No Bulls taken in NBA Draft

No real surprise here, but USF seniors Melvin Buckley and McHugh Mattis weren't among the 60 players selected in Thursday's NBA Draft. I wouldn't surprised if we learn Friday that one or both have latched on to play on a summer-league team, giving them an outside chance at competing for a roster spot as an undrafted rookie.

-- Still some grey areas that could change between now and two-a-days in August, so I don't want to say this is set in stone, but it looks like five members of USF's recruiting class -- defensive end Claude Davis, linebacker Calvin Sutton, tight end Kevenski McGee, running back Josh Bellamy and offensive lineman Lawrence McCoy -- will be this year's nonqualifiers. We've confirmed Davis and Sutton and know Bellamy won't be there this summer and is still working on his diploma. USFnation.com has reported McGee as an academic casualty, and all signs point to McCoy missing the cut as well. So it's not as bad as last year, when 11 signees quit or failed to qualify, though three of them qualified in time to enroll and join the team in January.

What I'm curious about is how the roster will shake out. The number I got Thursday was 113 players currently rostered, and that figure will have to drop to 105 when two-a-days start, getting a bump up to 110 when fall classes start. I count 60 returning scholarship players from last season and 21 players from signing day, with quarterback Carlton Hill expected to be the 82nd player on scholarship and as many as three full rides unaccounted for.

How tough is the competition to make the 105? Kids who want to be walk-ons are being turned away. Brantley Poe, a 6-foot-4, 305-pound offensive tackle from Lakeland George Jenkins, visited campus this week, but was told there weren't any guaranteed spots available. His father David said Thursday that Poe will likely accept an invitation to be a preferred walk-on at Auburn, though he'd like to play somewhere closer to home. We told you earlier this week about receiver Ched Cherry, who visited USF last week and hopes to walk on with the Bulls, but he hasn't applied for admission to school yet -- getting in on your own is a standard prerequisite for any walk-on hopeful, and he's way behind in that process.

Mattis, Buckley wait for call from NBA

A year ago, center Solomon Jones became USF's first NBA draft pick in two decades, and while it's unlikely that Bulls stars Melvin Buckley and McHugh Mattis will be selected in tonight's draft, both have been active in trying to get in position to land at least a free-agent contract after the draft.

"All in all, I'm confident," said Buckley, who has spent the past week in Sacramento, working out for Kings officials. "Something may happen in the draft, and if it doesn't, I think I'll get a free-agent contract. It's definitely possible for me."

We told you last week that Miami and Utah had expressed interest in getting Mattis for their summer-league teams, and Buckley said he's had interest from Sacramento, San Antonio, Houston and Miami. Sacramento does not have a second-round pick but would be more active in signing undrafted rookies as a result.

Don't expect nearly as much of a Big East presence in tonight's draft -- with stars like Roy Hibbert and Dominic James pulling their names out to return to school, the league is likely to have only two first-round picks, in Georgetown's Jeff Green and DePaul's Wilson Chandler. Pittsburgh's Aaron Gray and Syracuse's Demetris Nichols could sneak in at the end of the first round.

-- Wednesday's Lakeland Ledger had a story from my friend and neighbor Rick Brown on former USF point guard Chris Capko and two of his Kathleen High teammates. It mentions the possibility of Capko playing professionally in Europe. It does not, however, mention that Capko now has a full head of hair -- barely recognizable at a basketball camp last week -- though coming from me, that's not saying that much.

-- While I'm throwing out links, The Villages Daily Sun, up near Ocala, has a story on running back Richard Kelly, who reported with USF's freshmen on Wednesday and should be the next in a strong line of South Sumter graduates at USF.

Bulls extend Ray-Jay lease through 2011

USF and the Tampa Sports Authority have agreed on a five-year renewal that will keep the Bulls playing at Raymond James Stadium through the 2011 season.

The extension, approved by the TSA board last week, includes a five-year option through 2016 and gives USF the right to back out of its contract with two years' notice if the Bulls are able to secure enough funding to move into an on-campus stadium.

The per-game cost to USF starts at $105,000 this fall and increases by $10,000 each year. It's an increase from last year's rate of $86,000, but the new lease gives USF unprecedented use of 3,000 preferred parking spaces designated for Bulls donors. USF hasn't designated a cost for parking yet (TSA will continue to charge $10 for its spots) but those lots could create a net savings for USF from last year's total cost.

The agreement covers use of the stadium's lower level, but if USF should open up the upper deck -- as will likely be the case this fall with higher-attendance games such as UCF, West Virginia and Louisville -- the Bulls will pay TSA the direct costs of staffing the additional sections.

No, really: Glover may transfer to Elon

Bulls fans who were hoping to get their first look at redshirt freshman linebacker LeBrandon Glover in USF's season opener may indeed get their wish.

Glover, thought to be wavering in his decision to leave USF, confirmed Wednesday that he's definitely transferring out, with a new wrinkle: he's strongly considering Division I-AA Elon, which is USF's opponent for the Sept. 1 season opener. So his college debut would be against the Bulls.

"It'd be crazy," said Glover, who visited the North Carolina campus this week. "I don't really know what Coach (Jim) Leavitt would say about it, but I don't think he'd have a problem with it."

It's not that farfetched, in that USF defensive coordinator Wally Burnham's son Shane is a defensive assistant at Elon. Glover said the only other school he's considering is Jackson State, which would be closer to his family in Pensacola. He's making a visit there Thursday and will decide by Sunday.

Nicholas back for charity autograph signing

Former USF linebacker Stephen Nicholas, fresh from signing his rookie contract with the Atlanta Falcons, will return to Tampa next month to sign autographs July 14 at Bucs and Bulls Heaven on Fletcher Avenue.

The cost is $10 per autograph with a minimum store purchase of $10, with proceeds from his appearance going to his father's church, Victory Tabernacle, in Jacksonville.

"I grew up going to that church," Nicholas told the Times' Brian Landman on Tuesday. "It does a lot for the community. I want to give back and make a difference in someone's life because it made a difference in my life."

LB Sutton pushed back to January

Linebacker Calvin Sutton of DeLand will not report to USF with this year's incoming freshman after failing to qualify academically and hopes to enroll as part of the Bulls' 2008 class.

"I won't be there til January," Sutton said Wednesday. "My GPA slipped and I didn't get the test score I needed. I'm going to be at USF in January though."

Sutton said he'll stay in Tampa with his father, Calvin Sr., while taking the entrance exams to get the necessary scores for initial eligibility. He's the second signee confirmed as failing to qualify, joining defensive end Claude Davis of Lake Gibson. Coach Jim Leavitt had said as many as five or six signees might not qualify, and USF had signed more than the maximum 25 recruits anticipating this. Check back for more updates as USF's freshmen report to campus today ...

DT McClain gets OK from Clearinghouse

USF's incoming freshman class, due to report to campus today with summer classes starting next week, got an encouraging boost on Tuesday as defensive tackle Terrell McClain of Pensacola learned he'd been cleared by the NCAA to play for the Bulls this fall.

McClain, the second-highest USF signee in the Rivals.com Florida Top 100 at No. 73, is a 6-foot-4, 265-pound prospect who could contribute immediately, as freshman Aaron Harris did last year for the Bulls. McClain said he hadn't been waiting for test scores but simply had taken longer to get his academic information to the NCAA Clearinghouse.

"He's very strong, very quick, a guy who can flat-out play football," said Pensacola High coach Mike Bennett, who added that USF continues to recruit another promising defensive tackle from Pensacola, rising senior Anthony Hill, who has committed to Florida State.

-- Baseball update: The Miami Herald had reported before the draft that USF signee Yoandy Barroso of Miami Springs had opted to sign with Miami-Dade College, but turns out that report was false, and there's a good chance the Bulls will get Barroso, who was drafted in the 46th round by the Rangers. Pro teams can negotiate with draft picks through August 15, but right now, it looks as if USF may not lose any more signees. All signs point to the Bulls being able to keep two key juniors who were drafted late, as pitcher Daniel Thomas continues to work out on campus and infielder Walter Diaz is scheduled to start summer classes Monday.

