What they're saying about USF's opener ...

Should have gotten these up earlier, but want to clear out the links for the weekend before Monday, which is a holiday but should generate a headline or two as Jim Leavitt and George O'Leary both have conference calls with the media. Both sides have behaved very politely thus far, lobbing praise at each other and saying nothing but nice things. We'll see ...

-- First, from my own paper. The follow notes for Monday's paper start with offensive coordinator Greg Gregory saying that the intent was never to run up the score on UCF last year, even as the Bulls backup quarterbacks passed for three fourth-quarter touchdowns after taking a 33-point lead into the fourth. If you haven't already read Sunday's coverage, here's the game story, notebook and Joe Rienzi's sidebar on punt returner Marcus Edwards.

-- More game coverage: Here's game stories aplenty, from the Lakeland Ledger's Tom Zebold, the Bradenton Herald's Ryan Boyd, the Fort Myers News-Press' Jeff Berlinicke, and the Sarasota Herald Tribune's Alan Dell.

-- Didn't get to see the game in person or on TV? ESPN.com has highlights of the game's biggest plays, or at least some of them. And ESPN.com Big East blogger Brian Bennett has his thoughts on the opening weekend, saying USF could be "scary good." Louisville, meanwhile, is looking scary bad. Two points? Against Kentucky? It's not like they're Bowling Green or something ...

-- Completely unrelated to USF, but my favorite story of the weekend was how the guys who were supposed to parachute into North Carolina's opener with a game ball inadvertently landed eight miles away at Duke, surprising players on the field an hour before kickoff.

-- The Orlando Sentinel's David Whitley takes UCF to task for struggling with South Carolina State -- remember, that's where d-line coach John Hendrick was defensive coordinator last year. The Daytona Beach News-Journal's UCF game story managed to get the word "dull" in a headline, something you don't see often on the opening weekend of college football.

More NFL: Guard Davis lands with Bengals

Former USF guard Frank Davis, cut Saturday by the Detroit Lions, wasn't out of a job long, as he was picked up off waivers by the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday as part of the team's initial 53-man roster.

Davis, who made Detroit's roster as an undrafted rookie, missed last season on injured reserve but is now back to full health. Here's the writeup from Bengals.com on his signing.

And curiously, former USF linebacker Ben Moffitt, cut by the Houston Texans on Friday, wasn't among seven players signed to the Texans' practice squad on Sunday, so if he is to stay in the NFL in some capacity this fall, it'll be with another organization. With Davis signed, USF is back up to seven alums on NFL rosters, plus cornerback Trae Williams on the Eagles' practice squad.

Eagles sign Williams to practice squad

Former USF cornerback Trae Williams, cut by the Jacksonville Jaguars on Saturday, has been signed to the practice squad of the Philadelphia Eagles, his agent, Ken Sarnoff, said Sunday.

Williams, a fifth-round draft pick of Jacksonville, is the second USF graduate on the Eagles roster, joining former Bulls safety J.R. Reed. He'll be allowed to practice with the team and can be signed to the team's active roster in the event of an injury or an active player being cut.

Injuries: Pupello unknown; Ford, Schmidt fine

USF coach Jim Leavitt said Sunday that he won't know the severity of tight end Trent Pupello's ankle/foot injury until Monday morning, but that looks to be the only lingering injury from USF's 56-7 win against Tennessee-Martin on Saturday.

Offensive coordinator Greg Gregory said he saw Pupello getting treatment from trainers Sunday morning, and the sophomore tight end told him he would be ready to play this week.

Leavitt said running back Mike Ford (ankle) and offensive tackle Ryan Schmidt (knee) would both be fine for this week's game at Central Florida, saying that they remained on the sidelines after their injuries because he wanted to see other players in game action at their positions. USF receiver Carlton Mitchell, who did not have a catch and appeared to have only one pass thrown in his direction, is fully healthy, Leavitt said.

As for changes to USF's ranking, the Bulls aren't likely to move too far in either poll. The Bulls will certainly jump ahead of Virginia Tech, which lost to East Carolina on Saturday, and will move ahead of Illinois in the coaches' poll. No. 24 Alabama, which had a convincing win against No. 9 Clemson, could move ahead of USF, but it's hard to say if the Tigers will drop below them.

Ten thoughts from USF's opener ...

Lots to get to today as we wrap up Tennessee-Martin and quickly move ahead to this week's game at Central Florida and all that accompanies that. Won't be able to watch a replay until this afternoon, but here are 10 quick thoughts -- OK, who am I kidding, 10 thoughts -- off USF's first game of the season ...

-- For all the talk about USF's offensive efficiency, I was as impressed by the defense, as dominating as it was vanilla. Very little blitzing, few wrinkles, only one turnover and one sack, but just a brick wall. Tennessee-Martin's longest drive of the game -- they had 14 -- was all of 22 yards. After gaining 21 yards on their first drive, the Skyhawks failed to gain so much as SEVEN on any of their next 10 possessions. UTM only ran 54 plays, and 17 of those were incompletions, so no Bulls defender had more than five tackles.

You saw lots of substitutions -- seems like USF prefers Terrell McClain at nose tackle in its nickel defense, and you saw lots of Louis Gachette subbing for both safeties. I thought Sabbath Joseph looked strong when he got into the game, and you have to like the cornerback play when the longest pass play is 11 yards.

-- The Bulls only got one kickoff and fumbled that, but you saw a lot of progress on punt returns, with five returns of longer than 20 yards. The Bulls had six of those in all of last season, in 13 games. That points to superior blocking (again, against a weaker opponent) and good instincts by Marcus Edwards. With walk-on Lucas Darr sidelined with an ankle injury, USF turned to walk-on Cameron Perkins, one of the team's fastest players, lining up in the middle on punt block, and he got a piece of the punt that Theo Wilson took 67 yards for a touchdown. Wilson's speed trucking through the middle of the field on that touchdown might be the most impressive thing from the opener. His long path to USF is a story I want to write very soon ...

-- We talked in the position breakdown about how sophomores A.J. Love and Dontavia Bogan are due for breakout seasons, and they looked like two of USF's best receivers Saturday. You saw flat-out drops on easy passes by Taurus Johnson and Jessie Hester, while Love had two great catches on USF's third drive, getting gains of 11 and 18 yards and showing how he might have a real connection with Matt Grothe. Bogan, meanwhile, caught three passes from B.J. Daniels, including back-to-back beautiful catches on USF's sideline. It might be a function of his returning from injury, but I think you saw USF hiding Carlton Mitchell a bit -- the only game he didn't catch a pass in last season was the bowl game, where he was injured on a deep pass fairly early in the game.

