When quarterback Gerry Bohanon made his official visit to USF last spring — searching for a new program just a few months after helping the Baylor Bears to a Big 12 Conference championship, Sugar Bowl victory and final AP ranking of No. 5 — he didn't want pampering or much fuss at all.
"Kids usually get nice things on these visits,'' USF offensive coordinator Travis Trickett said. "Most of them are more than happy to take all of that in. Gerry was OK with going to dinner. But he said, 'Coach, is it OK if we just talk ball?' So, we watched film until 11 o'clock on Friday night, then did the same thing on Saturday night. I had to kick him out and get him back to the hotel.
"You hear coaches say, 'Oh, my quarterback has such a great work ethic.' Let me tell you about Gerry Bohanon! This kid is driven. He's a sponge. He's precise. He gets it right and he personally makes sure his teammates understand the expectations. You find out quick that he's a leader. You watch him around people and you know. This guy is in charge.''
Bohanon (whose first name is pronounced "Gary'') will be the focal point Saturday when the Bulls face the No. 25-ranked BYU Cougars at Raymond James Stadium in the season opener. Whether it's his wide receivers, the running backs or a veteran offensive line, Bohanon's teammates have become believers in a few short months.
"I'm very confident in GB,'' running back Jaren Mangham said.
"He has that moxie,'' guard Demetris Harris said.
"The more you're around him, the more impressed you get,'' center Brad Cecil said.Who is Gerry Bohanon?
He's from Earle, Ark., population 2,000, a no-stoplight town in the state's northeast corner, about 40 miles outside of Memphis. He's a certifiable high-school football legend (11,362 passing yards and a combined 212 passing/rushing touchdowns) who might be best remembered for starring on two state basketball championship teams with the Bulldogs. His parents taught him to be hard-working and accountable, especially in the classroom. His mother, Juanita Dotson, was his high-school principal.
He's forever beloved at Baylor, where he mostly sat the bench for three seasons, attempting just 38 passes over that span, before getting his opportunity in 2021 and leading one of the most memorable seasons in program history while passing for 2,523 yards and producing a combined 27 touchdowns. Even beyond his statistics, Baylor fans admired the way Bohanon handled himself, never sulking or making excuses as an understudy, while embracing the up-front leader role as a starter.
He's a devoted father to his 3-year-old son, Kaiden, who he's raising with girlfriend Jernecia Selvy. "When I see my son smile — no matter what's going on with football, school or anything else — my life just lights up,'' Bohanon said. "There's nothing like the love you have for your child. I want to raise him right and be a good example.''
And now Bohanon is at USF, where he won a training camp competition against incumbent Timmy McClain, who quickly transferred to UCF after Bohanon was named QB1. Bohanon said he feels he can help USF's program turn the corner. He believes he will thrive under a Bulls coaching staff that he describes as "genuine'' and "special.''
"Sometimes, you wind up on a path you didn't expect, but this is the path I chose,'' said Bohanon, 6-foot-3, 226 pounds. "It doesn't matter if it's a long path or a hard path. I believe we're going to wind up in a great place. You just have to trust in God, put your work in and believe in yourself. That has always been my approach and it has served me well.''
"Obviously, quarterback is one of the most pivotal positions and I really feel like we have a veteran guy who has been through some major battles and has been successful on big stages,'' USF coach Jeff Scott said. "Is he going to be perfect? No, it's never perfect. But he can play to the standard we need in order for us to win. That box has been checked.''
Championship Season At Baylor
Trickett had a front-row seat to observe Bohanon's prowess last season. Trickett was the West Virginia inside receivers/tight ends coach when Baylor defeated the Mountaineers 45-20. Bohanon had his most statistically productive game — 18-of-29 passing, 336 passing yards, four touchdowns, no interceptions.
"I remember in our staff meetings we were saying, 'We're going to make this quarterback (Bohanon) throw the ball,' but I was more worried about the defense we were going against,'' Trickett said. "Well, he made us pay. He passed for (336) yards and sliced us up.
"So, you're watching Gerry from afar. He's having a great season. They win the conference. You see a player who's huge, an undisputed leader, big arm, very accurate, the athleticism speaks for itself. He was the complete quarterback every program tries to get. So, you file all of that away. Then, lo and behold, all those months later, he hits the transfer portal.
"By then I'm at USF as the offensive coordinator. We were familiar with him from a planning standpoint, from watching the crossover (Big 12) games on film. I knew the player from an X-and-O standpoint. I didn't know his makeup, who he was as a teammate, as a human. But as we did our research and made contact, we found out.''
Bohanon was a coach's dream.
After biding his time for three seasons, Bohanon won Baylor's starting job. He missed the Big 12 Championship Game with a right leg injury and that's when redshirt freshman Blake Shapen completed his first 17 passes and threw for three touchdowns.
Bohanon and Shapen competed for the starting job during spring drills. Bears coach Dave Aranda named Shapen as the 2022 starter fairly early, and part of his rationale was to allow Bohanon ample time to find another school if he wanted to transfer.