Bellamy still waiting for clearance

USF's incoming freshmen report to campus Wednesday to start summer classes next week, but Boca Ciega running back Josh Bellamy said Monday he is still waiting on test scores and will not be able to report with his classmates.

Bellamy, one of four running backs in USF's recruiting class, said he is still hopeful the results of an entrance exam he took this month will be enough to get him through the NCAA Clearinghouse in time for him to enroll for fall classes. If not, he said he would attend Hargrave Military Academy in Virginia while working to improve his scores.

USF's only confirmed nonqualifier in the incoming class is defensive end Claude Davis, who is now at Pearl River Community College in Mississippi. USFnation.com reported Friday that tight end Kevenski McGee also would not qualify academically, and coach Jim Leavitt has said as many as five or six recruits might not qualify.

-- Baseball: Braulio Pardo, USF's primary catcher this past season, is transferring to Saint Leo, a Division II school in eastern Pasco County. Pardo, who batted .247 with 16 RBIs, will have two years of eligibility. "It was the best fit for me," said Pardo, who also drew interest from Maryland and Florida, before the Gators' coaching change. "I'll get to play every day, and I'm excited about the chance to call my own games."

-- One more baseball note: Pitcher Danny Otero, now in the Giants' minor-league system, has made a strong pro start with the Salem-Kaizer Volcanoes of the Northwest League in Oregon. He's still perfect as a pro, with two saves in two hitless appearances. What's scary, independent of Otero, is that Giants phenom Tim Lincecum was on the Salem roster last year.

Grothe named to Maxwell watch list

USF sophomore quarterback Matt Grothe is one of 65 players named to the watch list for the Maxwell Award, given to college football's most outstanding player.

Grothe, last year's Big East Rookie of the Year, is the first USF player named to the Maxwell list. Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn won the award in 2006. He's one of only 10 sophomores on the list, and one of five players from Florida schools, joining FSU receiver Greg Carr and Florida's Percy Harvin, Andre Caldwell and Tim Tebow.

He's also one of eight Big East players on the watch list, with Rutgers running back Ray Rice, West Virginia's Steve Slaton and Pat White, Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm and receivers Harry Douglas and Mario Urrutia and Pittsburgh receiver Derek Kinder.

Ohio receiver to walk on with Bulls

Chedrick "Ched" Cherry, a standout receiver and hurdler at Cincinnati's Moeller High School, has committed to walk on and play football for USF, his high school coach said.

Cherry, a 6-foot-1, 180-pound athlete who made the Cincinnati Enquirer's first-team all-area team last fall, caught 45 passes for 688 yards and five touchdowns, adding another score on a punt return.

"He was our go-to guy," Moeller coach Bob Crable said. "He wasn't a 4.3 kid, but he runs a sub-4.5, and when he caught the ball, no one caught him. He went up against all the burners who everybody recruited and pulled away from them."

There should be strong competition just for the 105 spots on USF's preseason roster -- Cherry isn't guaranteed a spot on the Bulls' roster, yet still thinks enough of USF to put a chance there ahead of options closer to home. Cherry also ran track at Moeller, finishing fifth in his class in the state in both the 110-meter and 300-meter hurdles. Rivals.com rated him as a two-star recruit in football, and he missed his junior season recovering from knee surgery. (Photo courtesy Moeller.org)

Fernandez gets major commitment for 2009

USF women's basketball coach Jose Fernandez has landed a major commitment from one of the state's top prospects from the Class of 2009, getting a pledge this week from Jennifer George, a 6-foot-2 rising junior at Orlando's Bishop Moore High.

If it seems far ahead to make such a commitment, George said she knew where she wanted to play college basketball when she was a freshman, visiting USF's campus for the first time.

"It was love at first sight," said George, who averaged 12.5 points and 7.2 rebounds in helping Bishop Moore to a 27-3 record, losing in the Class 4A state semifinals to eventual champ Jensen Beach. "I'm really excited about committing. Everything about (USF) just made me want to play there."

George, who made the commitment Friday while attending a team camp at USF, played her freshman year at Timber Creek, then transferred to Bishop Moore, earning third-team all-state honors. She played center last season and obviously could get taller in the next two years, though coach Sean Brady said she has the athleticism to be a forward in college. By her senior year, it's reasonable that George could be the most highly ranked recruit in USF's history.

Having George on board could help the Bulls land other coveted recruits, with three scholarships available for the Class of 2008. USF is pursuing some of her AAU teammates from the Orlando Comets program, and one of her classmates at Bishop Moore, rising junior guard Lindsey Watson, was a first-team all-state selection.

Bulls add basketball date with St. Francis

USF has tweaked its first basketball schedule under coach Stan Heath, with Campbell dropping out of a scheduled Dec. 22 game and the Bulls replacing them on the same date with St. Francis (N.Y.), which went 9-22 last season in the Northeast Conference.

The Terriers are used to Big East competition, as they play St. John's each year, losing 59-42 last season. It's a one-game contract to meet in the Sun Dome, so there's no return trip for the Bulls. Campbell went 14-17 last season but had more seniors on their roster than St. Francis, so it's probably a wash in terms of whether one game is easier for USF to win than the other.

Bulls get boost from 6-foot-11 walk-on

Lots to write about tonight -- got to sit down today with former Radford coach Byron Samuels, the final piece to Stan Heath's coaching staff, and saw a good showing at the "Around the Horns" in Pinellas -- but first I've got news about a new addition to Heath's first Bulls roster.

The Bulls are done recruiting for this season, save some random unexpected transfer, which means Heath will leave two scholarships unused and carry them over to next season, when he should be able to put them to better use. That also means he's not pursuing 6-foot-9 forward Sean Carter of Fayetteville, N.C., and one reason he's content to go into his first season in Tampa with the players he has right now is a new name in the Bulls frontcourt: 6-foot-11, 225-pound Mohamed Esseghir.

You don't often find that kind of size from a walk-on, but Esseghir has had a long and interesting path to USF. He was born in Algeria, moving to the United States when he was 12 and attending Sarasota Christian and the IMG Academy in Bradenton. He played two seasons at Hillsborough Community College -- alongside USF receiver Amarri Jackson -- and signed in 2005 with Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne, a Division I independent coached by former Indiana star Dane Fife. Barely played there, logging four points and three blocks in 10 games.

He needed "external rotation" surgery to correct incorrect growth in his left arm, a procedure that required doctors to break a bone in his arm in half to allow it to grow back correctly. He didn't play basketball last year while attending USF, but now has recovered completely and is looking forward to playing his final year of eligibility with the Bulls.

"I'm definitely excited with the opportunity to play for USF," said Esseghir, due to graduate from USF next spring with a degree in criminology. "I think I can help them out."

It's one more body available as Heath searches for frontcourt minutes to spell senior center Kentrell Gransberry. Another new addition, 6-foot-9 junior forward Mobolaji "B.J." Ajayi, should be Gransberry's top backup and can also help at power forward, where freshman Orane Chin could have the inside track at the starting job. Junior Aris Williams, still recovering from lingering injuries last season, can contribute if he can get himself healthy.

I'll come back Friday with good stuff on Byron Samuels, but one more note on how quickly a recruit can come and go. Jucojunction.com reported Wednesday that DeAndre Coleman, a forward from tiny Bevill State in Alabama and one of the top unsigned junior college prospects, was considering USF and trying to line up a visit. Once I looked him up, it didn't take long to figure out that Coleman wasn't coming to USF: he can't. He signed with Cincinnati two years ago under Bob Huggins, playing six games before leaving Andy Kennedy's team in December 2005. And while he spent a year and a half at Bevill and will get his associate's degree this summer, he can't come to USF because of the rule the Big East passed last year, forbidding transfers from league school to another.

In football and basketball, the league doesn't even allow indirect transfers, with no exceptions. Heath and assistant Reggie Hanson are used to playing by the SEC rule, which allows a transfer within the league so long as a player spends one year at a non-SEC school. (Remember USF quarterback recruit Brent Schaeffer, who left Tennessee, spent a year at a California juco and landed at Mississippi a year later). Anyway, USF hadn't gotten so far as to even watch any tape of Coleman, but the Big East's policy put an end to his chances of being a Bull. Coleman has visited Oregon State and is looking at UAB, which is his closest option to his home in suburban Atlanta. ...