-- We led our notebook with the impressive balance at running back, where four different backs looked like they could have gone for 100 yards with about five more carries each. I can't overstate how unimportant the starting role is here -- Ben Williams and Jamar Taylor were in the opening backfield, and Mike Ford replaced them both on the next play. Richard Kelly was in on the third drive. Williams remains so underappreciated -- that 45-yard run on the second drive and his 12-yard touchdown showed how tough he is to tackle in traffic. Normally, you'd think a 5-foot-7 back would be good in the open field, not running through linebackers between the tackles. Taylor, too, was a good change of pace -- on one second-quarter drive, Ford ran six times in seven plays, getting between 3 and 6 yards on each run. Then Taylor came in and broke out for a 21-yard gain. I think Kelly might have gotten only two carries on purpose. Making the most of these backs will be a continuing story and a key to USF's offensive success.

-- Honestly didn't see Trent Pupello's ankle injury, but Jim Leavitt seemed very concerned about it after the game, and we'll check on its severity today. You saw USF in a ton of two-tight-end sets last night, and Pupello was in there much more than last year's No. 2, Ben Busbee. If I were making a list of players kept under wraps Saturday, I think Ced Hill would have to be high on there as well, along with Daniel Bryant ...

-- Leavitt talked about how impressed he was with how freshman B.J. Daniels bounced back from a costly fumble -- resulting in UTM's only points -- on his third play. Those back-to-back plays with Bogan were very promising -- first, a pinpoint 30-yard throw over Bogan's shoulder down the right sideline, then a Grothe-like scramble, again finding Bogan tiptoeing the sideline 20 yards downfield. A promising debut, especially when you consider that backup Grant Gregory didn't look especially sharp in his seven passes.

-- Walk-ons, everywhere! The participation chart showed more than 70 Bulls played Saturday, including some that might not make it on the field again, unless another game gets really out of hand. Shawn Cannon and Mike Padilla, two scout-team guys, got two carries each. Kenneth Luberice is a guy you'll see a lot on special teams, just like LaDre Watkins -- I wonder how many true freshman walk-ons were on a ranked team's opening kickoff this week. Chaz Hine and Joe Herzhauser got in on the second-team offensive line, and the stat book missed it, but Rhett Hamrick got out on the field for the final take-a-knee play. Hey, there are lots of walk-ons who never get that much ...

-- USF did this last season to some extent, but I was intrigued to see the Bulls have running backs shift from the backfield to receiver, if only as a decoy. Ford did it at least twice, and Taylor did it once as well -- Ford only had two catches last season and none after the first two games, but Taylor had eight catches last season and makes sense (with Williams) as a frequent target of Grothe passes.

-- The only thing you can really compare this game to is last year's opener, against I-AA Elon, but a few things stand out. Last year's opener saw USF commit nine penalties for 89 yards; on Saturday, USF had five for 25. Just two flags in the first half -- Sampson Genus offsides, and Taurus Johnson making an illegal shift that negated a 39-yard touchdown to A.J. Love. Another false start, another offsides and Ben Busbee moving forward after a fair catch on kickoff, and that's it. If you've followed USF and penalties, it's fairly remarkable against any opponent. Last year's low was 38 yards in flags, and the school record is 15.

-- "Advance the chains"? Who says "Advance the chains"? Nobody I've heard. Google the phrase "Advance the Chains" and you'll find 117 on the entire Internet. "Move the chains," meanwhile, generates 126,000 instances -- that's a thousand times as often -- many of which actually involve first downs and football. Is USF's public address announcer trying to sound quirky? Maybe British? (UPDATE: I've since learned of the sponsorship, which helps it make a little more sense). And then the trivia question asks how many years Leavitt has been at USF, and gets it wrong. Any Bulls fan worth their season ticket knows Leavitt was hired in December 1995, not 1996, as the video board explained with authority. Believe me, I make all kinds of mistakes, as you guys are good to point out, but that seemed like an easy one. More links and notes to come ...

Bulls roll to easy 56-7 win in opener

TAMPA – It won’t always be this easy – it really can’t be, frankly -- but openers don’t come much more dominating than USF’s 56-7 drubbing of Division I-AA’s Tennessee-Martin on Saturday night at Raymond James Stadium.

"The thing I'm happiest about is that sometimes we've played a team like that and we haven't done what we were supposed to do," coach Jim Leavitt said.

The opening quarter went so near-perfectly for the Bulls, with four touchdowns in their first four possessions, that USF had quarterback Matt Grothe on the bench after just one quarter.

After an interception by backup Grant Gregory, Grothe was back, but it was little more than an encore, a chance for one more touchdown before calling it a night at halftime.

"It'd be nice if all of them would be like that," said Grothe, who finished 6-of-8 for 96 yards and two scores. "We came out and we executed. There was a lot of talk before the game about the last two years, so we wanted to come out and score some points."

USF had struggled in openers against I-AA teams the last two years, eking past Elon 28-13 last year and leading McNeese State 13-10 in the fourth quarter in 2006 before pulling away.

This time, there was no trouble, as a crowd of 48,058 looked on, the most for a USF opener since the program’s first game in 1997. The defense pitched a shutout, with the only points coming off a fumble return, and the Bulls held UTM to 97 total yards of offense, 23 off the school record set in that first-ever game against Kentucky Wesleyan.

"We wanted to set the tone early, especially on defense," said safety Carlton Williams, who had an interception on a deep pass. "Once you start, you don't want to let anybody get momentum. Our goal tonight was to keep going and keep going and don't let up."

The Bulls (1-0) scored four touchdowns on their first 18 plays, only going to third down once along the way. Grothe found receiver Jessie Hester for the first of two touchdowns, then sophomore Mike Ford had touchdown runs of 4 and 6 yards, with senior Ben Williams going 12 yards for the fourth score.

It was a record night for USF on punt returns, as senior Marcus Edwards set a school record with 124 yards on seven returns, all in the first half. Dunedin’s Theo Wilson added to that when he took a punt blocked by walk-on Cameron Perkins and returned it 67 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter.

UTM, which got $300,000 to come to Tampa for its first game against a major-conference opponent, only got on the scoreboard when USF brought freshman B.J. Daniels in for a dubious debut. Daniels fumbled on his third play, and UTM's D.J. Miller recovered the loose ball and returned it 72 yards for the touchdown. At that point, UTM’s offense had totaled 52 yards of offense the entire game.

