Bulls Kick Off Season at AAC Media Days
Gallery: (7/16/2019) AAC Summer Kickoff and Media Days
By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer
NEWPORT, R.I., JULY 16, 2019 – From breaking news to talking about team expectations, USF continued to build the buzz for its highly anticipated 2019 season during the American Athletic Conference Summer Kickoff and Media Days on Monday and Tuesday.
Head coach
Charlie Strong was joined by seniors
Blake Barnett (Corona, Calif.),
Kirk Livingstone (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.),
Greg Reaves (Bradenton, Fla.) and
Mitchell Wilcox (Tarpon Springs, Fla.) for the annual event at Gurney's Newport Resort and Spa that served as a well-covered preseason primer.
USF Vice President of Athletics
Michael Kelly also participated in the conference's season kickoff festivities and had very good news for Bulls fans. Kelly acknowledged USF has reached $20 million in commitments for the
USF Football Center as of July 1. USF has gained a lot of momentum in its mission to raise an estimated $40 million to cover the cost of the state-of-the-art complex on campus that will benefit all of USF's sports programs. Kelly is hopeful the Bulls can break ground on the project in 2020.
"Realistically, we're focused on trying to make it happen in the spring," Kelly said in a
story by Tampa Bay Times reporter Joey Knight. "Maybe it's around the spring game or something."
Entering his second season as USF's starting quarterback, Barnett chatted with legendary sports broadcaster Verne Lundquist bout the Bulls' aspirations for 2019 during the student-athlete roundtable. There's no doubt USF will be motivated to exceed expectations after being picked to finish third in the East Division in the
AAC Preseason Football Media Poll.
"We're going to hold a high standard for ourselves this year," Barnett said. "Our team hasn't won a conference championship and it's definitely the main goal of ours. It's something that we're striving for this year."
Since the spring, Barnett has been operating in the #PlayFastScoreFaster system implemented by new offensive coordinator
Kerwin Bell. Valdosta State won the 2018 NCAA Division II championship with Bell as its head coach and offensive coordinator and his offense led the nation in scoring in the division with 52.0 points per game.
"It's one of those offenses where he's going to stretch the field," Strong said. "We're a team that has a lot of speed and (he'll) get the ball in the right people's hands and produce some points."
Bell and the Bulls will certainly benefit from having Barnett, eight other starters and 20 total lettermen returning to the offense this fall. Helping to lead the veteran group will be Wilcox, who was ranked No. 4 among senior tight end prospects for the 2020 NFL Draft by NFL.com Senior Analyst Gil Brandt.
Offensive firepower continues with 1,000-yard rusher
Jordan Cronkrite (Miami) along with another returning starter in
Randall St. Felix, also a Miami native who set the USF season record as a redshirt freshman in 2018 with four 100-yard receiving games.
"On offense, we return a lot," Strong said. "It's just a matter of us putting guys in the right position, getting the ball out to the right players and just being successful moving it."
USF Recognized for Scheduling Big-Name Opponents
USF has made waves across the nation while
adding marquee opponents to future football schedules. The Bulls are set to play 17 games against Power 6 foes over the next 10 seasons and 14 of those contests have been added since January. View USF's future nonconference schedules
HERE.
American Athletic Conference Commissioner Mike Aresco commended the Bulls for embracing the opportunity to schedule the best teams possible.
"I congratulate our schools for challenging themselves, and the next decade will see 150-plus games against so-called P5, other P6 opponents, including Florida, Alabama, Miami, Notre Dame, Oklahoma and Penn State," Aresco said. "We are the only conference in the country that will have Alabama, Florida and Miami coming into our home stadiums as USF will host all three."
USF will begin the 2019 season with two tests against big-name opponents from the Big Ten and ACC. It all starts with Wisconsin visiting Raymond James Stadium for a primetime clash with the Bulls on Friday, Aug. 30 at 7 p.m. (TV: ESPN). USF then travels to Atlanta for a battle with Georgia Tech on Saturday, Sept. 7 at 2 p.m. (TV: ACC Network).
