Media day: Get on the bus!

I didn't fully appreciate how quickly Bulls coach Jim Leavitt wanted Tuesday's annual Media Hour -- sorry, Media Day -- event to end until the Offense bus started leaving Raymond James Stadium with me still on it.

Hours earlier, the usual formal team photo in the stands at Ray-Jay had been called off, with too many freshmen tied up with summer classes. Rather than take an incomplete team photo, the Bulls will wait and do it at full strength at a later date. Media day, as the name would suggest, is the year's best access to interview players, a free-for-all that's the journalistic equivalent of speed-dating (I've been married too long to have actually speed-dated) -- reporters going from one athlete to the next. It wrapped up about a half-hour earlier than expected -- I had walked out of a crowded locker room with receiver Amp Hill, and we came back to find the locker room empty (poof!) and buses loading outside.

I caught Leavitt getting onto one bus, talked to him for about two minutes before he had to run, then stepped onto the Offense bus, hoping to get running backs coach Carl Franks for a sec. Franks was busy on the phone -- I'd catch up to him back at the athletic facility, no real problem -- and as I turned to get off the bus, it started to leave. Oh, well.

For all that complaining, I was able to talk to a lot of players. Yes, that's me, hard at work interviewing the newest Bull -- and perhaps the only real news of the day. He's Fred Marshall, once a good enough quarterback at Largo to earn first-team All-Suncoast honors from the Times in 2003. Thanks to USF's official site, gousfbulls.com, for the photo I've shamelessly lifted.

Marshall is a safety now, though he played quarterback last season at Fort Scott Community College in Kansas. He told me he literally got the official call from Leavitt on Sunday at 1 p.m., hours before players were to report. Until that point, he was hopeful of USF but thinking he might wind up at Northern Iowa.

Marshall might be the biggest get of the current walk-on class. When the Times did its Best of the Bay, ranking the top 25 athletes in our readership for the Class of 2004, Marshall was No. 9. Consider the current Bulls on the list -- Ricky Ponton was No. 7, Jake Griffin No. 6, Jarriett Buie No. 2 (and technically, Johnny Peyton was No. 4). Matt Huners checked in at No. 24. Bill Buchalter of the Orlando Sentinel had Marshall among the state's top 100 prospects.

He was recruited by USF, Cincinnati and even West Virginia, but grades kept him from signing. He played outside linebacker at Southwest Mississippi Community College for a year, then to Fort Scott. He got home for the summer and wanted to stay close to home, calling USF and asking if they had a spot for him. It wasn't until Sunday -- presumably that's when former Leto star J.B. Bailey decided he still wanted to be a quarterback somewhere else -- that he was officially on board with the Bulls.

One note from Tuesday's morning practice, as the only writer of any medium there to watch: Leavitt says he'll wait until the end of two-a-days to decide whether to redshirt senior tackle Thed Watson. I'm not suggesting there's such a thing as a doghouse, but if there was, Watson might be there. Early in Tuesday's workouts, Watson -- a preseason All-Big East selection -- was working as part of an offensive line that also included a true freshman and three first-year walk-ons. Nothing against the rest of the line, but it's four guys who had been through exactly one USF practice ... and Thed. So far, I'm seeing Jared Carnes, Danny Tolley and Marc Dile all working as first-team tackles, with Tolley lining up on both sides. Watson has three weeks to move back up the depth chart ...

Lots of other little nuggets, only some of which I remember at this hour. Defensive back Jamaal Jenkins, a walk-on who made an impact on special teams last year, is now on scholarship for the fall. I count six walk-ons that have earned scholarships in the past year, a crazy amount for an established program, and it speaks to both the quality of the walk-ons at USF and the number of scholarship kids that aren't sticking around to keep their rides, whatever the reason may be. Jenkins and his brother, freshman running back Aston Samuels, are both well-spoken kids, and along with the Cox twins, Antwane and Antonio, could be the first pair of brothers to play for USF in the same season. (I've asked all the proper authorities, and none know of a previous set of siblings).