Daniels recovered nicely, finding receiver Dontavia Bogan for passes of 36 and 20 yards on the next drive, which was spoiled when receiver Ed Alcin fumbled into the pylon for a touchback. Daniels finished 4-for-4 for 86 yards. USF was able to pile up 520 yards of offense despite substituting liberally, allowing several reserves and even walk-ons to make their college debuts.

After the sting of a 35-point loss to Oregon in the Sun Bowl had lingered for eight months, the Bulls now have confidence heading into next week’s game at Central Florida.

"I do recognize we've got different teams ahead," Leavitt said. "None of you have to share that with me. I recognize that, and I think our team does, too."

Meet Theo: Wilson returns punt for TD

Cornerback Theo Wilson, who had an interception taken back on review, still found a way to make a strong USF debut Saturday night, returned a blocked punt 67 yards for a touchdown and a 49-7 USF lead with 11:39 to play here at Raymond James Stadium.

USF has set a school record for punt return yards in a game -- Marcus Edwards had 124 in the first half alone -- and Wilson, the Dunedin graduate who joined the Bulls from junior college, showed his speed in the open field. Walk-on Cameron Perkins got through to block the kick and set up the return.

Daniels' fumble spoils shutout for Bulls

Tennessee-Martin is on the scoreboard. A dubious debut by freshman quarterback B.J. Daniels saw him fumble on his third play, and the loose ball was scooped up by UTM's D.J. Miller and returned it 64 yards for a touchdown. It's 42-7 Bulls with still more than a quarter to play here ...

Everybody's scoring: Plancher makes it 42-0

Here's a touchdown you can feel good about: Junior Moise Plancher, limited by injuries for much of the past two seasons, bolted 34 yards for a third-quarter touchdown to put the Bulls up 42-0.

It's the first career touchdown for Plancher, who tore his ACL in the 2006 season opener and was limited in his return last season. Plancher suffered a personal loss this offseason when his cousin, Central Florida freshman receiver Ereck Plancher, collapsed and died during a team workout.

More imperfection: Alvarado misses 46-yarder

It's still 35-0 here in the third quarter, but it's starting to get sloppy for USF. The Bulls, perhaps forgetting the whole process of receiving a kickoff, fumbled the return out of halftime as Jerome Murphy took it to midfield, then lost the ball.

Tennessee Martin immediately threw a deep interception to Carlton Williams, and USF followed with a meandering 11-play drive that ended with Delbert Alvarado missing a 46-yard field goal well short.

USF is already in run-out-the-clock mode, with Mike Ford getting six carries in a span of seven plays. Looked like he might have tweaked something in his leg on the final carry as he limped off the field, replaced by Jamar Taylor, who went 21 yards on the next play. Ford and left tackle Ryan Schmidt, who left in the second quarter with what looked to be a right knee injury, both appear to be fine on the sidelines.

Edwards sets punt return record

It's only halftime, but senior Marcus Edwards has already set a USF record for punt return yards in a game, totaling 124 on his seven first-half punt returns. Edwards breaks the mark set by Ean Randolph against Florida International in 2006. It's only the sixth 100-yard punt-return game in USF history.

Edwards only had a total of 231 yards in all of last season on 31 returns. And one more wild stat: USF's opponents totaled 152 yards in punt returns in all of 2007, so it's entirely possible Edwards could surpass that before he's done tonight.

Tennessee-Martin, I think, is not done punting, and speaking of which, we'll all be watching on the edges of our seats to see if the Skyhawks -- with 311 punt yards in the first half -- can reset the USF opponent record of 488 yards on punts, set by Southwest Texas in 1999. I can see the old '99 Southwest Texas gang watching together, pulling for UTM first downs so their place in USF history can remain intact ...

-- We interrupt for an NFL update: Former USF guard Frank Davis was released by the Detroit Lions on Saturday night, becoming the third former Bull cut this weekend. There are still six Bulls on NFL rosters ...

Grothe-to-Hester again: Make it 35-0

It's not quite the scoring outburst that was the first quarter, but USF has found the end zone again, with Matt Grothe connecting with Jessie Hester for their second score of the night, a 22-yard touchdown that has the Bulls up 35-0 on Tennessee-Martin with 1:55 left in the half.

Grothe looked to have a touchdown five plays earlier when he found a wide-open A.J. Love for a 39-yard score, but the touchdown was brought back by an illegal-shift penalty. USF has been flaring running backs out to receiver quite a bit, if only as decoys -- Jamar Taylor was wide left on the touchdown to Hester.

After another three-and-out by Tennessee-Martin, we're at halftime here at Raymond James Stadium ...

Not so fast: Grothe back in for encore

Just when you thought Matt Grothe was done for the night, he's back in the game, returning after backup Grant Gregory threw an interception on his first drive. The Bulls lead 28-0 but haven't scored in more than six minutes, which could be good news for the existing points-in-a-first-half record of 42 points, set against Liberty in 2001.

There's imperfection on offense! Grothe not only has an incompletion -- thanks to a Taurus Johnson drop -- he also was dropped for a sack. USF also has its first punt of the season, with Delbert Alvarado booting one 43 yards for a fair catch on the Tennessee-Martin 17-yard line. Momentum is shifting to the Skyhawks ...

Easy night: Grothe out, Gregory in

Up 28-0 after the opening quarter, USF has already gone to its bench, bringing backup quarterback Grant Gregory in and apparently calling it a night for starter Matt Grothe. What is this, the NFL preseason?

His numbers? Grothe went 4-for-4 for 65 yards and a touchdown, with 3 yards on his only carry.

No sooner is Gregory in the game than USF has its first turnover of the season, as a Gregory pass in Tennessee-Martin was batted at the line and intercepted by UTM's D.J. Miller, who returned it to the USF 30-yard line before being tackled by Gregory.

I'm thinking we'll see freshman B.J. Daniels tonight if things continue as they have ...

It's a record: USF, 28-0, in the first ...

The only thing stopping USF's offense is the back of the end zone tonight: Four drives, four touchdowns and we're still in the opening quarter, as the Bulls lead Tennessee-Martin 28-0.

The latest score is a 12-yard run by Ben Williams, which gives the Bulls their highest-scoring first quarter ever and matches the most points ever in any quarter -- it's been done five times before.

USF has only run 18 offensive plays, and none of the Bulls' scoring drives have been longer than five plays. USF has more points than UTM has yards, though it'll be tough to keep that going.

Unsung in all of this is superb punt returning by Marcus Edwards -- he already has returns of 39, 21 and 22 yards, setting USF up in great field position for each of their touchdown drives.

