Multimedia
• Photo Gallery: The Football Staff
• Aug. 9: Coach Leavitt with Media
• Aug. 9: MJ with Kion Wilson | Sabbath Joseph

Finish
"Get rid of the clouds, bring on the heat. The ice cream is melting."- said head coach Jim Leavitt in the opening moments of practice.

And the heat came in what may have been the most humid day of the preseason. Players and coaches were commenting on the Tampa heat as they left the field drenched in sweat.

It made sense that the theme of the day from the coaching staff was, "Finish." It's close to that the middle segment of camp, often known as the 'dog days', and the staff wants to make sure the entire team remains focus on the goals at hand.

Leavitt came off the field happy with the team's effort for a fourth consecutive day, but as always he was cautiously optimistic.

Leavitt also said the team has done a lot of hitting in camp already, even though they won't be in full pads until Monday.

"Full pads will be tomorrow, but it won't be any different that what we are doing right now," said Leavitt. "They'll put pants on. That's the only thing. That's the only difference."

Congrats to Jessie Hester
We weren't able to give Jessie Hester his proper credit yesterday afternoon when he graduated (unless you were following us on Twitter), so we gave him the spotlight image location above for Sunday.

Congrats on earning your degree in criminology.
.
Quick Change
True-freshman Isaac Virgin spent Saturday working at quarterback and by Sunday he was already moved to tight end. The coaches have long thought he had the build to be a prototypical tight end, but wanted to give the Fort Pierce product a look at quarterback.

With three strong quarterbacks already battling for time (Matt Grothe, B.J. Daniels and Evan Landi) and walk-on Ryan Eppes, Virgin had plenty of competition at signal caller. It will be interesting to see if Virgin can make a smooth transition and get on the field as a true freshman.

Youngsters Making Moves
There is a lot of work to be done, but it was interesting to see Julius Forte, Ryne Giddins and Leslie Stirrups already earning reps with the second team defense.

In the base 4-3 defense, the second string linebackers were Sam Barrington, Jacquian Williams and Armando Sanchez.

USF will work out of the nickel package a ton this fall, considering that six of the BIG EAST teams consider the spread their basic offense.