Here's one you probably didn't know: freshman Moise Plancher -- first of all, he pronounces it "Moses" and says if you're going to call him "Moe" spell it just as "Mo," so like Vaughn, not the Stooge -- anyway, you might have known Plancher had a cousin commit to Central Florida for next season. What you probably didn't know is that he has an older brother, Willy, who will play this fall for Bemidji State, a Division II school in Minnesota. Stranger still, he got to Bemidji after playing at Fort Scott. Small world ... Plancher is one of at least five USF players who can speak Haitian Creole, along with both Julmistes, Marc Dile and Richard Clebert. Both of Plancher's parents were born in Haiti, but he was born in Naples after they came to the United States.

One last Mo note, and then I'm off to bed: I'm impressed that in one game as a high school senior at Barron Collier in Naples, Plancher rushed for 362 yards, setting a county record. What's nearly impossible to comprehend is that he did so while scoring only one touchdown in a 35-0 win against Gulf Coast. He rushed for 3,115 yards in his last two seasons ...

OK, feel free to send in rude captions about the photo, but you can do better than bald jokes, really ...

Comments

[BasketBull.]

1:30 a.m... Greg, we Bulls appreciate your hard work. You, --DA MAN!

[T. Bever]

Caption:

Fred Marshall convinces Times reporter Greg Auman that "5 Tips for Bigger Biceps" may not be enough.

Greg - My guess is there is something else going on besides the "dog house." Coach L is a big believer in athletes being in Tampa and working out all summer. Sounds like Carnes was and Watson was not. Best thing is that there are at least two linemen for every position. Bad thing is there are only two for every position - you would usually want three. If you look at the size, Tolley, Griifin, Carnes and Dile are bigger than Thed. Maybe Watson can move to center......

[Former USF football player]

Dear Greg,

I love reading your blog as it's good to keep up with my old teammates to see how they are doing as I don't live in the area anymore. But I wanted to point out to you that you made a mistake on your story. How can you forget the set of brothers that are starters? The Julmistes brothers. I also wanted to give you some constructive criticism. Please don't be offended, but as a reader sometimes I feel I am offended. Every time I read your blog, every other story always says, "As reported to you first by the Times," or "You heard it here first by the Times" or like today when you wrote, "One note from Tuesday's morning practice, as the only writer of any medium there to watch:"
I know most of you readers are educated people. If they were not educated, then they wouldn't be able to read. But it doesn't take a genius to figure out that you enjoy self-glorification. Please do not take offense to this, it is just constructive criticism. I wanted to let you know before you offended other readers. Maybe no one is brave enough to say it. I have talked to some of my former coaches and they also know you do this. I was a mass comm major at USF and reporters aren't supposed to become a part of the story and they should also be objective. I know that the journalism rules in sports are different. But still. When readers constantly read that over and over, it shows like you are trying to let the readers know that you are the true number once source for USF bulls news and everything comes from you first. I read both the Tribune and Times on line and I enjoy reading both. But please stop the self glorifying image and trust me, you're readers aren't stupid and they see the same thing too. It's offensive and annoying. Also, one other item. I am of African American origin and do not like it when reporters or anyone else refer to other African Americans as "well spoken." I know most people think it's a compliment but it's not. What this is saying is that most African Americans speak in ghetto and if you speak correctly, you are "well spoken." I know this sounds harsh, but I like keeping it real. I would give you my name, but you probably know me as I was a former member of the team. Go Bulls!

[pingbull]

"fomer USF player"...i think you're taking EVERYTHING too seriously...and from this bulls fan, i really don't get any point that you're making...if he IS the first one to report information (which he often is), why not put that in the story? self glorification? or...truth more like it...honestly, it sounds like you just had to rant about something....and on the hole "well spoken" african american comment...well i'm not going to even go there...thats making something out of NOTHING

[Wow]

In response to the previous comment...

Wow, what is up with that?

I think you are doing a great job. I think you report a lot of good information in a manner that should not offend people. I didn't care or question the race of the players you refer to as well spoken, but I do realize that 17-19 year old college football players aren't always the sesquipedalian group you may hope for as an alumn. Keep up the good work!

Oh and by the way it's your BLOG (not story), so I say sell yourself all you want!

[WHreader]

I definitely agree with the last two posts... Keep up the great work, Greg!