Remember, USF needed an entire game against a I-AA team in last year's opener to get to 28 points in beating Elon. To sum up the opening quarter: No penalties for USF, no incompletions, no offensive plays that failed to gain yards. UTM has yet to advance farther than USF's 31-yard line.

Three drives, three TDs: Bulls up 21-0

If you wanted a barnburner here at Raymond James Stadium, you're going to be disappointed. Still in the opening quarter, it's 21-0 Bulls, as USF got another sharp scoring drive punctuated by Mike Ford's second touchdown of the game.

Matt Grothe is off to a nice start, going 4-for-4 for 64 yards, connecting with sophomore A.J. Love for gains of 11 and 18 yards on the most recent drive. The 21 points is more than USF scored in any opening quarter last season -- the Bulls had 20 in their win against Louisville.

In fact, the 21 points matches the school record for points in a first quarter -- the Bulls had 21 against Rutgers in 2005 and against Austin Peay in 2000. And there's still three minutes left here ...

USF has run 14 offensive plays -- in three drives, the Bulls have only gone to third down once, and that was a third and 2 ...

Williams' big run sets up Ford touchdown

Sure, it's Tennessee-Martin, but USF's offense is looking sharp in 2008, marching to touchdowns on its first two possessions.

The depth at running back is on display, as senior Ben Williams took his first carry for 45 yards down the UTM sidelines to the 7-yard line, and two plays later, Mike Ford bowled in for a 3-yard touchdown and a 14-0 lead.

Nice start: Edwards takes first punt 39 yards

Every time we've brought up senior Marcus Edwards coming back as USF's primary punt returner, there's been a general grumbling that he's reliable but not a big-play guy.

So much for that. Edwards took Tennessee-Martin's first punt and broke loose down the USF sideline for a 39-yard return, setting the Bulls up on the UTM 31-yard line. That's 2 yards longer than any punt return the Bulls had last season -- the best of 39 returns in 2007 was a 37-yard return by Amarri Jackson.

Grothe finds Hester for season's first TD

It took USF barely five minutes to get their first touchdown of 2008, as quarterback Matt Grothe found receiver Jessie Hester for an 18-yard touchdown to give the Bulls a 7-0 lead on Tennessee-Martin on Saturday night.

It was Grothe's first pass of the season, after four consecutive runs to open the game The starting running backs were Ben Williams and Jamar Taylor, with Taylor getting a 2-yard gain on the first play. As we've said, that doesn't mean too much: Mike Ford was in on the next play and carried the ball on the next three plays, getting a key first down on third-and-2.

Here's a wrinkle: On the touchdown play, Ford was lined up as a receiver, wide right in a four-receiver formation.

-- Aside from Taylor, not too many surprises in the starting lineups -- A.J. Love earned his first career start, lining up with Marcus Edwards and Cedric Hill with the offensive line as expected. On defense, Sampson Genus got the nod at nose tackle, though USF was in a nickel defense on the fourth play.

-- Six Bulls made their USF debuts on the opening kickoff: Jerrell Young, Quenton Washington, Tyson Butler, Charlton Sinclair and walk-ons LaDre Watkins. Watkins is the first true freshman to play this season. Trent Pupello made his Bulls debut on the extra point following the touchdown.

Live blog: A rainy night at Ray-Jay

It's an hour before kickoff here at Raymond James Stadium, and tonight's season opener looks to be a rare thing in USF's history: a rainy football game. There's a steady rain coming down on what is already a wet field -- USF has its "U" logo at midfield and "BULLS" in each end zone here.

In what is now 12 seasons of USF football, this would be only the fifth game played in rain -- the last was last year's loss at Connecticut, and the last rain game at home was way back in 1999, when USF beat Southwest Texas State.

-- First update: Only a handful of the true freshmen are dressed. Quarterback B.J. Daniels is in uniform, while Evan Landi is in shorts, so he won't be playing. Defensive tackle Cory Grissom, working his way back from an ankle sprain, is not dressed, nor is special-teamer Lucas Darr, also nursing an ankle injury.

-- Can't know for sure until the first play, but looks like sophomore Sampson Genus will get the starting nod at nose tackle, ahead of sophomore Terrell McClain, based on how they're lining up in warmups.

Trae Williams cut loose by Jaguars

Somebody mentioned the possibility on the comments yesterday, and sure enough, former USF cornerback Trae Williams, a fifth-round draft pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars, was among 19 players cut by the Jags on Saturday. He's the second Bulls alum cut in as many days, following linebacker Ben Moffitt with the Texans.

Williams, who had an interception on his old college field against the Bucs last week, could be on another roster as early as Sunday, when cuts clear waivers and players can sign with new teams. The Jaguars opted to keep an undrafted rookie, Brian Witherspoon, instead of Williams, who got a signing bonus of about $170,000 from the Jaguars just last month.

-- Wow. Go ahead and drop Pittsburgh down a notch from wherever you had them pegged in the Big East standings -- the Panthers lost 27-17 to ... Bowling Green on Saturday. Pittsburgh was a 13-point favorite and had a 14-0 lead in the second quarter, but was shut out in the second quarter, with star running back LeSean McCoy held to 71 yards on 23 carries. With Virginia Tech losing to East Carolina, USF is likely to move up at least one spot in the polls if the Bulls win convincingly tonight. And Syracuse? Still really bad. The Orange can't hang with Northwestern, losing 30-10.

Position breakdown: Linebackers

Defensive coordinator Wally Burnham is and has been a linebackers coach, so having experience anchoring the middle of the defense is always a key for the Bulls. This fall, USF must make up for the graduation of Ben Moffitt, but has two returning senior starters leading what should be a strong position.

THE STARTERS: By USF's calculations, senior Tyrone McKenzie has more tackles in the last two seasons than anyone in college football. His 121 tackles last season were a school record, all the more impressive when you consider he came off the field in USF's nickel defense. Another year like that and he'll be a first-team all-conference selection and potentially an NFL Draft pick. The original plan was for McKenzie to move to the middle, taking over for Moffitt, but a week into preseason drills, he was moved back to strongside.

Stepping in at middle is junior Kion Wilson, a junior college transfer who missed much of the spring with injury but made up for it in August. Wilson's playmaking ability is not in question, so it's just a matter of how quickly he can learn the defense and pick up the reads, since the middle linebacker is typically the one who makes sure everyone is in the right place. (Senior safeties Carlton Williams and Danny Verpaele will help with that this season). Williams told me what he likes about Wilson is that he never seems to get tired, even covering as much ground as he does.