-- One last note, since there's a general Where Are They Now theme this week: Former USF football players Curtis Chance and Jerome Springfield (365 pounds!) are both in jail, arrested in the past two days for an outstanding warrant for failure to appear in court and repeatedly driving with a suspended license, respectively. ...

Baxter hopes Europe success can lead to NBA

Former USF guard Jimmy Baxter, fresh off a second successful pro season in Europe, has talked with two NBA teams about joining their summer-league rosters after next week's NBA Draft.

Baxter, who played professionally in France in 2005-06 and in Italy this past season, has talked with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Charlotte Bobcats about playing summer-league ball, which would help his chances of earning a free-agent contract in the league.

"Cleveland is very interested in bringing him for their summer-league team," said his agent, Wayne Garfield, who said Baxter had earned rookie of the year and Sixth Man honors in his French league in 2005-06.

Baxter isn't the only former USF player hoping to use the NBA's summer league as a showcase. Two of last year's top scorers, Melvin Buckley and McHugh Mattis, aren't likely to be drafted, but still could get a look in the summer league. Former USF coach Robert McCullum said the Miami Heat and Utah Jazz have expressed interest in Mattis, whose defensive skills could help him as a role player off the bench in the NBA.

Signee McGowan to enroll for fall as guard

Mike McGowan is no longer a greyshirt, and no longer a tight end.

The West Boca Raton graduate, who signed with USF in February as a tight end with the intentions of deferring his enrollment until January 2008, said Wednesday that he will report with the rest of USF's incoming freshman class next week.

What's more, the 6-foot-4, 255-pound McGowan said he'll start his USF career as an offensive guard, rather than the tight end position he played in high school. We'd reported this possibility after starting guard Matt Huners suffered a knee injury during USF's spring game in April. McGowan, by the way, is athletic enough that he shared Player of the Year honors from the Boca Raton News in basketball, where he averaged 18 points and 11 rebounds.

Moving McGowan into this year's class is a signal that USF may have more academic nonqualifiers than expected in its incoming class. If the Bulls were at or over the limit of 25 scholarships for this year (or 85 total scholarships, for that matter) they would not be actively moving a scholarship recruit from next year's count into this class. Coach Jim Leavitt recently said he expected "five or six" signees not to qualify, though the only confirmed nonqualifier so far is defensive end Claude Davis, who is already enrolled at Pearl River Community College in Mississippi.

-- An update on the recruiting front: the Times' Izzy Gould talked with Gulf quarterback Alton Voss, who said Wednesday that he has been told by the NCAA Clearinghouse that he is fully qualified and cleared to report next week for classes at USF. Good news for USF's quarterback depth, though Voss is still likely to redshirt this fall, as most freshmen do.

Morsels of news from the 500 Club

I say, with a certain amount of pride, that I reached a milestone last week: 500 contacts plugged into my cellphone. That is also to say that I reached the maximum number of contacts my crappy, call-dropping phone can store, so I've spent much of the past week calling people I haven't called in a while. If I find the number is no longer in service, I can delete the contact and free up a new spot; if the number's still good, it's a chance to learn something from someone, which is always good in my job.

Independent of all this, I have news of the first USF cut from the NFL ranks this summer: safety Jeremy Burnett was released by the Minnesota Vikings. For any Bulls rookies not named Stephen Nicholas, it's going to be tough to make it past the first wave of August cuts. I haven't seen a single thing written about Thed Watson since he signed in Carolina, though there's promising signs that Ean Randolph will have a shot at making the Chiefs as a return specialist. Now, to things I learned from my contacts ...

-- Remember Robert Spann? The linebacker from St. Petersburg High accepted a scholarship offer to USF and committed as part of its 2006 class but didn't qualify academically. He went to Merced College in California and played last fall, then transferred this spring to Mississippi Gulf Coast College. Talked to him Wednesday, and he said he'll attend Fresno City College in San Francisco, and he'll redshirt this year (because you must have a certain number of credits on campus to be able to play) and play there in 2008. Why do you care? Because he said he's stayed in contact with Jim Leavitt, talked to him last week even, and his intent is to be at USF in January 2009 with two years of eligibility left.

-- Remember Ishmeal Grant? Receiver from Blountstown, great return threat, signed in 2005 but didn't make grades. He spent last fall at Pearl River Community College -- I swear I write more about that program than the local paper in Mississippi does. Anyway, I talked to him this week, and he said he was injured when he was hit by a drunk driver in February -- nothing life-threatening, but enough that he had to drop his spring classes. He, too, is trying to get an associate of arts degree with an eye on returning to USF. He's in regular communication with receivers coach Mike Canales, so don't be surprised if his name comes up again down the road.

-- Thought I was already obscure? The Lakeland Thunderbolts of the American Indoor Football Association play for a league championship Saturday against the Reading (Pa.) Express. Both my parents are from Reading, by the way, but I write this note because three former USF players -- (in descending order of relevance) Terrence Royal, Antonio Searcy and Shelly Houston -- are on the Thunderbolts roster. And the conference championship in Lakeland drew about 2,000 fans, according to the Ledger, but I'm curious how many fans show for Saturday's game, which is played ... in Florence, S.C. ...

-- One last football note. I'd reported earlier that receiver Amp Hill's future was "up in the air" according to Leavitt, and I get enough conflicting information that I believe that's still the case. But he was working out with his teammates at Wednesday's voluntary practice, and he told me he's done what he needed to do to be part of the team this fall. It's just him saying that, but figured I'd update ...

-- Baseball: Remember how Yuri Higgins pitched a gem in the Big East tournament, holding Connecticut to two hits in seven innings in a season-ending 2-0 loss? Turns out he did it with a broken wrist. On his glove hand, mind you, but still courageous. Blog readers who followed USF's baseball team better than I did will know Higgins saw spot action as a defensive replacement in the outfield, and he said he broke his wrist diving for a ball in the outfield just before a game with Seton Hall two weeks before the Big East tournament. So while he's in Arizona, training with the Cubs, who took him in the 38th round, he said they won't assign him to a team until he's healthy, and he still faces about three weeks in a cast, then is likely to stay in Mesa with the Cubs' rookie-league team there.

Ex-Bull WR Chambers to play in Division II

Former USF receiver Jackie Chambers, who was dismissed from the Bulls roster in November and had signed with Division I-AA Morgan State in February, said Monday he will play his final season of college football at Lane College, a Division II program in Jackson, Tenn.

Chambers will finish summer classes at Morgan, where he was reunited with former Miami Edison and USF teammate Chad Simpson, but said he can't play there this fall because current NCAA transfer rules only allow a transfer to play immediately at a I-AA school if he has at least two years of eligibility. So Chambers will start classes in August at Lane College, whose schedule includes more recognizable Division II programs such as Morehouse, Stillman College, Fort Valley State and Clark Atlanta.

Chambers shined in 2005, catching 21 passes for 290 yards and had the rare honor of being selected as a game captain as a sophomore. He was suspended from the first six games of last season for violating an unspecified team rule, then missed much of the rest of the season with a broken hand. For what it's worth, Lane College had a player drafted this year -- receiver Jacoby Jones to the Houston Texans in the third round -- and boasts the late Carolina Panthers running back Fred Lane among its alumni.

Top tackler? Shouldn't be tough call

if there's one thing I'd like to have on the blogs and sports pages here, it'd be interactive polls, just because they're great sources of conversation and give you a real sense of what fans/readers think.

USF's official site has a curious poll up today, asking which player will lead the team in tackles. Realistically, you could put senior linebacker Ben Moffitt up against the field -- any other player on defense -- and I think he'd win a popular vote, easily. Barring injury, the only real challenger I'd think would be Tyrone McKenzie, the transfer from Iowa State who finished in the top 10 nationally in tackles last season.

As I write this, Moffitt has 72 percent of the votes, with defensive end George Selvie second with 13 percent. Selvie is a phenomenal player, but just logistically, it's hard for a defensive lineman to lead a team in tackles. It's almost always a linebacker, and McKenzie is third with 10 percent of the votes.

