TAMPA -- Approximately 3,500 fans spent Sunday afternoon with over 100 members of the University of South Florida football team at Raymond James Stadium. There was no doubt that the Bulls players enjoyed the 2008 Bulls Fan Fest presented by TBOExtra.com as much as the fans did.
"This is a beautiful day," said senior WR Taurus Johnson, who wasn't only talking about the clear skies. "I gave out lots of hugs and saw tons of smiles. It's great the way this town has our back. There is no better feeling that giving back to all these fans. I can't wait to see all of them for the season opener."
Fans waited in lines that stretched the width of the field for stars Matt Grothe, George Selvie and head coach Jim Leavitt, but they also spent precious time with players at every other position. Sophomore running back Mike Ford and Jamar Taylor were a popular choice among the fans and the duo decided to improvise by leaving the barricaded signing area and starting their own line.
"We want to sign as many autographs as possible," said Ford. "We are running backs, you know we like to run the option. We figured fans can go left or right, they choose, and if they are lucky they might get to hit both lines. Hopefully it is speeding things up."
The trend caught on as senior TE
Cedric Hill and junior WR
Jessie Hester left their seats and walked through the autograph lines to greet the fans and pen some posters, footballs and magazines.
GoUSFBulls.com has a ton of content to offer including video of press conferences, two photo galleries and a transcript from the live chat that went on throughout Bulls Fan Fest. Everything can be accessed in the Training Camp Central link box to the right.
Several other notes to mention:
? The select-a-seat program for season tickets allowed fans to come into the stadium an hour early at 2 p.m. They could see the available seats and even sit in them to see if the view was to their liking. The program was effective, as USF sold over 100 season tickets on the day.
? Only 2,900 seats remain in the lower bowl for the 2008 season. That means if fans want to sit in the lower bowl of Raymond James Stadium, it is likely their only remaining option is to scoop up season tickets. Currently USF is only selling single game tickets in the upper bowl.
? The lines for Coach Leavitt and Grothe (along with the other quarterbacks) were easily the longest of the day, but who signed more autographs? At 6:25 p.m. Grothe signed his final autograph of the day. When he got up from his table, Coach Leavitt had four people remaining in his line. So I guess we have to give the win to Coach Leavitt by a tiny margin. One thing is for sure, both went back to campus with sore hands after signing non-stop for well over two hours.
? Senior LB Tyrone McKenzie has the honor of being on the cover of Bull Rush magazine, which was on sale at Fan Fest. Asked if he liked the close up shot of himself on the cover, McKenzie said, " Yeah, I like it a lot. Today was a great day to put it on sale." McKenzie was soaking up the fun of signing a magazine with his mug on the cover. "It's my first magazine cover, but hopefully not the last," said the Riverview native.
? We have only talked about 2008 today, but a great win in USF history will be aired on ESPNU tomorrow night. The USF-Auburn instant classic will be replayed Monday at 7:30 p.m. Eastern on ESPNU.
Daily Links
? Dave Glaser of USFBullseye.com already has his Fan Fest update online. Check out his photos and story...
? Brett McMurphy of the Tampa Tribune broke the news on Matt Grothe's addiction and how he overcame the binging at a local eatery. Correspondent Gregg Becnel filed the report on Leavitt getting his kicks.
? St. Pete Times beat writer Greg Auman posted an extended blog update yesterday that detailed Tyrone McKenzie shift back to strong side linebacker, Leavitt's kicking skills, the Saturday scrimmage, more praise for freshman Cory Grissom and an alum update. Now go read the entire post here. He also had an earlier post on Saturday.
? The crew at USF Nation posted four stories on day six (yesterday) of training camp.