Returning at weakside linebacker is senior Brouce Mompremier, who had never had more than five tackles in a season until he stepped in as a starter last year. He finished with 83 tackles, including six for loss, and he and McKenzie will be leaders on a defense full of multi-year starters.

THE SECOND TIER: Jim Leavitt and Burnham have both talked about how they have six linebackers they intend to play, which could mean more substitution than last season, when the three starters took a huge amount of the reps in games. Leading the second three is sophomore Sabbath Joseph, who had the starting strongside linebacker job to lose at the start of preseason camp, but was bumped out when McKenzie moved back outside. He can back up all three linebacker positions and should improve on the 14 tackles he had as a redshirt freshman. Another sophomore, Alonzo McQueen, is the top backup in the middle and should see significantly more action than he did last year. Junior Chris Robinson is something of an enigma -- he starred at the end of 2006, shifting from end to linebacker, but never was the same last season, slowed by injuries. Leavitt said this summer he was a key to the defense, someone who could grab a starting job and run with it, but it never happened. He's now working at weakside as Mompremier's backup and could help at end as well.

THE REST: First, we'll mention three scholarship true freshmen who are headed for redshirts -- Mike Lanaris, Armando Sanchez and Quavon Taylor. The only one you've heard about is Taylor, who managed to forget about a practice and solidify a spot in Leavitt's doghouse. Linebacker's really a position that requires a redshirt year to pick up the complexities of Burnham's defense. ... Linebacker is a position that meshes well for special-teams work, and some of the walk-on LBs should be leaders on special teams. Junior Houston Hess has been a top special-teams tackler the past two seasons, sophomore Lucas Darr is another special-teams ace and freshman LaDre Watkins has shown enough that he'll play as a true freshman, starting on several kick and punt units. Two other true freshman walk-ons, Chase Geaney and Chris Breit, are headed for redshirts.

Today's crowd: Where will it rank?

More than 45,000 tickets have been distributed for today's season opener against Tennessee-Martin, which means despite a nearly anonymous opponent, the Bulls should have one of their top five crowds ever at Raymond James Stadium.

The top four -- all 57,000 fans or more -- were all during last season, but before that, the biggest crowd was the 45,274 fans who saw USF play West Virginia at the end of the first Big East season in 2005. The only other game to draw more than 45,000 was the 2005 game against Central Florida, which had 45,139.

USF's student section of 12,501, the largest in the Big East, won't be at full capacity, with about 9,500 tickets distributed, but remember, too, that the student section wasn't expanded to its current size until the West Virginia game last season -- it was just 8,000 before that game.

One thing we're going to follow up on is how USF's new lottery system for students getting football tickets is helping attendance in other sports. Students can help their chances at getting in the student section by earning "priority points" by attending games for other teams. By no coincidence, USF's volleyball opener Friday night drew a record crowd of 1,178 to the Corral to see the Bulls beat Grambling. Volleyball's home again today, with a 1 p.m. game against Eastern Kentucky; attendance might be down for their third game, tonight at 7 against Northeastern.

-- TV tip for those of you who aren't on Bright House Networks and thus can't get tonight's local broadcast on Catch 47. I've got DirecTV at the house, so my first instinct was to pick up the ESPN GamePlan package, which runs $109. But since Sports NY is also carrying tonight's USF game, you can add that channel (it's channel 639) as part of the Sports premium package for just $12 a month, and can cancel after a month with no additional charges. UPDATE: Sports NY is only carrying the game on tape delay, showing it at 1 p.m. Sunday ...

-- Hey, the count for followers for the blog's free counterpart at Twitter.com is up to 86 ... looks like we'll fall just short of our goal of 100 by the opener, but thanks to everybody who's joined up ...

Gameday is here; lots of links, too

The kickoff to USF's 2008 football season is less than 10 hours off, and it should be a busy day on the blog. Lots of links to offer up, as many state papers and national sites write about the Bulls and, to a lesser extent, Tennessee-Martin. Biggest UTM grads you might know? Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summitt and FSU men's basketball coach Leonard Hamilton. Should be interesting to see how the Skyhawks handle a big crowd at Raymond James Stadium -- their home stadium seats just 7,500 fans. Then again, in last year's opener at Southern Miss, they carried a 6-0 lead into the second quarter. The Golden Eagles went on to rush for 310 yards, so don't be shocked if it's a big day on the ground for the Bulls today. Links ...

-- Our preview looks at USF's depth on offense at running back and receiver, where the Bulls haven't had a 1,000-yard rusher since Andre Hall and haven't had a receiver catch more than four touchdowns in a season since 2003. The Bulls like to spread it around, and that likely won't change this season ...

-- The Associated Press preview focuses on defensive end George Selvie and how opposing offenses will scheme against him this fall, much as they did in the second half of last season.

-- I'd thought a lot about writing something this week on Matt Grothe and the need for him to throw fewer interceptions this year, which is what the Sarasota Herald-Tribune's Alan Dell chose for his advance. It's a good story, and one I still might write in the next week or two.

-- Tampa Bay's 10 has a good story on the St. Petersburg Bowl, which plays its first game Dec. 20 in Tropicana Field.

-- Want a Tennessee perspective? The Jackson Sun said the Skyhawks will be motivated by last year's Appalachian State upset of Michigan, and recognizes that Raymond James Stadium is home to the "Tampa Bay Bucaneers." The paycheck UTM gets for this game, by the way, is $300,000.

-- The Des Moines Register catches up with former USF assistant Dan McCarney, making his debut as Florida's defensive line coach today.

-- Predictions? The Tucson Citizen picks USF to win 50-10 today. The Orlando Sentinel's Mike Bianchi likes the Bulls to win by 35. The Lakeland Ledger's Tom Zebold says it's USF, 42-9. The Detroit Free Press says USF, 31-7, and says it won't be a surprise if the Bulls win the Big East.

-- This story writes that UTM is getting $750,000 for its two guarantee games against I-A opponents, which means Auburn is paying the Skyhawks $450,000, or half-again more than USF. Hard to believe UTM is following the Bulls with an NAIA school, Baker University in Kansas. For a I-AA team that won four games last year, the Skyhawks did score 76 points (!) in a 42-point win against Murray State last year.

Position breakdown: Defensive line

Gameday is here, and we're still trying to squeeze these in before kickoff, if only to make next week a little less cluttered. Defensive line might have the most change of any position this side of cornerback -- new coaches, two new full-time starters, same high expectations.