-- Another baseball signing, as senior Yuri Higgins has signed with the Chicago Cubs and reported to their facility in Arizona. Higgins was a 38th-round draft pick and should be soon assigned to a rookie-league team. He's the third Bulls player to sign, joining fellow pitchers Danny Otero (Giants) and Davis Bilardello (Cardinals).

-- The official site has updated the men's basketball roster, and congrats to walk-on Montana Heirman, who was on last year's squad but wasn't listed on the actual roster. We've written about Heirman, who started his college career at Bradley, and now he's on, along with senior Eddie Lovett, a regular last season, and fellow walk-ons Bobby Torres and Jared Rubens, who made it in for a combined four minutes last season. Obviously, coach Stan Heath could re-evaluate the bottom of his roster before the season, but for now, those four have a spot on his first team.

-- Didn't get to it, but linebacker Stephen Nicholas has already signed with the Atlanta Falcons, impressive in that Rich McKay is never really in a hurry to sign his draft picks before July. It's a four-year deal for Nicholas, and while financial terms were not disclosed, the standard signing bonus for a fourth-round pick has been about $400,000, going by figures released from last year's rookies.

-- Had a question on the comments about USF's annual fan day, where you guys get to see the end of a preseason practice, then get autographs and pictures with Jim Leavitt and his players. Don't have an exact time yet, but it's set for Saturday, August 25.

Full disclosure: My Big East preseason ballot

I'm not entirely comfortable doing this, but I really do like the way my newspaper handles reporters voting in polls and award balloting: You can only vote when the team or players you cover on your beat don't stand to benefit or suffer financially from your voting, and when you do, you should disclose your vote publicly. It's easier to support such a policy when it's not your vote, but for me to have any credibility, for instance, when I make a case for coaches' ballots in their poll being made public, I should be as open with my own. Accountability is always a good thing.

So here I am, explaining my ballot. The Big East has a panel of 24 members -- three who cover each football school -- who are invited to vote in the preseason media balloting. Their votes are collected and tabulated and released as the league's preseason poll, which will come out July 18 at the preseason media gathering in Rhode Island. So without too much more comment, I'll offer my ballot. This might get tweaked between now and our college football preview in late August. ...

1. West Virginia

2. Louisville

3. USF

4. Rutgers

5. Cincinnati

6. Pittsburgh

7. Connecticut

8. Syracuse

There it is. And before you go checking, it's (inadvertently) not far from last year's final standings -- no team, it turns out, is more than one position higher or lower than they finished in 2006. I made a point not to look at last year's standings in doing this, but I guess my memory made that a natural model to start with. That tells you I don't think any one team is hugely improved or terribly worse than last season. In general, the good teams return a lot of great talent, and the bad teams don't show me much to think they'll surprise. I'm being quite conservative -- boring, you might say -- here.

A lot of the positions are close enough that I'm breaking ties with an easy default, going with the home team in the head-to-head matchup. Having said that, I have USF below two teams it plays at home, and immediately ahead of a team it faces on the road. You'll probably see USF fourth or fifth in the league's preseason poll, with West Virginia and Louisville clearly at the top, then Rutgers just ahead of USF and Pittsburgh. I'm basically foreseeing one more win from the Bulls than I think most balloters will, and that may come down to whether the Bulls win at Rutgers on a Thursday night in October.

This is the top-to-bottom lineup that makes the most sense to me right now. So fire off your comments, and I'll encourage you to sign your name when you do so, so you can tell me in December how completely right you were about "insert team here" finishing so much higher than I had them. I'll also encourage my fellow media members to post their ballots online as well on their respective blogs. The Big East won't even disclose who the panelists are, though you can usually figure out at least two of the three pretty easy.

USF ace Otero signs with Giants

USF senior right-hander Danny Otero, the Bulls' Friday night start throughout last season, has signed a pro contract with the San Francisco Giants and reported to the team's spring training complex in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Otero, who went 9-7 with a 3.32 ERA and a team-high 87 strikeouts, was the first Bulls player selected in last week's draft, going in the 21st round. In signing, he now joins left-hander Davis Bilardello (43rd round, Cardinals) as 2007 Bulls now in the pro ranks.

And if there was any doubt about USF signee Rey Navarro being gone to the pros, Baseball America reports that the third-round draft pick has signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks, with a signing bonus of $333,000. Another USF signee from Puerto Rico, lefty Efrain Nieves, has signed with the Milwaukee Brewers, who drafted him in the seventh round. Terms were not disclosed.

Bulls CFO now AD at Delaware State

Rick Costello, USF's associate athletic director and chief financial officer for the past four years, has left to become athletic director at Delaware State.

Costello, 40, chaired the Bulls' bowl committee in their first two bowl trips and most recently helped work out a $22-million, 10-year sports marketing agreement with ISP Sports. He and I shared two small coincidences, in that both of us had our 4-year-old sons in preschool at St. James Methodist in Tampa, and like my father, he has a degree from Lehigh University in eastern Pennsylvania.

Forty's an impressive age to have an athletic department of your own, and Costello should do well in helping the Division I-AA football school develop into a power in the MEAC -- the Hornets went 8-3 last year, with a 6-2 record in conference play. He had worked under the outgoing AD, Chuck Bell, when both were at San Jose State before he came to USF.

And I totally see Delaware State becoming an opening-week sacrificial lamb on a future USF football schedule, say, 2011 or so. It's nearly happened before, and Costello being there just makes it easier to work out. (Photo courtesy of dsuhornets.com)

In other news, USF's basketball office made official the hiring of former Kentucky assistant Reggie Hanson, who'd publicly accepted the job five weeks ago but had been under contract in Lexington. The release has coach Stan Heath touting Hanson's background as a top recruiter: "Reggie has already built a reputation as a very strong recruiter. He has worked for and played under some of the top coaches in the business and brings a wealth of experience as both a player and a coach to the program.”

USF also formally announced the hiring of Darren Sorenson, who's been working with Heath since April. The only curiosity was whether he'd be a full-time assistant or the director of basketball operations, which he was during Heath's five years at Arkansas. Sorenson will stay in the operations position, meaning Heath still has a full-time opening on his staff. When I'd talked to Heath last week, he'd indicated that he was down to one or two candidates and would have someone in place in the immediate future.

My favorite two tidbits from Sorenson's resume: first, that he graduated from now-defunct Mount Senario College in Ladysmith, Wisc., and second, that he once coached the junior national team for the small Middle East emirate of Qatar.

-- A rare soccer note! Former USF player Anthony Wallace has been named to the national Under-20 team for the Under-20 World Cup, which starts June 30 in Canada. The St. Petersburg native, who played only one season at USF and is now with MLS's FC Dallas, is among the youngest on the 21-player roster and starts training with the team this weekend in New Jersey. The U.S. opens play in the Cup against South Korea in Montreal.

Rolle out: Bulls lose out on transfer

Magnum Rolle, the talented prep standout who had fallen short of expectations at LSU but was considering transferring to USF, instead is headed to Louisiana Tech, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

Tech had been considered a favorite in Rolle's recruitment because of associate coach Nikita Johnson, who'd recruited him to LSU. Louisiana Tech also reeled in a former LSU signee, Canadian D.J. Wright, one of the top recruits to jump back on the open market in recent months.

Losing out on Rolle likely means the Bulls will push now to sign Sean Carter, a 6-foot-9 forward from Laurinburg Institute in North Carolina who visited campus last week. Carter didn't get an official offer last week according to his coach at Laurinburg, but my understanding is he got a conditional "If I were to offer, would you accept" type feeler from Heath, who was keeping his options open. Carter might not have the same reputation as Rolle, but he won't have to sit out next season, making him a supporting player for Heath's first USF squad if the Bulls can lure him away from Big East rivals like Providence and West Virginia.

Receiver Murdock lands at Pearl River

Familiar name + familiar place = midsummer intrigue!

Back in spring, former Middleton receiver O.J. Murdock, having managed one catch in two seasons at South Carolina, had said he was transferring to USF. That fell through, but he's landed at a familiar place for Bulls fans: Pearl River Community College in Mississippi, where USF regularly places recruits who fail to qualify academically.