[Greg Auman]

Former USF player: first, thanks for a great post. And you're absolutely, inexcusably right about the Julmistes. I'm reading that and literally kicking myself. Here I am combing through all-time rosters, checking with Leavitt, with sports information, nobody can think of an instance -- Capognas missed each other by a year, same with Verpaeles -- and I've got a pair of brothers who played together last year right in front of my face. Silly mistake on my part, and glad somebody picked up on it. It's soooooo dangerous to write "the first time" or "the only time" because it's so easy to overlook something, even if you've tried to cover everything. Aarghh.

And you're right about the glorification stuff, too -- it's something I don't like when I see it in other papers, and I don't put it in the paper, but for some reason I put it in the blog yesterday. Not sure why now. It's my job to be there. Again, point well taken.

As for the well-spoken line, it certainly wasn't intended with any undertones toward race. Both players -- Jamaal Jenkins and Aston Samuels -- just struck me as being impressively articulate -- not for African-American football players, but for anybody that age. Answering questions honestly and genuinely is sometimes not an easy thing, and they both did it well. That's all I meant.

Glad you guys are enjoying the blog, and please keep the comments and questions coming. And former player, shoot me an e-mail sometime at aumanac1@aol.com if you want to reveal yourself. If not, I'll look forward to more posts from you ...

[Former USF football player]

Thanks for the response. But you also forgot about the Hearn brothers too! They were there when I was. Colby was a walk on frosh WR when Ryan was a senior

[Greg Auman]

I actually checked that one -- Ryan was a senior in 2002, and Colby didn't play until 2003. Unless USF's records are wrong, those two were teammates but never played in the same season.

[That guy]

I think Greg is mocking that other USF beat writer when he speaks of being the only one covering an event...he certainly wasnt the first USF beat writer to point these things out for every away game anywhere last season.

[A Cub Man]

I know you like to cherry coat everything, but doesn't all of these walk-ons scare you? There are far too many kids either leaving or not making grades on this team and we are filling these spots with walk-ons and transfers? The recruitment and attrition on this football team is embarrassing and it's going to come back and bite us right in the arse.
I have the feeling we are going to have a long next couple of seasons.

[T. Bever]

Cub Man - I think you're jumping to a conclusion that may not be on point. Take Danny Tolley; his class was the first Big East recruiting class. And here he is vying for a starting tackle spot as a RS Freshman.

I think what we're seeing is ultimately more talented recruits then were brought in during the I-AA and CUSA days.

Chad Simpson left when it looked like Ponton was his only competition for a starting spot. Now RS Freshman Moe Plancher is being hyped as a potential starter.

Jerome Murphy, Taurus Johnson, Matt Grothe, Amarri Jackson, George Selvie and Tyller Roberts are all expected to contribute in this, their second year in the program.

Nate Allen is the only incoming player this year Leavitt has talked about as an early contributor. I think that tells us a lot about the Sophomores and Juniors that are competing for starting spots.

Most of the third/fourth year players that transferred were recruited in the early CUSA days.

[Greg Auman]

Cubman ... I'm not even sure what "cherry coating" is, but I'm not sure why you think that. The readers who don't think I'm too positive think I'm too negative. Yes, the scholarship deficit is perhaps the biggest problem limiting USF's success. Last fall, I wrote how 22 scholarship players from the fall 2004 roster had left before their eligibility was up, for a variety of reasons. It's getting to be an impressive number again: 11 scholarship players have left the team since the end of last season, and that doesn't count the 10 kids who signed in February but won't be on the team this fall. As a result, you have a program consistently using only 75 or so of its 85 scholarships. It will catch up to USF in the next cycle or two of APR scores from the NCAA, which likely will result in sanctions against the team which can include loss of scholarships.

Greg - How (exactly) will the APR scores be "graded." Are they tracking (as a denominator for the equation) every player who enters? Also, how long do they give an athlete to graduate? The average time for a "normal" student now exceeds five years.

On the "return" of players. A lot of kids go away to try to play and really just do not like the different area of the country. If you were born and raised in Florida, snow and winter are tough. So, they return. USF has to look at some of these good players who have less than four years so they can be immediately competitive.

The defense should be very good. The team will live and die by the O-line this year. They need big, fast, good players there. If they don't perform for the running game, you can forget the passing game. How do you think they "stack-up?"