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VERO BEACH, Fla. - When Mike Jeune was in middle school in Jacksonville, Fla., he was a skinny defensive end tasked with handling his rival school's dynamic running back. Little did he know, he'd later spend his high school days in the same linebacking corp as that running back, who USF fans know as number 36 in the middle of the defense, Sam Barrington.
"I looked at him in middle school and said, 'Man, that guy's big,'" Jeune joked after practice on Wednesday. "We really got to know each other playing JV at the same high school and later on the varsity. We wanted to come to USF and play together then, but I had to take a different route. I'm glad I'm here now and having the chance to play with my friend Sam."
Barrington and Jeune starred together at Terry Parker High School. Barrington came to USF in 2009 and had an immediate impact, playing in all 13 games, making 41 tackles and earning All-BIG EAST Freshman honors. Jeune, on the other hand, headed west to Independence Community College in Kansas.
But, after two outstanding seasons where he earned junior college All-America honors, Jeune reunited with Barrington, who started 12 games last year and is now considered one of the best linebackers in the BIG EAST, as a part of the USF linebackers. They seemed destined to play on the same defense in college, but when Barrington went to the coaching staff to talk to them about Jeune, it wasn't just because they were friends. Barrington felt like Jeune would be a great fit for the Bulls.
"Mike is committed to everything he does," Barrington said. "He's a quality person, very loyal and that's what you look for in a teammate. That's what you look for especially as a linebacker. I want a guy beside me who I know, for sure, has his gap taken care of."
The Bulls coaching staff agreed and decided to bring Jeune to the Tampa campus in January. And, according to defensive coordinator Mark Snyder, the transition for Jeune has been helped by the relationship with his former teammate.
"Any time you move to a new place, you need to learn how to get to the store, where am I going to live, where are my classes," Snyder said. "When you have familiarity with players, it helps tremendously."
Jeune agreed.
"When I got here, I really didn't know anybody," Jeune said. "All I knew was Sam. If I have a question, I know I can ask him because he's got a lot of the answers. I know I can count on him whenever I need him."
Now, the former high school teammates are part of one of the deepest position groups in the USF program. Along with senior Curtis Weatherspoon, junior Michael Lanaris, sophomore DeDe Lattimore and redshirt freshman Reshard Cliett, the Bulls have six linebackers that provide them a plethora of options for a linebacking corp that was voted the best in the BIG EAST by ESPN.com.
Little did Barrington and Jeune know when they were staring each other down from across the line of scrimmage that they would be a part of it together, six years later.
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