Had Murdock transferred to another Division I school, he would have had to sit out this fall, but he started classes at Pearl River this summer (with former USF signees Claude Davis, Leslie Stirrups and Craig Marshall, and Lake Gibson receiver Roger Frazier) and says he'll be eligible to transfer to a major college in January with two years of eligibility remaining.

Murdock said he hadn't ruled out USF as an option, though the Bulls were not involved in his choosing Pearl River. He said he has other schools recruiting him more intently, including Florida State and Louisville, and he has a scholarship offer from Marshall.

-- Here's a name to remember for basketball recruiting next season: Marcus Capers, a 6-foot-4 rising senior at Lake Region High near Winter Haven. He's a former AAU teammate of USF signee Dominique Jones, and recently attended a team camp at USF, leading his team to a second-place finish in its flight. He's versatile enough to play either guard positions or small forward, though at 170 pounds he'll need to put on weight. He counts USF among six schools he's considering, along with Florida State, Clemson, Illinois, Missouri and Florida Atlantic, with the Owls as his only offer thus far.

-- Talk about a huge football prospect: Count USF in the mix for defensive tackle Terrence Cody, a 6-foot-6, 385-pound rising sophomore at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. "He has a lot of the big boys on him," MGCCC coach Steven Campbell said, starting his list with Florida State, LSU and Clemson. Cody is from Riverdale High in Fort Myers, an area where USF has fared well in recent years. MGCCC, by the way, is where 2006 USF signee Alwan Lee spent last fall, redshirting after an injury. He's not there anymore, though I should be able to track him down in the next day or two. ...

-- One baseball note. USF's official release said four Bulls players were drafted, but that neglected to mention lefty Davis Bilardello, drafted by the Cardinals in the 43rd round, higher than all but one of his teammates. Bilardello, who left the Bulls with about a month left in the season, has already signed and made his debut at the team's spring training complex in Jupiter, striking out the side Wednesday in his one-inning debut. Bilardello's father, Dann, a major-league catcher for eight seasons, is the Cardinals' minor-league catching coordinator.

Lots of random notes I've neglected ...

First, we have this blog post at half-staff (half-mast?) to mourn the loss of Don Herbert, TV's Mr. Wizard, who passed away at the age of 89. Fond memories from childhood of getting ridiculous amounts of baking soda and vinegar all over the kitchen, following his cues. Now, lots of odd tidbits I've been meaning to get to over the last few weeks ...

-- Basketball recruiting. Sean Carter, the 6-foot-9 forward from Fayetteville, N.C., who visited USF last week, went back home without an offer from Stan Heath, according to Marc Hsu, his coach at Laurinburg Institute. We'd told you USF was torn between Carter and LSU transfer Magnum Rolle, who said USF was a "strong possibility" last week. Hsu said Carter is trying to line up a visit to Providence and would consider West Virginia if Bob Huggins can push someone out to free up a scholarship. Don't rule out Carter yet, but looks like USF isn't treating him as a top priority for the last scholarship they'll use this spring. "I don't think he's what they're looking for," Hsu said. "The visit went pretty well, but (Heath) did not officially offer Sean. I don't think it's going to work out for him there."

-- Baseball: We'd told you last week about three USF signees drafted in the first seven rounds and expected to skip the Bulls for a pro contract. The next-highest signee was Stephen Hunt, a first baseman from Tampa Jesuit taken in the 17th round by the Athletics. Hunt had preliminary negotiations with the team Monday night -- he was drafted as a left-handed pitcher, though he did not pitch much at all at Jesuit this spring. He'll pitch some for his American Legion team this summer but is keeping his options open, with an August 15 deadline to sign with the A's. An encouraging sign for Bulls fans is that he's working out daily at USF. Another USF signee, Gaither's Chris Jones, is headed to St. Pete College, but outfielder A.J. Regoli of Palm Beach wasn't drafted at all after being told he'd be picked in the top 10 rounds.

-- Football. I'd teased last month to the fact that Jim Leavitt, whose recruiting bread and butter will always be in the state of Florida, had made a rare recruiting visit to Texas. Never got around to the details. I know of two recruits he visited in the San Antonio area -- one is a receiver from Helotes O'Connor High named Sean Luchnick, a 6-foot, 185-pound receiver whose father Lance was a prominent sports agent whose clients once included Charles Barkley. Luchnick is still wide open, with several other BCS programs recruiting him.

The other recruit is Devin Thomas, a running back from San Antonio's Madison High, a first-team all-state selection who rushed for 1,891 yards and 23 touchdowns in nine games last year. Rivals.com has him as the 25th-best running back in the country, with offers from Arkansas, Texas A&M and top academic programs like Duke and Stanford. Coach Jim Streety said Thomas plans on attending one of USF's camps this summer, which could help the Bulls' chances. "The kid is pretty special, not only a really good player, but a great leader," Streety said. USF doesn't recruit much outside the state, so it's two names worth tucking away, anyway.

-- One last football note: looks like running back Ricky Ponton, who was declared ineligible at USF and will transfer, might wind up at Bethune-Cookman, joining a handful of former Bulls teammates. BCU (it's not BCC anymore) confirmed Wednesday that they have sent a letter to USF requesting permission to speak with Ponton, who would have two years of eligibility with the I-AA Wildcats. Another deposed Bull, defensive end Josh Julmiste, will be joining BCU this fall, along with twin cornerbacks Antwane and Antonio Cox.

Family of late USF player retains Cohen

TAMPA - It has been nearly five months since USF freshman football player Keeley Dorsey collapsed and died during a team conditioning workout, and his mother, Tammie, still has no answers as to what caused her son's sudden death.

Now, it appears she may be seeking more than just answers.

The Times confirmed Tuesday that shortly after her son's death, Tammie Dorsey retained the law firm of attorney Barry Cohen, the first indication that the family may be considering litigation.

"We're not putting blame anywhere. We're trying to find out what happened, " Cohen said. "We're just examining the facts, and we'll see where those facts take us, if anywhere. We have not yet made a determination if there's any basis for litigation."

Cohen has handled several high-profile cases in recent years, representing teacher Jennifer Porter in her hit-and-run case and Steve and Marlene Aisenberg when they were accused of conspiracy in the abduction of their 5-month-old daughter. His firm's Web site boasts dozens of million-dollar civil verdicts and settlements.

When Dorsey died on Jan. 17, the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner's Office initially anticipated a routine timetable of four to six weeks to determine a cause of death. Spokesman Dick Bailey said the office does about 95 percent of its toxicology tests in-house but is now waiting for results from a more complicated test sent to an outside lab, so an announcement on findings could still be a month away.

"Tests thus far have not led to a definitive cause of death, " Bailey said. "It's not under our control when we send out these tests, but we've been in contact with the family throughout the process."

Dorsey, a 19-year-old running back from Tallahassee who rushed for a 52-yard touchdown on the final play of the Bulls' season opener against McNeese State last season, collapsed and died at USF's athletic facility while taking part in a regular weight-room workout. There's been no indication of wrongdoing on USF's part; the university has six portable defibrillators in its athletic facility, including one in the weight room that was used as USF trainers attempted to revive Dorsey. Like all USF football players, he had physical exam last fall that screened for pre-existing medical conditions.

Tammie Dorsey declined to comment Tuesday through her attorney, but Kevin Kalwary, an investigator with Cohen, Jayson and Foster, said she had contacted his firm in January, shortly after her son's death.

"She was frustrated at her inability to get answers ... from USF, from the medical examiner, from everyone, " Kalwary said. "We're trying to get those answers for her, and all I can say is we're investigating the case."

There are two recent precedents for lawsuits following the sudden death of football players in Florida programs. Florida State agreed to a $2-million settlement in 2004 with the family of linebacker Devaughn Darling, who died during an offseason workout in 2001, though the family has only received $200, 000.

The family of former Florida player Eraste Autin, who collapsed and died in 2001 after a voluntary summer workout with teammates, settled a lawsuit with UF out of court in November.