"It was a very difficult thing,'' Aranda said during Big 12 Media Days. "I think with Gerry, there is no me without Gerry, there is no last year (Big 12 championship) without Gerry, there's none of that. You walk in my house, I've got pictures of my kids posing next to Gerry.
"We talk quite a bit about person over player … to create a culture where you're coming from value, where whether it's a win or a loss, you come back knowing that you're still loved, man. Looking at Gerry and his predicament and wanting the best for him, I think it was the fair thing to do to make that move early.''
Bohanon said he was disappointed, but also realistic. Bohanon's mother said "college football is a business'' and her son decided to move on as a graduate transfer with two seasons of eligibility remaining.
"It wasn't surprising that Shapen was picked because he was brilliant in the (Big 12) championship game,'' said David Smoak, a writer with SicEm365, which covers Baylor athletics. "But Gerry Bohanon was the alpha-leader of last season's team. He was beloved by the fans.
"Dave Aranda made a hard decision, an impossible decision. I think it was excruciating on the coaches. This has become a tough business. Players come and go and sometimes it's not handled in a classy fashion. Gerry Bohanon? He was classy, mature, deep, just a good soul. That kid always had a beautiful smile on his face.
"I'm sure he was crushed by the decision. He will always be loved at Baylor. When he was a backup, he never complained. When he started, he was the pulse of the team, incredibly honest and forthright, absolutely the type of guy you want behind the microphone as a spokesman for the program. A very talented athlete, but his personality made him the flag-bearer and those are the kind of people you always remember.''
Baylor-to-USF wasn't the initial plan. But after Bohanon got to know Trickett and Scott, then he visited USF's campus, it was game over.
"When we first talked, it was on Zoom and we decided Gerry would visit,'' Trickett said. "His mom was on the call and she was actually in school. She's a principal (now in her fifth year at Earle Elementary School in Arkansas after serving as the town's high-school principal during her son's years there). I started talking and I saw her staring at the camera, kind of peering over her glasses, very intent, studying me and what I was saying. I knew this wasn't the first rodeo for Gerry's mother.
"You noticed the little things. I could tell what was important to his mother. Gerry was very respectful toward his mom, very well-mannered, very polite. I could just see where this was going with the type of athlete and type of person we were talking to. He just seemed like a gem.''
Leadership Personified
Scott noticed some little things himself. On Memorial Day, Bohanon's car was the only one in the parking lot outside the Selmon Athletics Center. He was inside watching film.
During training camp, the Bulls had a sloppy practice and Scott was about to call out his players. Bohanon beat him to the punch, standing up to address the squad and firmly tell them that a better effort was needed.
"It looks like Gerry has found another great place,'' Bohanon's mother said. "As a family, we always pray on big decisions. As a mom, I'm sitting back and looking at this from 50,000 feet. But I ultimately told him, 'OK, baby, whatever you decided to do, you know your mom and dad will support you.'
"He did all the pros and cons, including the academics and degree programs, which are very important to me as an educator. He's a very intelligent young man, very responsible, very mature. He's the type of man who will notice when a woman is having trouble carrying a bag of groceries and he'll drop what he's doing to help, whether it's carrying that bag or holding the door. He knows how to conduct himself. He can make these decisions and I believe he has made a great one with USF.''
Bohanon's mother said "it felt different'' when they stepped on USF's campus.
"You know if somebody's all smoke and mirrors or feeding you a line,'' Bohanon's mother said. "USF has a very genuine coaching staff and we appreciated that. Transparency really is everything. It was the place where Gerry could see himself thriving. He can wake up every day and know he's comfortable.''
Bohanon found his comfort zone early. In a drastically different situation, he felt at home almost instantly.
"My expectations were to come in, fill whatever role I could to help the team, help push everybody and bring out the best in everyone,'' Bohanon said.
When Bohanon gets in the huddle, he doesn't bark out orders.
Generally, he smiles.
"As a quarterback, when the guys see that poise, that confidence, that smile … I feel like it's a sense of relief,'' Bohanon said. "I want the guys to feel my energy.
"I have so many weapons in this offense. I've just got to give those guys an opportunity and put the ball in their hands. We just have to play football like we have our whole lives. And let's have some fun while doing it.''
In his first week at USF, Bohanon's teammates invited him on a boat for a fishing excursion. That was different for an Arkansas kid who spent his previous years in the land-locked portion of Texas.
"From that point on, things continued to get better and better with my relationships,'' Bohanon said. "I'm appreciative of that. I can't ask for anything else other than helping our guys and being the kind of leader and influence that anybody would want in their life.
"Just getting around Tampa, spending time at the beach, going to the park with my son, going to the restaurants around town, being at USF … this is not a bad place to be, you know?''
And as the enthusiastic, optimistic Bulls prepare for BYU — positioning themselves to compete in a game that carries great meaning as Scott begins his third USF season — it's getting better every day.
– #GoBulls –
