Charlie's Bond With Bulls Is Strong Heading Into His Third USF Season
By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer
TAMPA, AUG. 27, 2019 – It's the third season of Charlie being in charge of the Bulls, who have grown quite close to Strong since he took over as head coach of the USF football program in December of 2016.
"I think there was a feeling-out process with our guys when he first got here," said senior tight end
Mitchell Wilcox (Tarpon Springs, Fla.). "Once we warmed up to him and he warmed up to us, he has that jokester side to him in certain times of the day. Other times, he's all business."
Strong is definitely serious when it comes to achieving success, especially this offseason. Coming off two straight bowl game appearances with USF, the 10
th-year head coach and two-time national champion defensive coordinator with Florida (2006, 2008) made strength and conditioning a top priority, filled needs through recruiting and transfers and added more talented minds to his staff in an attempt to put USF in the best position possible.
Strong's businesslike approach continued all fall camp, constantly stressing fundamentals and technique along with motivating the Bulls to reach their full potential daily.
"There's nothing besides excellence that we'll accept and he does a good job of making sure we all understand that," new offensive line coach
Jeremy Darveau said.
Players also appreciate the other "cool" side to Strong, which is seriously funny if you can keep up with the "quick-witted" coach who has snappy comebacks, according to senior edge rusher
Greg Reaves (Bradenton, Fla.).
"He's sneaky funny," said starting sophomore left guard
Demetris Harris (Jacksonville, Fla.). "You've got to pay attention and listen to him. He'll come and he'll talk trash to you and stuff like that."
The stretch line prior to practices is the stage where Strong really likes to joke before business.
"He comes up to me and he's like, 'Wilcox, you gonna do anything today? I didn't see you anywhere yesterday,'" the three-time Mackey Award candidate said. "You never see it coming. He's pretty quiet, but once he's in your ear, he's talking a whole big mess."
Wilcox's recent Charlie chirping experience came a day after he had a huge performance in camp. The Bulls as a whole got a surprise before their first full-padded session of the fall.
"He yells, 'Goal line!' right away," said senior linebacker
Nico Sawtelle. "Some of us were half-stretched. It was funny though. We were all excited to play."
Back-and-forth banter is more common now because of the bond Strong started to build with the Bulls back in 2017.
"At first, I didn't know him. I was kind of scared to talk to him, but it's to the point now where I can sit down and talk to him about anything – about life, being a man and football on top of that," Reaves said. "It's been nice getting close to him."
These days, Strong is even showing love – and comfort - right away to younger Bulls, who got upgraded from twin size to full mattresses in their freshman/sophomore dorms.
"The older guys didn't have that," Wilcox noted. "These guys are getting spoiled because he's looking out for them."
Sounds like a coach who feels right at home with his players while heading into a season where USF will be challenged to stick together right away. On Friday night, the Bulls host No. 19/17 Wisconsin and they'll have no problem following Strong's lead in the program's biggest opener ever at Raymond James Stadium.
"This is his team now," Sawtelle said.
USF Football Alum Forte Fuels the Bulls
In addition to being close with the current team,
Charlie Strong makes sure former USF football players are around the program as much as possible.
The Bulls sure liked seeing former USF defensive end
Julius Forte back on campus this month and he even brought food, lots of it.
Through
Sofia Forte's Catering, the St. Petersburg-based business his mother started, Chef Forte was happy to serve Strong's Bulls twice during fall camp.
"It was just an amazing feeling to still be a part of this program with all that it did for me," Forte said. "To still be able to contribute to the team is a phenomenal feeling."
Players certainly appreciated the effort and menu that included garlic and herb chicken breast with spinach, rice pilaf and green beans during Forte's first trip back. In the final week of fall camp, the Bulls enjoyed a barbeque theme of pulled pork/chicken sandwiches, baked beans along with mac and cheese.
Following Forte's four-year run with the Bulls (2010-13), the USF and St. Petersburg Culinary School graduate has been super busy pursuing his passion as a chef/entrepreneur. For about three years, the 28-year-old has helped plan and prepare meals for the full-service family business that has been operating in the Tampa Bay area since 2001.
"Just like the guys do all week, you work hard and get your system together for game day," Forte said. "We prep during the week. We get our grocery list and our recipes together for what we'll be doing and how many people we'll be doing it for. You do that all week until you get to game day and you put your best foot forward."
Sweet success in St. Pete and beyond has helped the family business branch out even more with a special meal prep service -
Forte Fuels - which Forte founded. Clients include bodybuilders and athletes, like former USF football stars Kayvon Webster and
Tyre McCants.
"We kind of do it all," Forte said. "Of course, we're great in the soul food area and great in the health food area. I've been able to use my training along with what we do as a family."
On top of all those projects, Forte still finds the time to teach culinary arts to the next generation at Disston Academy in Pinellas County.
"There's a lot of kids out there who not only need and want a mentor, but also need a skill," the first-year teacher said. "Just being able to present that to them means a lot to me."
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.
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– #GoBulls –