USF sports information director John Gerdes said he was unaware of any athletic department employees being interviewed about Dorsey's death by anyone outside the university. Cohen said his firm would give "a lot of consideration" to autopsy results once they're released, but said it's "totally unfair" to suggest a civil suit could follow.

"Just because my firm is involved, I don't think it's a fair inference, " Cohen said. "That's a leap. We're examining what may or may not lead to anything."

Moffitt named to Nagurski watch list

USF senior linebacker Ben Moffitt has been named to the preseason watch list for the Nagurski Trophy, given to the top defensive player in college football.

Moffitt, who has started 30 consecutive games entering the 2007 season, is one of 49 players named on the Nagurski watch list, and one of six from the Big East, along with Pittsburgh defensive end Joe Clermond (Tampa), Rutgers defensive tackle Eric Foster and safety Courtney Greene, Louisville defensive tackle Adrian Grady and Syracuse defensive end Jameel McClain. Only two players from Florida colleges made the watch list, with Moffitt joined by Miami defensive end Calais Campbell.

Moffitt has led the Bulls in tackles in each of the last two seasons, with 112 total tackles as a junior and 96 as a sophomore. He was named to the Nagurski watch list in 2005 as a sophomore after he earned Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week honors for his performance in USF's 45-14 upset of then-No. 9 Louisville.

NCAA blocks live-game blogging

The NCAA means well. Deep down, I really believe it does. But this is a battle where even if the NCAA wins, it loses.

The biggest headline you'll read from college baseball in many papers across the country today isn't about any team or any player. It's about the NCAA's decision to revoke the credential of Louisville Courier-Journal reporter Brian Bennett and eject him from the press box during Sunday's NCAA super-regional game ... for blogging live from the game.

The NCAA is trying to protect its financial interests, making the argument that it has the right to choose who can make live updates from one of its games. Obviously the TV networks pay good money to make their broadcasts, and the NCAA must feel a live blog somehow impinges on that -- that it represents competition and not a companion or complement to the broadcasts already in place. Again, even if they're legally right, they're badly wrong in the as-important public image department. And on the other side is -- just guessing here -- every newspaper with plans on making blogs a part of their future, or some petty allegiance to the First Amendment and the rights of a free press.

Let's take the NCAA's side for a moment, in a fit of sheer lunacy, but consider a different scenario. Let's say this fall that Louisville's football team has an amazing game in progress. Let's say Cardinals quarterback Brian Brohm is a perfect 22-for-22 in the first half, already passing for more than 500 yards in a remarkable display of offensive efficiency. The NCAA would just as soon have no live updates from that game -- a national reporter from ESPN.com or SI.com in attendance couldn't send in something so his or her site could put up a tease to a live scoreboard, sending all sorts of new viewers to a TV broadcast they might have otherwise ignored.

I've done live blogs from games and read them from countless others. As a reader, it's a great complement to a game in progress, whether you're watching it or not. Here's my gripe: I've never made the decision not to attend or watch a game because I knew I could just read a live blog: they're just not that good as a freestanding source of information from a game. If anything, it's consistently the opposite: if I read online that an NBA playoff game is tied in the closing minutes, I'm tuning in -- and I don't do that often with the NBA. If I see that Curt Schilling has a no-hitter in progress in the eighth inning, I'm running for the remote. Live blogs are a sporting event's friend.

Why would the NCAA actively seek to take that away, even in principle, to preserve the value of a college baseball telecast? If they're going to sanction the media, the NCAA should be diligent in extending their embargo on live updates to everyone in attendance. If you catch a foul ball in the third inning, think twice before calling your best friend to tell him, unless you wanted to get ejected for that live cell-phone update. I could go on about this, as you've seen, for quite some length. As can Deadspin.

I hope you guys can chime in on this -- you'll hear a lot from lawyers on both sides of this issue in the next few days, but I'm curious what fans of college athletics have to say. As for me, I'm all the more eager to blog live from the Elon game, though I'll have the phone number for the Times' attorney handy as well. Who said summer had to be a slow time?

Walk-on updates: Three new names

First, before I get to the walk-on news, I just want to take a moment to offer condolences to defensive line coach Dan McCarney, whose father, P.J. McCarney, died in Iowa on Sunday night. A visitation will be held in Iowa City on Wednesday, with funeral services scheduled for Thursday, according to the Des Moines Register. Our thoughts and prayers are with the longtime Iowa State coach and his family. ...

This being the blog of record for all things related to walk-ons, I have a few names to report as (at least potential) additions to USF's football roster in the next year.

I'll start with a preferred walk-on from Lake Brantley who will report with USF's freshman class on June 27: his name is Rhett Hamrick, and he's a 6-foot-6, 200-pound receiver whose high school coach called him the premier receiver in the Orlando area last season.

"I really think he's a kid who fell through the cracks," coach George Clayton said of Hamrick, who totaled 74 passes for 1,125 yards and 18 touchdowns in his final two seasons at Lake Brantley despite playing in an option offense. He helped his team to the state championship against Miami Northwestern, scoring a touchdown in the final. "I just loved the program," said Hamrick, who had scholarship offers from Army and smaller schools like Jacksonville.

Hamrick pointed me to another future USF walk-on, Apopka quarterback Andy Summerlin, a 6-foot-4, 215-pound prospect who was respected enough entering his senior year that Rivals.com listed him on its "Elite 11" watch list of the nation's top 100 quarterback prospects. At a Nike scouting combine in Miami last summer (also attended by USF signee Alton Voss), he had the best bench-press among quarterbacks (15 reps of 225 pounds) and the second-best vertical leap at 33 inches. His 40-yard time was a rough 4.98 seconds, but that might be one to toss out, as his shuttle time of 4.28 seconds was faster than Miami Central's Travaris Cadet, who nearly signed with USF.

Summerlin underwent shoulder surgery in February to repair a torn labrum in his throwing shoulder, and as a result, he won't join the football team in January, the walk-on equivalent of a "greyshirt." He'll pick up what he can this fall as a part-time student, but his five-year eligibility clock won't start ticking until 2008. He's the second walk-on quarterback committed to USF, joining Lemon Bay's Matt Piloto. Summerlin said he passed for about 1,000 yards and rushed for about 500, again in an option offense not geared toward passing statistics.

Summerlin's training partner this summer is yet another walk-on hopeful: I haven't confirmed it with him, but Summerlin said J.P. Moriarty, the starting quarterback at Orlando Bishop Moore, will attend USF with the hopes of making the team as a walk-on defensive back. Summerlin said Moriarty met with USF coach Jim Leavitt recently about the possibility of him joining the team. You can check out video highlights from Moriarty here at Fridaynightfootball.net.

It wouldn't be proper to write this much about high school sports in Orlando without linking to the farewell column for the Orlando Sentinel's Bill Buchalter, as well-liked and well-respected a preps writer as you'll find in this state. Buchalter worked as a student at the Independent Florida Alligator in Gainesville, just as I did, and his first newspaper job was at the St. Petersburg Times. His wealth of knowledge will be missed.

Thoughts? Questions? Comments? Post 'em all. I watched a half-hour of voluntary football workouts Monday -- all the quarterbacks were out with various conflicts, so receiver Amarri Jackson was tossing spirals as he did back in high school. Players are taking the summer workouts seriously -- two collided on one play and had to be checked by trainers for concussions. ...

No bull: Live mascot shelved for '07

USF fans hoping to see a live bull on the sidelines at Raymond James Stadium this fall will have to wait at least another year to see a real Rocky on the field.

The idea had generated much excitement last summer, but a year later, all kinds of logistical problems have kept a live mascot from being cleared for fall Saturday grazing with the Bulls.

"There's been some apprehension, and we always want to err on the side of caution," said John Massaro, a local Beef O'Brady's franchise owner who has shepherded the drive for a live mascot. "A lot of people want to see this happen. We just have to put it together in a safe manner."

Massaro had lined up a donated Brahman bull calf last summer, but the details couldn't be worked out in time for the 2006 season. A year later, with little progress in addressing the logistical issues, that original Rocky is up to 850 pounds, which Massaro said is too large to be safely introduced in a public setting. He'd prefer a 250-pound calf that could be raised around people, making it more comfortable in public and lessening fears of any injury risks.