THE STARTERS: It all begins with end George Selvie (left), who became USF's first consensus All-American after leading the nation in tackles for loss. Selvie got off to an amazing start, then tapered off as offenses began gameplanning around him with double-teams and keen awareness of his whereabouts at all time. As a result, he had just four sacks in seven Big East games, still winning the league's Defensive Player of the Year honors. He's setting his sights higher, and another season like his 2007 would likely make him a first-round pick if he left for the NFL Draft. The question for USF is how the rest of the defensive line can exploit the extra attention given to Selvie.

On the opposite side, senior Jarriett Buie has plenty of room for improvement after getting just one sack in nine starts last season. Buie had a strong spring game, but that was with a quick whistle and quarterbacks who weren't allowed to scramble -- touch sacks won't cut it this fall. He'll have chances early, facing a first-year starter against Kansas and a converted tight end protecting Michael Greco's blindside in the UCF game. If he can't get to the quarterback, there are promising younger players who will push for his job.

Inside, the Bulls are young, with junior Aaron Harris (left) as the only player older than a sophomore. Harris started 11 games and had 9.5 tackles for loss, including 5.5 sacks. He got a brief look at end, so he could shift outside in some looks as well. At nose tackle, there are two promising but unproven sophomores in Sampson Genus and Terrell McClain. Genus is a converted offensive lineman we've written a lot about in preseason, one of the team's strongest players and a key to USF's interior run defense. McClain, known as "Dancing Bear" to teammates, played as a true freshman to gain experience as coaches knew that seniors Richard Clebert, Allen Cray and Julian Riley would be graduating. Defensive coordinator Wally Burnham has raved about his upside, once McClain can get some experience and understanding of the defense.

NEXT IN THE ROTATION: Sophomore defensive ends Craig Marshall and David Bedford came in from junior college this fall with high expectations, and Marshall -- with size that could eventually move him inside -- is working with the second team at end. Bedford has huge potential but spent this summer in the classroom taking 20 credits to allow him to enroll this fall, so he came in behind from a conditioning perspective, missing out on key time during the summer B semester. He should be able to make significant progress in the first month of the season in preparation for Big East play.

Who would USF's fourth defensive tackle be? Right now, it's redshirt freshman Keith McCaskill, who played defensive end in high school and played linebacker initially at USF, but has bulked up to 263 pounds. If he can get healthy in the next few weeks, it's likely true freshman Cory Grissom, who drew high praise from coaches early in preseason before suffering a high ankle sprain. He's already recovered quicker than expected, so don't be surprised if he's in the rotation as a regular by the Pittsburgh game. The other second-team end right now is redshirt freshman Patrick Hampton, who had a strong spring game but is still undersized at 225 pounds. USF now has two coaches devoted to the defensive line in veteran John Hendrick and former USF assistant Kevin Patrick, back with the Bulls after a decade away from coaching.

THE REST: Jim Leavitt has taken a liking to redshirt freshman David Fonua, who has been limited by an elbow injury but could push for a spot in the top four defensive tackles, challenging McCaskill and Grissom. ... Coaches had hoped that linebacker Chris Robinson would step up as the starting strongside linebacker but he didn't have a good summer and now is working as the backup at weakside. Robinson shined as a third-down defensive end in 2006 and could still get a chance there if he's not needed at linebacker. Redshirt freshman Darren Powe, listed as a nose tackle, hasn't been able to get higher than third team on the depth chart so far, and junior Shane McElwain, something of a project when he was signed three years ago as a hockey prospect with only one year of football experience, has been limited to special-teams contributions in his first two seasons. ... Defensive tackle Jatavious Jackson, a former FSU signee, is due to redshirt but looks promising, getting in shape quickly after a year away from football. ... Walk-on Kenneth Luberice, competing for the starting "up back" role on punt team, moved to end when Quincy Okolie was lost for the season, and another walk-on, Rony DeLisca of Wharton, joined the team after two-a-days in the first week of school.

Ex-Bull Moffitt among Texans' cuts

From the beginning, we said he faced long odds, and former USF linebacker Ben Moffitt, trying to make the Houston Texans' roster as an undrafted rookie, was among 21 players cut by the team Friday.

NFL teams have until Saturday afternoon to make their final cuts. Moffitt could be picked up by another team, but most likely is headed for a practice squad, where he could practice with an NFL team without being on its active roster.

Moffitt is the second Bulls rookie cut this summer, following receiver Amarri Jackson, cut by the Bucs. Cornerbacks Mike Jenkins and Trae Williams, drafted by the Cowboys and Jaguars, respectively, are almost assured of making their teams' final rosters. That means eight USF alums are on NFL rosters, with veterans Frank Davis (Lions), Andre Hall (Broncos), Anthony Henry (Cowboys), Kawika Mitchell (Bills), Stephen Nicholas (Falcons) and J.R. Reed (Eagles).

Close but no cigar: Praise for USF ... Rams?

I've gotten two e-mails about this now, but wanted to wait until I could check in person before posting it here on the blog. USF has the dubious honor of getting a mention in the college football preview in this month's Cigar Aficionado magazine, written by oddsmaker Danny Sheridan.

Sure enough, if you turn to page 163, where Sheridan's top 20 for this season is listed, there USF is at No. 20. Only problem? Sheridan calls USF the "Rams." Rams? Not even sure who he was confusing the Bulls with -- Colorado State? Rhode Island? Fordham? Anyway, for Bulls fans, er, USF fans, it has the dual purpose of additional national acclaim and the motivation that this team is still somehow introducing itself to people ...

Position breakdown: Offensive line

It's now 27 hours before the season kicks off, and I still have the entire defense to break down by position -- and special teams -- so I'm not sure if I should cram them in, or run things over to next week.

USF's offensive line has five starters with at least 13 career starts each, but there's limited depth beyond those five, so the unit's effectiveness could be closely linked to its health this season. With four seniors starting, there's a strong desire to rotate younger players in this season, both to protect the starters' health and make sure the cupboard isn't too bare for 2009.

THE STARTERS: Senior tackles Ryan Schmidt and Marc Dile (left) each have 20 career starts, though Schmidt makes the transition from All-Big East guard to tackle, where he'll protect Matt Grothe's blindside. If there's a theme to the line, it's how they've trimmed their weights this summer, losing more than 100 pounds combined. That's with an eye toward more of a power running game, with linemen on the move and continuing to block defenders downfield. Center Jake Griffin, selected as a game captain for the opener, is a vocal leader and one of the team's strongest players; he and guard Matt Huners have both been held out of drills some this preseason to preserve them for the season ahead. Huners played sparingly last season after recovering from a torn ACL in the '07 spring game -- before that, he was considered the Bulls' top lineman. The young one of the group is sophomore Zach Hermann, who was quietly consistent last season, starting every game at right guard.

