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By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer
TAMPA, AUG. 23, 2014 – Willie Taggart will soon be leading the Bulls out of the tunnel on game day and the program's second-year head coach directed another important charge Saturday on campus.
The Lee Roy Selmon Athletics Center was packed for The Huddle, a new tradition at USF that brings the student body and the football team together for a special preseason celebration.
“We have lots of traditions to create here,” Taggart said. “Why not us? Why not us? Why don't we start some of that now.”
Students and players formed a super-sized huddle while USF Director of Athletics Mark Harlan and Taggart fired up with the crowd about the important season ahead before the group walked over to Corbett Stadium to watch the USF men's soccer team take on the University of Tampa in the Rowdies Cup.
“(The students) are the heartbeat of everything we're going to do,” Harlan said. “They're going to start the electricity in all our venues and so it's critical for us to give back to them and celebrate with them.”
USF players kicked the event off by mingling with the students and handing out USF towels to bring to games. Harlan got the crowd's attention with a warm welcome before Taggart addressed many faces he hopes to see at Raymond James Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 30 when the Bulls open the season against Western Carolina at 7 p.m.
“We have to do our part to earn your support. We know as a football team we have to earn that,” Taggart said. “We have to earn that support by the way we play but we cannot do it without you. I'd like to see every one last one of you in the student section behind all our guys to celebrate.”
Seniors Reshard Cliett, Andre Davis and Marvin Kloss – the new team captains – followed with special shout-outs to the students before Taggart and the entire room shouted the USF fight song together. Watch it all take place HERE.
“It's great to see students fired up in the athletic building. I've never seen anything quite like it,” USF Student Body President Jean Cocco said.
USF plans to keep the excitement going throughout the season with the new weekly tradition called Marshall Mayhem, a Friday afternoon pep rally at the Marshall Student Center prior to every home game. Marshall Mayhem will include the entire football team, cheerleaders, Sun Dolls, the band and Rocky The Bull starting at noon at the Marshall Center Amphitheater. The first pep rally takes place Friday, Aug. 29. View the Bulls' entire season schedule HERE.
Davis, Cliett and Kloss Named Team Captains
USF players voted on team captains for the upcoming season on Friday and Bulls that will be leading the charge next Saturday will be senior wide receiver Andre Davis (offense), senior linebacker Reshard Cliett (defense) and senior kicker Marvin Kloss (special teams).
“Our team picked three guys that I think can lead this football. I think it says a lot, especially when we as coaches don't have any influence on who gets picked. It's all by their peers,” Taggart said. “Like I tell our guys, I think that's the best award you can get is being voted by your teammates to be the captain to lead the football team. I can tell those guys were excited, that's big-time.”
Davis is on the verge of breaking every major receiving record in the program history after earning all-state honors three times at Tampa's Jefferson High School. Davis already owns USF records for consecutive games with a reception (30) and consecutive 100-yard games (3). Last season's offensive MVP ranks third on USF's career list in receiving yards (1,542) and receptions (117), and he's fourth on the career touchdown catch list with 10 heading into next Saturday.
“It's definitely great for me being voted team captain amongst my peers. For them to think of me as a captain, I really appreciate that and I'm ready for it,” Davis said.
Cliett, a redshirt senior from Thomasville, Ga., had a standout season in 2013, ranking second on the team with 56 total tackles along with 7.0 tackles for loss and a sack. Cliett has posted 101 total tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss and three sacks in 31 games as a Bull since 2011.
“I was kind of surprised because I thought some of the older guys would get it but I guess everybody believes in me, so it's just a great feeling,” Cliett said. “Starting in the summer, I really tried to put myself in a leadership role because I knew that was one of the toughest parts because we don't have games. I tried to carry it on through camp because the young guys hadn't been to camp before. I tried to push them, drive them and tell them what to expect because I was a freshman, too.”