Greenlighting a large live mascot would put USF in a vulnerable position should anything unfortunate happen on the sidelines, so there's understandable concerns from the university's perspective. USF also has had turnover in its marketing department, with associate athletic director Tom Veit and assistant Kosha Irby both leaving their positions in the past six months. Massaro said he "absolutely" is still hopeful a plan can be crafted to allow for a live mascot for the Bulls down the road.

Ten rounds, one more signee ...

An update after 10 rounds: as expected, USF signee Efrain Nieves, a left-hander from Puerto Rico, was picked in the seventh round by the Milwaukee Brewers, so that's a third signee that's likely to opt for the pros. The good news for USF is that A.J. Regilo of Palm Beach has not been picked, making it more likely he'll choose the Bulls and work on improving his draft status for the 2010 draft.

I'm off to Cape Canaveral, so I'll be back late tonight or early Saturday to recap the rest of the draft and its impact on USF. Keep those comments and questions coming ...

No draft surprises for USF ... so far

Thursday's first five rounds of the MLB draft made it the easy day for USF baseball coach Lelo Prado. If any of his players -- current or future -- had been taken, he'd know he had no reasonable chance to keep them from taking a professional offer. Today will be different.

Prado will spend much of Friday in Sarasota, golfing as part of the opening Around the Horns stop. But he'll be keeping close tabs on the draft and when his players are taken. When will juniors Walter Diaz and Daniel Thomas be drafted? Will Prado see any other signees -- most notably Palm Beach's A.J. Regilo and Puerto Rico's Efrain Nieves -- to draft picks high enough to tempt them to skip college?

There were no USF players drafted Thursday, but that's not to say there wasn't reason to celebrate for Prado. Among those drafted was Louisville reliever Trystan Magnuson, who started with Prado as a skinny 6-foot-5, 150-pound walk-on. Prado remembers telling him he'd spend his whole first season lifting weights, and he's now listed at 6-7, 194 pounds. As a fifth-year senior, he could have signed a pro contract before the draft had Louisville's season ended. But because Louisville's still going -- with a home weekend meeting with Oklahoma State in super regionals -- he was part of the draft, and went 56th overall. He doesn't have the leverage of threatening to go back to school, but that same pick last year drew a signing bonus of more than $600,000.

Prado said if Louisville makes the College World Series, he'll make a trip to Omaha to cheer for a team largely comprised of kids he recruited and taught for years. He hasn't been to Omaha in about six years, he said, but it'll mean something to see his old team get there. It'll be that much more of a motivation for his wanting to get USF there as soon as possible. Friday's draft could play a small role on how soon that might be ...

Ex-USF star Peyton facing cocaine charge

We interrupt the draft blog for an update on former USF receiver Johnny Peyton, who probably won't be playing football at Dubuque this fall. Thanks to the Times' Molly Moorhead for this update:

DADE CITY -- Former Pasco High and USF football player Johnny Peyton was arrested this week, charged with possession of cocaine.

The Sheriff’s Office said Peyton was riding in Tommytown in a truck that was pulled over for a cracked windshield about 4 p.m. Wednesday. As a deputy approached, Peyton tossed something in the backseat. A police dog found an orange cigar tube, inside which, deputies say, was crack cocaine.

Peyton, 21, of Lacoochee, was arrested in April on an outstanding warrant after he was spotted at the Pasco County Courthouse watching a trial. The warrant was for violation of probation from a misdemeanor trespassing charge. USF coach Jim Leavitt announced in February 2006 that he had dismissed Peyton from his team, but Peyton said he left of his own accord. Peyton remained jailed Thursday in lieu of $2,500 bail.

Another gone: Rey Navarro

Another USF signee has had his name called: shortstop Rey Navarro of Puerto Rico went in the third round with the 103rd pick to the Arizona Diamondbacks. As we've been saying, USF's coaches were conceding this recruit as too good to make it to campus. According to Baseball America, last year's 103rd pick earned a signing bonus of $250,000. So I'll ask the question here -- if you were a senior in high school this year, if you'd signed on for a baseball scholarship at USF and got drafted, how much money would it take for you to skip college and go straight to the pros? Just give me your number and we'll see what the range is ...

-- Always cool to see the people who get high schools named after them. Red Sox just took a kid from Virgil Grissom High School in Alabama. I'm going to drive over to Cape Canaveral on Friday with my family, see if we can catch a space shuttle launch if weather allows ...

First signee taken: Denny Almonte

Denny Almonte, an outfielder who signed with USF out of Florida Christian in Miami, is now almost certainly not going to play for the Bulls. Almonte was just picked with the 75th pick, midway through the second round, by the Seattle Mariners. Again, USF's coaches had come to expect this in the weeks leading up to the draft and had conceded that Almonte was going to get too high a signing bonus offer -- last year's No. 75 pick got a $445,000 bonus -- to seriously consider playing at USF.

So there's a draft in my car

Nothing of relevance to USF in the baseball draft yet, though I'm surprised how high Florida's Matt LaPorta went -- seventh overall, to Milwaukee -- and how far Hillsborough High's Michael Burgess fell -- to Washington at 50th.

I'm driving down I-75 going to USF this afternoon, and a Lincoln Town Car ahead of me runs over a five-foot metal ramp, like from a car carrier, and launches it up at my car. In the time it takes me to think "Is that a ladder?" it hits my hood, bounces up and puts a hole in my windshield, spider-webbing the whole left side of it.

I'm fine, no worries there. I could complain about a $250 deductible or the moron who didn't properly secure the ramp on his or her truck, but instead I'll say thanks to the smart people that design windshields in such a way that they somehow stop heavy flying metal objects, so my head doesn't stop them. It's because of them that I can type this non-post, and hug my kids, and wake up tomorrow. Kinda makes the draft a little trivial, no?

They draft, we blog, you read

Not sure how to feel about today's MLB draft being televised on ESPN2 -- for years, it's been a rite of summer to follow the draft online at mlb.com, hitting "refresh" a couple hundred times while waiting for local players to hear their name called. My favorite thing about the MLB draft was the simplicity -- NFL teams need 15 minutes to make a pick, but baseball can fire off a round in about that much time, just one player after another for 50 rounds in two days. It's not summer until you've heard Tommy Lasorda enthusiastically butcher the name of some Dodgers draft pick.

So keep checking back here for lots of updates -- we might not see a current USF player drafted today, but there's a good chance a few Bulls signees will go. Coach Lelo Prado and his staff have conceded that outfielder Denny Almonte of Miami and Rey Navarro of Puerto Rico will be drafted too high for them to seriously consider USF over a mid-six-figure signing bonus. Other recruits could be gone if they're drafted too high -- that's part of the game in college baseball recruiting. So check back and we'll drop some news about new walk-ons and recruits coming to USF's baseball program. Keep those questions and comments coming ...

Softball: More '08 commits for Eriksen

Turns out this is old news, a bunch of commitments that actually came in January and earlier, but this is the first us media folks have heard of it, so it's probably news to most of you as well. Softball coach Ken Eriksen continues to make a case as the best recruiter on campus, lining up some top rising high school seniors for his 2008 class.

We'd told you about Bartow ace Candace Howell, who committed in January, but what we didn't know was USF also has two commitments from the Florida Gold travel team: Janine Richardson, a centerfielder from Auburndale, and Laura Fountain, a shortstop from Cooper City. Their travel coach, Tom Taylor, says both had offers from SEC powers Florida, Alabama and Tennessee. These are county player of the year types, all-state selections who should bring power and speed to USF's lineup in 2008.

A story in Wednesday's Wilmington News-Journal tipped me off that USF has an '08 commit from Alexis Nowell, a second baseman who had offers from Big East rivals Notre Dame, Rutgers and DePaul.

"She's unbelievable defensively," says Joe Salvatore, her coached the New Jersey Breakers travel team. "I've not seen a better second baseman than her in the country." Nowell's only 5-foot-1, but Salvatore said her arm is strong enough to make her a standout outfielder, capable of picking up a ball at the wall and throwing a line drive to the plate. And these commits are still 18 months away from their first college games.

