Bulls Open Fall Camp Wednesday
By Joey Johnston
Inside the USF football locker room — a newly renovated locker room, by the way — there's a quote displayed from Bill Walsh, the legendary coach who won three Super Bowls before his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
A championship culture precedes championship results.
With USF fall training camp set to open Wednesday with a first full practice slated for Thursday morning, the second season for Coach Jeff Scott is tracking quickly toward its debut and the current feeling is like checking on the building of a new home.
The foundation has been laid.
It looks a lot different than the last inspection.
You can see the plans coming to life.
Each position group appears bigger, stronger and faster. There are more established leaders and plenty of intriguing newcomers. There will be 118 players at practice, a far cry from last season, when one week's active body count dipped to 64 due to COVID.
"We're celebrating 25 seasons of USF football, so we'll be remembering a lot of great moments and recognizing a lot of people,'' Scott said. "But for our staff, the job is to set up what the next 25 seasons are going to look like. We've been handed the baton. We're climbing. We're making this program into the best it can be. I feel like we're on that path right now.''
Scott said it begins with the proper culture.
"We're establishing a winning standard of performance in practice, the right kind of daily habits, and that leads to winning on the field,'' Scott said. "We never thought this would be a quick fix. But we're building and it's going to be built to last.''
How can Scott judge the progress? Mostly, he's eager to gauge what he calls the program's "pain tolerance.''
"We're in better physical shape and now we need to show much better mental toughness,'' Scott said. "We've probably made a lot of things too easy in our game and our society. I think about how this USF program started — so much hard work, sweat, push-through and pure grit. That's the DNA of USF football. We need to see that and we need to see it every single day.''
It brings to mind Scott's latest favorite quote. It comes from Phoenix Suns coach Monty Williams, who just guided his team into the NBA Finals.
Everything you want is on the other side of hard.
"Beautiful,'' Scott said. "That's the basic concept. We'll be talking about a lot of details, but we can't lose sight of how we want to work.''
What about those details?
Quarterback — "Always everybody's first question,'' Scott said. "I get it. I expect it. Last year, we had multiple guys playing and we tried to find a rhythm. It wasn't ideal. We have a much better feel now with a full spring and a full offseason. Ultimately, we'd like to find out pretty early about who our starting quarterback is going to be so we can rally around that.''
Cade Fortin, the North Carolina transfer who played in just two games last season due to injury, came out of spring as the leader. But it's not a done deal. The Bulls also have Jarren Williams (a transfer from Miami), holdover Katravis Marsh and left-handed freshman Timmy McClain, who enrolled early and participated in spring drills.
Stay tuned.
Skill Positions — Scott said he believes the Bulls are better-equipped to move the ball. He said running back Darrian Felix, a transfer from Oregon who was injured through most of 2020, could provide a turbo-boost in the backfield. He said Xavier Weaver has the look of a big-play wide receiver after getting bigger and stronger. Scott also likes the overall depth at receiver, plus the weight-room dedication of holdover running back Kelley Joiner. Finding players who can find the end zone is paramount, especially in college football's high-scoring era.
The Defense — A camp priority is solidifying the pass rush, an area that fell woefully short in 2020. Antonio Grier and Demaurez Bellamy did not participate in spring drills, but they return to join Dwayne Boyles for a linebacker corps that is deep and talented. The secondary will add size and speed with four transfers who all participated in the spring — Matthew Hill (Auburn), Will Jones II (Kansas State), TJ Robinson (Rutgers) and Christian Williams (Miami).
The Transfers — Overall, USF has 19 players who transferred from a Football Bowl Subdivision program, including a handful who have just arrived for the summer. Scott will withhold judgment until he sees them on the field, but there's great curiosity about 6-foot-2, 215-pound running back Jaren Mangham (Colorado), who potentially brings physicality to a smallish backfield. There's a need for prospective pass-rushers such as Jamari Stewart (Mississippi State) and Xander Yarberough (New Mexico State). There's room for bigger receivers such as 6-3 Yusuf Terry (Baylor) and 6-1 Demarcus Gregory (Ole Miss).
The Freshmen — Fans got a whiff of McClain at the spring game. Now McClain's high-school teammate, wide receiver Jimmy Horn Jr., has arrived, along with running back K'Wan Powell. Both have an opportunity to become early offensive contributors.
The Depth Chart — Scott said there is one, but it is written in pencil. He believes in promoting and demoting at almost every practice to best reflect everyone's effort and progress. In all, fall camp includes 25 practices. About 10 days before USF's first game — Sept. 2 at N.C. State — Scott said the depth chart will be written in ink as coaches begin the game-planning process.
All of this is interesting enough. But the new season of USF football — and every other program, for that matter — coincides with what looks like a bold new era in college athletics.
Scott has watched with interest as his players work with NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) to establish new financial opportunities.
"I tell our players that the best way for them to improve their brand is for our team's brand to improve,'' Scott said. "That comes from winning games.''
There's also the daily drama of potential conference realignment, more of a matter from administrators, but impossible to ignore for coaches and players.
"The biggest thing I've learned in my career so far is to stay focused on the things you can control,'' Scott said. "I want an inside-out focus for our players and staff. Let's focus on improving ourselves every day. Each coach, each player, we're going to improve our program, our brand. The only thing constant is change.
"Are there big changes about to happen in college athletics? Absolutely. Will it be the last change in college athletics? Absolutely not. Things are evolving. We have a lot of positives here, but we have to keep growing. We went about 10 years without new additions on the football side and now we're getting a new locker room and we're breaking ground on our indoor facility. It's exciting. It's a new day.''
And it's the start of a new fall camp for the USF Bulls, who are intent on improving, one practice at a time.