"We come out of the gate with two outstanding opponents and we need to go play well," Strong said.
Aresco Pays Tribute to Genshaft
For nearly 20 years, Judy Genshaft made a huge impact as USF System President before officially
stepping down from her position on July 1.
Commissioner Aresco took time out of his state-of-the-conference address Tuesday morning to pay tribute to Genshaft for what she did for The American and USF.
"Judy Genshaft is leaving USF after almost 20 years of spectacular service, which has seen phenomenal growth academically and athletically. Judy has also served a term as our conference chair and as our NCAA Board of Directors and Board of Governors representative," Aresco said. "She was instrumental in holding the conference together in the turbulent days of 2012 and 2013, a period, which, thanks in large part to her efforts, now seems like a distant memory. Recently, she and her husband, Steve, donated $20 million to USF to fund an Honors College, the largest donation ever made by a university president to a school."
AAC Bowl Schedule for 2020-25 Announced
Commissioner Aresco announced The American's bowl lineup for 2020-25 that will feature seven guaranteed postseason appearances in each year of the new cycle.
"Our teams will continue to have postseason opportunities against other Power 6 opponents, including from the ACC, SEC and Big 12, which was a priority for us," Aresco said. "Additionally, we will be playing bowl games in desirable destinations that are easily accessible to our schools and their fans. This lineup provides more revenue than the previous bowl cycle and I am especially proud to partner with bowls that are deeply rooted in their communities and whose mission goes beyond the game of football."
One mainstay in the bowl lineup is a New Year's Six bowl game opportunity for The American's champion if that team finishes higher than the champions of four other conferences in the final College Football Playoff rankings. AAC teams also are eligible for the College Football Playoff if they are among the top four teams in the final CFP rankings.
The new bowl cycle will see AAC teams make trips to the Military Bowl on an annual basis to face an Atlantic Coast Conference opponent. An AAC program also will face an AAC foe in a new bowl managed by ESPN Events and Fenway Sports Management that will take place in Boston and will be named later this fall. The conference's third annual bowl spot will alternate between the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl and the SoFi Hawaii Bowl.
American Athletic Conference Bowl Lineup (2020-25)
Annual Appearances
Military Bowl presented by Northrop Grumman (Annapolis, Md.)
Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl (Fort Worth, Texas)/SoFi Hawaii Bowl (Honolulu, Hawaii) – alternating years
Bowl game to be named – (Boston)
Four Selections Annually From the Following
Birmingham Bowl (Birmingham, Ala.)
Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl (Tampa)
SERVPRO First Responder Bowl (Dallas)
Cheribundi Boca Raton Bowl (Boca Raton, Fla.)
Frisco Bowl (Frisco, Texas)
AutoNation Cure Bowl (Orlando)
Myrtle Beach Bowl (Myrtle Beach, S.C.)
New Mexico Bowl (Albuquerque, N.M.)
ABOUT USF FOOTBALL
Having completed just its 22nd season of football, and 19th at the FBS level, the USF football program has earned 10 bowl appearances, including a current run of four straight, and owns a record of 6-3 in bowl games. The Bulls have appeared in the national top 25 rankings in each of the past three seasons, including a program record run of 20 straight weeks in the top 25, and in 2018 reached the program's 150th win faster than any FBS program in state of Florida history. USF has posted a pair of 10-plus win seasons in the last three years, including a program-record 11 wins (11-2) in 2016, and logged 15 winning seasons overall. Since first taking the field in 1997, the USF program has reached as high as No. 2 in the national rankings (2007), seen 30 players selected in the NFL Draft, 14 named All-American and 29 earn first-team all-conference selection.
Follow @USFFootball on twitter for all the latest information concerning the USF Football program.
– Go Bulls –
