, 7.5 for loss), but the other two outside LBs need
to step up and produce. One of those players that need to step up is returning
starter Reshard Cliett, a Junior, who
come backs on the strong side. Others that need to step their games up are sophomores
Zack Bullock and Tashon Whitehurst. To have to try and duplicate the impact
former starter Sam Barrington (drafted 7th round by Green Bay) made
on the weak side is going to be pretty tough. If there’s a weak link on the D,
this area is it right here.
Cooper is the man to lead the secondary back.
How bad was it in Tampa in 2012? They only had two picks all year. He’s going
to have much work to do, with the departure of Kayvon Webster (3rd
round pick by Denver), who was their leading tackler in 2012. There is some
good news here: They went younger in the secondary as the season went on,
whether due to injuries or otherwise, and this experience will help in 2013,
especially with Cooper coaching the secondary.
Even better for them, they start three seniors:
Mark Joyce (74 tackles) and JaQuez Jenkins (53 tackles) at safety and Brandon
Salinas at CB. Joining Salinas on the outside is sophomore Kenneth Durden, who
moved into the starting lineup late in the season. This is going to an area to
watch as the season goes on.
Special
Teams: They have three guys that can return
Kicks/Punts to the house in Shaw, Hopkins and Andre Davis, though its likely
it’ll be more of the latter two than Shaw, due to the fact that he will be in
their offense more and with not enough energy to return kicks/punts. The
attention here turns to breaking in both a Kicker and Punter. At the former, Maikon Bonani is gone
(Graduation, signed as UFA by Tennessee Titans), so it’ll be up to either
junior Marvin Kloss or incoming freshman Emilio Nadelman to fill those big
shoes that Bonani leaves behind. At punter, sophomore Mattias Ciabatti steps up
to replace Justin Brockhaus-Kann (Graduation).
In closing, looking at USF’s schedule, you have
to believe, this is 8-9 win team, possibly 10 if things break their way. We’re
going to start to get a good idea on them on 9/7 when they go up to East
Lansing to play Michigan State. As I said in the beginning, we come to RJS on
9/28 after USF has their BYE week on 9/21. Their biggest conference game is
going to be Louisville on 10/26, when the Cardinals come to RJS. If they win
that game, then running the table in the conference becomes a real possibility.
Realistically, I think 8-4 season is accurate here for USF.
In Part 5 of the series,
I will talk about our opponent in the ACC opener and that the Georgia Tech
Yellow Jackets.
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