Bulls lose out on 6-foot-8 tackle

USF has lost out on a potential late addition to its recruiting class, and Zach Hanson a 6-foot-8 tackle from Sacramento City C.C. in California said Monday he has committed to Kansas State after visiting the Wildcats this weekend.

"It was a hard decision, because they're both such different places,'' Hanson said. "I enjoyed South Florida a lot, I just felt more comfortable at K-State. I'm from a smaller town, so it was more my lifestyle.''

USF had hoped to bring in Hanson to compete for the starting right tackle job. Former walk-on Jake Sims, who has earned a scholarship this fall, would be the starting right tackle entering fall drills.

-- GREG AUMAN, Times Staff Writer

Comments

[pingbull]

ouch, that could've been big time...pun intended

[Norb]

:(

[DELdaBULL]

Too bad :(

[JR]

wow, i cant believe he chose kansas state, he really could have helped us alot for the next few years, he must not have seen that tho... i think he made the wrong choice here

[marc]

unless we get REALLY lucky this yr, our lack of depth on oline will cost us games. reading this post felt like i was kicked in the balls.

[VOR]

Just how small is Sacramento that Tampa is too big?

[JR]

WE have 6 good linemen on offense, thats room for 1 injury.. ya not so good

and next year we lose 4 starting offensive linemen and ahve to play miami, boy is that gonna be interesting

[cg]

Play-by-play preview of 2008 'O': Grothe scrambles for x yards. Grothe sacked! Grothe chucks it deep... intercepted!

Yeah, no line means not much in the way of a standard run game. Glad we have a nice slow two second delay in our spread O to give d-linemen a chance to infiltrate the backfield. Hope Ford and Co. can bring some magic.

[Mike]

You guys act like it's the end of the world. He's just one lineman that we lost. He prob would of been a back-up anyway.

[Sailingbull]

Good luck to him at K-State. USF O-line will be just fine without him.

[Don Corleone]

How quickly we forget last season. The O-line had a revolving door at several positions due to injuries. Our starting guard moved to center when Capogna was hurt v. Elon, and the shuffling never stopped. Only Auburn and Rutgers really stopped the ground game at just over 100 plus yards each besides the Bulls run plenty of zone-reads that leave plenty of QB/HB options. Does anyone remember the Grothe 80 yarder on the first play of the third quarter v. Pitt?
Check out his '07 Highlights...
http://www.gousfbulls.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=37330&SPID=2981&DB_OEM_ID=7700&ATCLID=216889&Q_SEASON=2008

What is the scoop on Mitch Emory?

[Nick Lachey]

"In an mmbop he's gone, in an mmmbop, he's not there."

First all the crap with Jessica Simpson, now this? I don't think I can take anymore.

[Chalko]

I think he realized he didn't want to deliver pizza's for the rest of his life, too bad.

[G.A.]

No apostrophes in pizzas.

Mitch Emory? I wrote about him nearly two months ago. Here's a link:

http://blogs.tampabay.com/usf/2008/05/cocoa-beach-gua.html

[cg]

Not the end of the world, but the lack of recruiting in the o line will catch up. Those plays Grothe makes are amazing, but they are improv. Sorry, I'll take a consistent 4.5 yds on the ground over an 80 yd. qb run once every month. Our big running games came against Elon, Syracuse, FAU, Pitt; teams you should be crushing regardless.

The decision this kid made has nothing to do with the coaching staff or USF, it was his decision and such is life. I understand that. However, I can't help but feel just a little bit disappointed because it would have given me a better feeling about a season that I feel is going to be a little lackluster.

Sometimes in college you need to make plays around personnel, not system (as in the pros), and I am hoping that USF will be able to compensate for a fairly depleted O-line with solid play calling -- something they didn't do well last season.

Depending on special effects plays is a frustrating way to be a fan. Sure it looks great on YouTube, but even the greatest do-it-all qb in college can prove(Tebow), stats and highlights don't always transform into championships.

Anyway, new class is looking great.
Hopefully maturity and experience pays off this year and USF just wins the games they are supposed to and we should all be very happy.

[USF95]

No loss. The guy was not all that highly recruited for a reason. If we weren't so short at tackle I doubt they would have ever offered him. I really think Popek starts this fall at Right Tackle. I think he would have started with or without Hanson. The loss of Hanson hurts more with depth. However, with the quality players we have coming in this year it opens a scholarship to a four year player.

[DELdaBULL]

Nick Lachey is having the best 1 week run in the history of this blog.

[Mike Lakeland]

nuts!

[Ari Hinkelberger]

I got in the pants of this pretty hot chick from Kansas State. I think she was a Delta Gamma girl. Nice body, fits well in the bed and doesn't snore.

I have nothing but good things to say about K-State. Go Wildcats!

[steve oneal]

If more people were good sports, like Mr. Hinkelberger, we would not have any rowdy behavior or fights at sporting events!

[Dave W]

Well, I don't think the coaches were counting on this guy at signing day, so they probably have some good contigency plans. At least I hope they do.

I think Popek will get the position sometime this season. Even if he doesn't, we really will be counting on several unproven players this year. I have my doubts about an O-line with so many walk-ons, especially the guys under 290#.

[GP]

Sacramento, of what I remember is about the same size as Tampa, but that doesn't mean he is from Sacramento. There are a lot of small towns in NorCal. He could have just moved to Sac-town to play ball.

Really Ari ? Where was she when you did this ? In the other room ?

You win some you lose some. We have come along way since we are now worried about depth at OL when we used to see our guys being out weighed by 50 pounds with no back-ups.

[G.A.]

Don't know if I've written this, but Leavitt is very confident in Sims at right tackle this season, and likes Popek as well. After 2008, plan is to shift Sims to center (since Jake Griffin is graduating) and have a new right tackle for 2009 ...