NEXT IN LINE: Sophomore Jake Sims (left), a former walk-on who entered August as the team's starting right tackle, is essentially the backup at all five spots, though he's listed on the depth chart at center. He's in ilne to take over for Griffin there in 2009, and will get regular snaps during games with an eye toward that. Next most likely to play is redshirt freshman Jeremiah Warren, who got as big as 340 pounds in preseason, unable to work much because of an ankle injury. He had a strong week and is expected to play as well. The only true freshman expected to play is tackle Danous Estenor, who opened drills at defensive tackle but was shifted to offense, where he started three years at Palm Beach Central. The young lineman who showed the most progress this fall might be redshirt freshman Mike McGowan, who was originally tagged for a grayshirt when he signed with USF last year. He came in with the rest of the class last fall and has gone from tight end to center to tackle, where he's now listed as the No. 2 on the left side. Battling for a second-team guard spot are walk-ons Chaz Hine and Joe Herzhauser -- Hine, an opera singer, has followed Sims' path as a walk-on missed by other programs, and Herzhauser is one of the team's oldest players at 24, having spent two years in the Air Force before joining the Bulls.

THE REST: For much of the summer, Jim Leavitt had high praise for incoming freshmen Mark Popek and Damien Edwards, expecting them to push Sims for a starting tackle position. The transition to college is tough for a lineman, however, and both have been headed for redshirts since the first week of preseason drills. Popek could still wind up as a starting tackle in 2009. Another scholarship freshman, guard Josh Garvin, will redshirt as well. Center Kevin McCaskill, like his brother Keith on defense, is fighting for a spot on the two-deep, and junior Danny Tolley is likely sidelined until at least October as he recovers from an ACL tear on the last day of spring drills. A new freshman walk-on, Sean Hirlinger, is 6-7 and will use this year to add size to his frame. Offensive line will be a major part of the incoming recruiting class, with as many as six scholarships -- some likely from junior college -- going to address a position that will have significant turnover in the next year.

Position breakdown: Tight ends

Tight end ranks right there with the quarterbacks as the position with the fewest players to work with, but second-year coach Larry Scott has a group that is key to achieving the offensive balance the Bulls seek this season. The tight ends are an extension of the offensive line, crucial in establishing a power running game, but also give Matt Grothe another target as receivers stretch defenses downfield.

THE STARTER: Senior Cedric Hill, perhaps as much as any USF player aside from George Selvie, can make a case for being the best in the Big East at his position. The conference has a lot of new starters at the position, so the Bulls have an advantage in Hill, who enters the season with 18 career starts and 44 career catches.

Last season was Hill's first as an everyday starter, and while he had more catches (23) than in his first two years combined, there's certainly room for growth in 2008. A converted receiver who has worked hard to get his 6-foot-3 frame up to 244 pounds, he should be a red-zone option, certailny more than his one touchdown last season. Hill is skilled enough to line up as a receiver, creating mismatches, but has also worked on perfecting his blocking.

THE REST: There's not an obvious "NEXT IN LINE" here, so we'll go straight to the other tight ends. USF used a fair amount of two-tight-end sets last season, so the second tight end will see plenty of game action. Last season, Ben Busbee was that player, starting four games, but he seems to have been passed by Trent Pupello, a transfer from Florida who was granted a hardship waiver and can play this fall.

Pupello was the fourth or fifth tight end on arrival, enough so that USF looked at him as a defensive tackle or offensive center. He's stuck at tight end, and a strong preseason has vaulted him to No. 2 at the position -- offensive coordinator Greg Gregory went so far as to call him a "co-starter" with Hill at one point. Pupello's size -- he's listed at 276 pounds -- make him a natural run blocker.

We haven't heard much about Busbee this fall, but his experience alone puts him next in line, ahead of sophomore Andrew Ketchel, a 6-foot-5 sophomore who has added considerable weight in his two years on campus. He's still waiting for his first catch, but must have had good hands, as he caught 32 passes as a senior at Choctawhatchee High.

Those four might be the only tight ends to play this season, as the plan is to redshirt true freshmen Jeff Hawkins and Andreas Shields. Of the two, Hawkins is arguably ahead, just because of his size -- 6-4, 247 pounds, as opposed to Shields, who is listed at 6-6, 220. Both will be busy in the weight room this fall. Sophomore Quincy Okolie, who will take a medical redshirt because of a back condition this season, will return to tight end for the 2009 season.

Mattmania: Grothe gets TBT* front page

One day before USF's season opener against Tennessee-Martin, quarterback Matt Grothe is on the front page of our free daily tab, TBT*, with a story by staff writer Dalia Colon on Grothemania and the strong following he has among Bulls fans, especially online.

If you're around campus or anywhere in Tampa, pick up a TBT* -- it's free, folks -- or read the issue online here. Lots more to come today ...

Is Moffitt's big night vs. Bucs enough?

Former USF linebacker Ben Moffitt, trying to make the Houston Texans' roster as an undrafted rookie, got to start Thursday's preseason finale against the Bucs at middle linebacker and had a solid night. Moffitt, getting his most significant action of the preseason, finished with seven tackles and six assists, both one off the team lead.

Is that enough to earn him a spot on the Texans' roster, or if not, does it help his chances at landing on an NFL practice squad after final cuts are announced this weekend? Teams were carrying 75 players this week and can have only 53 on Monday, so tons of players who had good games this week will be cut loose.

Moffitt's presence got some USF talk just before halftime of the Bucs' broadcast, though announcers didn't seem to pick up on him being in the game for the first hour. Times photographer Brian Cassella, who's shot USF plenty in recent years, picked up on Moffitt and filed a photo, so we're happy to post it here. Thanks to Brian, and to Stefanie Boyar for thinking of the blog ... 

Single-game USF-UCF tickets on sale Friday

UCF has announced that a limited number of tickets for next week's USF-UCF game in Orlando will go on sale Friday morning at 9 a.m. at a cost of $65 each.

Aside from USF's contractual allotment, UCF had been limiting single-game tickets to the USF game to season-ticket holders, which start at $210. With seats available with a week remaining before the game, UCF has made tickets available to the general public. Tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster at (407) 839-3900, or at ticketmaster.com. Here's the official UCF release.

LINE SET: USF's starting offensive line for Saturday's opener against Tennessee-Martin is set, with all five players boasting at least one season as a starter.