Taggart said captains on special teams will rotate throughout the season starting with Kloss, who became a Groza Award finalist last season in his first opportunity as USF's primary placekicker. The Naples, Fla., native earned a spot on the Groza Award Watch List this preseason after leading the nation with 11 field goals of 40 yards or more and four from 50-plus yards.
Kloss also set a USF record with 13 consecutive made field goals, including kicks from 52, 50, 50, 50, 49, 49 and 47 yards, and he made at least one field goal in nine games on the way to becoming the first-ever Bull to be named a finalist for a major college football award.
“Being able to do it two years in a row definitely means a lot,” Kloss said. “I definitely earned a lot of respect from a lot of guys in this program from last year and it's just a great feeling that they have the trust, and they want you to be up there leading them into battle.”
Taggart had the honor of being a team captain during his record-breaking career as a quarterback at Western Kentucky and USF's leading man told the Bulls' newest captains to savor the moment.
“Not often do you get a chance to be the captain of a football team and when you get the opportunity you have to take advantage of it,” Taggart said.
Taggart Puts Duval on Scholarship
Taggart took care of other business at Friday's team meeting when he proudly broke the news to his players that senior receiver and former walk-on Jordan Duval has been put on scholarship.
“He's been working hard and he's being consistent,” Taggart said. “He's handled his business off the field, he took care of business in the classroom, and he's helping us in football.”
Duval has appeared in 17 games since redshirting in 2010, playing mainly on special teams, and he's represented the Bulls well in the classroom by earning 2013 American Athletic All-Academic Team honors and Big East All-Academic Team accolades twice.
“Jordan has been here for five years. He's worked hard and it's definitely well deserved,” Davis said.
Team Photos, Walkthrough at Ray Jay in the Books
Players, coaches, trainers, equipment staff and families all assembled at Raymond James Stadium for photo day bright and early Saturday morning before the Bulls went through a pregame walkthrough for the season opener.
“We want our guys to understand exactly what we're doing next week, so we don't come out here and look a mess. We want to come out here and be sharp,” Taggart said. “There are some guys that haven't been a part of that, so we have teach them and train them on how we do things around here. It's a great day to do it, the football gods looked out for us. It's a great, beautiful day in the Bay.”
USF's equipment staff members prepared the team truck throughout the week, just as they will leading up to the battle with Western Carolina, and the locker room was ready for the newest Bulls on the roster to learn the program's pregame routine.
“Next week when we come out we want to be sharp by the time we leave that tunnel,” Taggart said. “We want our guys focused and knowing exactly what they're doing and locked into the task at hand.”
The team was already fired up for game week during Friday's fall camp finale and players were chomping at the bit to get to next Saturday as they spoke to reporters after team photos were finished.
“It's crazy just to think that we were here a year and just the strides we've made, just little stuff like that thinking about what we were doing last year this time coming here after camp,” starting quarterback Mike White said. “You get to thinking about the game coming up and you start thinking about the last couple of games you've played because you start to get all those memories back walking into the stadium. It's just crazy to think about the strides we've made as a team in both our attitude and our play, and it's going to be fun here in a week.”
The Bulls return 16 starters (10 offense, 4 defense, 2 specialists) for Taggart's second season at the helm, which kicks off on Aug. 30 vs. Western Carolina at 7 p.m in Raymond James Stadium. The Bulls 2014 non-conference schedule features home clashes vs. Big Ten foe Maryland (Sept. 6 @ 3:30) and ACC opponent N.C. State (Sept. 13 @ 3:30) as well as a road game at perennial Big Ten power Wisconsin (Sept. 27). USF will welcome UConn (Fri., Sept. 19 @ 7:00), East Carolina (Sat., Oct. 11), Houston (Sat., Nov. 1) and UCF (Fri., Nov. 28) to Raymond James in American Athletic Conference action.
USF football single-game tickets, mini-plans and season tickets are now available on-line at GoUSFBulls.com, by calling 1-800-GoBulls, or in person at the Sun Dome Gate A Ticket Office. Season Ticket Members may renew their tickets on-line today.
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