This is scary as an aside, but we wrote last month about USF's ridiculous pitching depth, all back for next season. But check out this update: USF signee Capri Catalano from New Jersey has recently set the state record with more than 1,300 career strikeouts. In her last game, a state semifinal, she struck out the first 20 batters she faced before giving up a groundout for the final out of a perfect game. So add her arm next spring to Ecks, Spence, Mosch and Gordon. If Eriksen can find bats to match his pitching, go ahead and book tickets for Oklahoma City.

St. Louis joins USF staff as strength GA

Here's one of those notes that will get one paragraph in the paper but will mean a lot to Bulls fans: former USF linebacker Patrick St. Louis, a defensive co-captain on last year's team, has joined USF's coaching staff as a graduate assistant in Ronnie McKeefery's strength and conditioning program.

St. Louis, honored with the team's "First-Teamer Award" this spring, given to the player who shows "leadership both on and off the field, has great character, physical and mental toughness." He worked out for pro scouts, hoping to land a free-agent NFL contract, but wasn't able to latch on anywhere. He's long professed a desire to get into coaching, and USF's coaches are excited to have him on staff and hopeful his work ethic will spill over to younger players, in the weight room and on the field.

Speaking of McKeefery's staff, he's filled an opening on his staff with Kaz Kazadi, a 33-year-old who spent the last two seasons as a strength and conditioning assistant with the NFL's Kansas City Chiefs. Kazadi played linebacker at Tulsa and was drafted by the NFL's St. Louis Rams, and has college experience from being on the strength staff at Missouri in 2004. Born in Zaire, his academic background is a lot like Jim Leavitt, a Missouri graduate -- Kazadi has an undergraduate degree in sociology with a minor in psychology, and a master's from Missouri in counseling psychology. McKeefery had promoted former graduate assistant Aaron Quarberg into his other vacant assistant position.

USF lands $22-million, 10-year marketing deal

Another sign that being in the Big East has significantly elevated USF's value: the Bulls announced Wednesday a new multimedia marketing agreement with ISP Sports, one of the nation's leaders in sports marketing, reported as being worth a minimum of $22-million over 10 years.

While that's hardly the 10-year, $66-million deal ISP signed with Florida State in February, it's a remarkable leap from USF's previous marketing agreement with ESPN Regional, believed to generate less than a half-million dollars in annual revenues. ESPN Regional will continue to have a presence in USF's marketing efforts, handling distribution of local and regional television broadcasts.

"We are extremely pleased to have developed a unique partnership with two of the top multimedia rights holders in the country,” athletic director Doug Woolard said in a statement. “ISP Sports brings its well earned status as the strongest marketer of college athletics in the country, and we continue to enjoy a healthy partnership with ESPN. This new partnership promises to increase awareness of the USF brand nationwide and provides additional resources assisting our student-athletes to be competitive on a national stage.”

New broadcast objectives include a Spanish-language broadcast of USF football games and radio broadcasts of USF baseball and softball games. And good news on the continuity front: USF's ESPN Regional staff of Chris Lahey, Brett Dulaney, Sarah Kay and Ivy Willing will take over as USF's ISP Networks team, so there will be familiar faces representing the Bulls in all their ongoing broadcast relationships.

Four-gone conclusions and more ...

I was off with the family at the beach when Friday's news broke that four scholarship football players wouldn't be back next season for various reasons. I'll get to that in a second, but first can report the real possibility of a fifth player joining that group -- receiver Amp Hill, whose Sharpiegate silliness put him firmly in Jim Leavitt's doghouse at the end of spring football. Asked about Hill's future with the team Monday, Leavitt said it was "up in the air" and declined to comment further. When I reached Hill at his Jacksonville home Tuesday, I got a curt "I don't feel like talking," then a hangup. I'm not saying anything's decided, but don't be surprised if he's played his last game with the Bulls. Now onto the other four departures, in descending order of impact:

Danny Verpaele: Even though he didn't start most of last season, even with sophmore Nate Allen getting rave reviews, this is a notable loss. Verpaele's goal-line hit of Steve Slaton was a huge play in USF's upset of West Virginia, and he started that game because of his speed. USF has depth at safety, with Carlton Williams the starter at strong safety and Louis Gachette behind him. My understanding is that Verpaele will remain on scholarship and can practice with the team this fall and return as a senior in '08.

Ricky Ponton: Was heralded as Andre Hall's heir a year ago and fumbled it away, becoming a non-factor. His six-game suspension hurt the Bulls last season, and coaches were more comfortable giving carries to a reliable walk-on in Ben Williams. This spring, he wasn't listed on the depth chart, with redshirt freshman Aston Samuels listed ahead. If you count Mike Ford ahead of him, that put him fourth at best, so it'd be entirely reasonable that he would have transferred away to find playing time even if he weren't ineligible at USF this fall. It's the third year in a row a running back has transferred out, following Billy Henderson and Chad Simpson.

LeBrandon Glover: USFnation.com's had good reporting on this, citing his grandmother's health problems and a desire to move closer to his home in Pensacola. Glover was participating in voluntary summer workouts Monday, but my understanding on that was that he didn't want to stop working with the team for fear that USF would pull his scholarship and not pay for summer classes he had started. USF has helped its linebacker situation in a big way by getting Tyrone McKenzie and Donte Spires, but with signee Calvin Sutton still in academic limbo, this is a position that will be a priority in USF's recruiting efforts.

Mike Benzer: Lost the kicking job in each of his two seasons, and found himself behind Delbert Alvarado entering the fall. USF says he'll stay in school but won't be part of the team, so it won't hurt the program's APR as much as if he'd transferred elsewhere. I'll remember how happy he was after hitting a field goal in the win against Central Florida, but he didn't have much else to smile about at USF.

I'll have more on the heavy turnover on the football roster in another post, but I'll invite you guys to guess how many players from last year's media guide have left the team (not counting the eight 2006 signees that never made it, or the tragic death of Keeley Dorsey) before their eligibility was up. It's an impressive number ...

-- Quick basketball note: Stan Heath seems to be focusing on two recruits for the last scholarship he'll use this spring, saving the other for next year's class. He had power forward Sean Carter of Fayetteville, N.C., in for an official visit on Monday or Tuesday, but I don't know that a scholarship offer has been made. Heath is in the hunt for former LSU forward Magnum Rolle, who told me Tuesday that USF is a "strong possibility" he's considering. He's talked with Heath as well as former teammate Kentrell Gransberry, who had a great season with the Bulls after making the same transfer from LSU. He's planning a visit to Wyoming and also likes Louisiana Tech, but said he'd like to visit USF before making a decision later this month.

Sarosi transferring, likely to Div. II Nova

A year ago, freshman Stephanie Sarosi was the most highly touted recruit in USF women's basketball history. Now, the 6-foot-5 freshman is transferring, most likely to Division II Nova Southeastern.

Sarosi requested and was granted her release by USF coach Jose Fernandez last week, and her coach at Titusville Astronaut High, Greg Hostetler, said Monday he expects her to transfer to Nova, primarily because the school is one of 11 colleges in the country with a pre-optometry program. Nova Southeastern has received a release to speak with Sarosi, though no agreement has been finalized. Sarosi could not be reached for comment Monday afternoon.

"She just didn't feel like they were fitting together," Hostetler said of Sarosi's decision to leave USF.

One recruiting publication has Sarosi ranked as the No. 34 prospect in America, but she struggled in her only season with the Bulls. She started in her first eight games, averaging 25 minutes per game during that stretch, but saw her playing time steadily diminish as the season continued. Her final numbers averaged to 3.5 points and 4.4 rebounds per game, but she was a non-factor in the last month of the season as the Bulls made a push for a return to the NCAA Tournament. In the final eight games of the regular season, she scored one point in 80 minutes of play, going 0-for-18 from the field.

With two major frontcourt transfers in the program -- Jessica Lawson from Cal and Brittany Denson from Miami -- Sarosi wasn't likely to have a larger role in the upcoming season, even with senior center Nalini Miller graduating. It's the second loss from a recruiting class that was ranked 17th nationally -- center Ashley McCray did not qualify academically and played at Chipola College last season.

While I've got the attention of my women's basketball readers, here's a link to a good read in