Senior Ryan Schmidt, who started at guard last season, will start at left tackle, with three other starters back from last season: senior Jake Griffin at center, sophomore Zach Hermann at right guard and senior Marc Dile at right tackle. Senior Matt Huners, who missed most of last season recovering from injury, returns at left guard, where he started 10 games in 2006.

Sophomore Jake Sims, who entered the fall as the starting right tackle, is the top reserve, and redshirt freshman Jeremiah Warren, thought to miss Saturday's game with an ankle injury, is healthy and should play Saturday, offensive line coach Mike Simmonds said. If the Bulls are able to play their second line, freshman Danous Estenor and walk-on Chaz Hine would make their USF debuts, with walk-on Joe Herzhauser rounding out the second five.

BIG TIME: Saturday's game isn't just Tennessee-Martin's first game against a BCS-conference opponent: It's believed to be the largest crowd the Skyhawks have played to in 84 seasons of football.

The Skyhawks, who moved to Division I-AA in 1995, played before 29,253 in last year's opener at Southern Miss. Saturday's game already has more than 43,000 tickets distributed, though UTM will likely have a bigger crowd in November when they play at Auburn.

REVENGE: While USF has never played the Skyhawks, they're not completely unfamiliar to the entire program. Former USF assistant coach Rich Rachel, now the team's director of high school relations, was an assistant at Morehead State from 1976-78 and played UTM each season. The Skyhawks won all three games, by a combined score of 112-16.

Greg Auman chat transcript

Times USF beat writer Greg Auman fielded your questions for 1-1/2 hours this afternoon. Here is a full transcript:

Q: Greg, USF has some excellent weapons in Ford, Taylor, and Williams I would think since the front line dropped weight that USF will be using a lot of moving screens this year what do you think? The weight means downfield blocking and rolling line. -- Jim Risler

GA: The talk in spring football was about USF returning to a power running game, with linemen on the move and springing big runs. The receivers have talked a ton about downfield blocking, and I think 270-pound tight end Trent Pupello is a guy who could be a solid run blocker as well. It might be vanilla the first week or so, but I think you'll see a lot more of that.

Q: What's the status of some of the athletic facility upgrades? Its great to see the track & field improvments. I saw an article about the dinning hall going through approval with some student funds - is that going to happen? What about the upgraded football practice area in which USF had already received the $3 million seed money (with softball). When are they going to start this project? I'm sick of hearing about UCF's facilities. -- Russ

GA: Russ, about the facility upgrades, there hasn't been a lot of progress in the past year. The only shovel hitting the dirt has been the joint-used track facility at the soccer field, which is getting wrapped up now. I think you'll hear more news this fall -- softball, as Russ mentioned, got a big donation to get halfway there, and the new field will ultimately be just east of the baseball stadium right now, with football's practice fields moving closer to the athletic facility where softball is now. The only hurdles are financial ones, and it's something USF is working on. The Sun Dome upgrades are being figured out right now, with one of the country's leading arena architects evaluating the costs of different models for renovation, with a practice facility on one side, a new facade and a more closed bottom level without the open areas in the corners.

Live chat with Greg Auman

Join Times USF beat writer Greg Auman for a live chat today from 1-2 p.m. -- it's a chance to ask questions about all things USF just two days before the Bulls open their football season against Tennessee-Martin.

Leave a question in the 'Comments' area below, and Greg will answer it in real time. For those of you joining us late, no worries. We'll post a full transcript after the chat.

(CHAT IS CLOSED)

Position breakdown: Wide receiver

Our story in Saturday's paper to advance the season opener against Tennessee-Martin will focus on the tremendous balance USF has on offense, spreading the ball around to so many different players. Nowhere is that more apparent than at receiver, where there are arguably seven players with starter-caliber talent. That means defenses don't know where the ball is going -- heck, offensive coordinator Greg Gregory said he doesn't know who's in for a big game before kickoff. The returning experience and sheer depth here are reasons for the optimism about continued improvement on offense this season.

THE BIG THREE: USF lists four receivers on its depth chart, part of a bloated 13-starter offense, but there are three returning receivers who each had at least 30 catches and 400 yards last season, tying for the team lead with four touchdown catches each. In sophomore Carlton Mitchell, junior Jessie Hester and senior Taurus Johnson, Matt Grothe has three receivers he's supremely familiar and comfortable with. Mitchell broke out in the second half of last season -- after 15 catches in first eight games, he had 22 in the next four, including the only two 100-yard games by a USF receiver. Mitchell missed most of the bowl game with an injury, then had hernia surgery that sidelined him much of spring, but he looks to be back at full strength. Johnson, too, was sidelined by an ankle injury during USF's three-game losing streak. It's telling that Johnson has won USF's Offensive Playmaker honor each of the last two years, yet has only five career starts. The third is Hester, best remembered for his overtime touchdown in USF's win at Auburn. His 64 yards in that game remain a career high, so there's still room for more of a breakout from him.

THE NEXT THREE: Senior Marcus Edwards is a respected team leader, as shown by his being chosen as a team captain seven times last season as a junior. His bio in the media guide plainly calls him a possession receiver, a trusted option on USF's quick bubble screen. He averaged little more than 10 yards a catch, but is probably as firmly entrenched as a starter as any receiver.

Two sophomores most often mentioned as breakout candidates are A.J. Love and Dontavia Bogan, who showed flashes last season in their debuts. Love has been the talk of camp, pushing ahead of Mitchell for a starting spot on the depth chart. Love didn't have a catch until the ninth game last year -- and fumbled that one -- but got eight catches the rest of the way, including a touchdown in the Sun Bowl. Bogan, who stepped into a big role when Johnson was hurt last year, has gone under the radar in preseason, but has a knack for highlight-reel catches, laying his body out and extending his arms for grabs others just don't make. Both of these could easily double their stats from a year ago.

THE REST: True freshman Daniel Bryant is expected to play this fall, and he's in this third subgroup only because he's an unknown, with great speed, good size at 6-foot-2 and enough playmaking ability to avoid a redshirt even in a group as deep as this. Redshirt freshman Patrick Richardson is listed on the two-deep and might be a year away from making a big impact; walk-on Jeffrey "Pookie" Wilson, quickly becoming a blog regular, is also on the two-deep just six months after making the team in open tryouts.

There's still three scholarship receivers who have yet to make a name for themselves -- sophomores Ed Alcin and Jason Sherman each had a single catch last season and remain third-string options, and Colby Erskin, a former walk-on who had established himself as one of USF's top receivers in spring 2007, is still working to recover from a second major knee surgery he underwent this spring. The team has three more walk-ons -- track standout Antwon Hanks, 6-5 Rhett Hamrick, and spring addition Justin Wilkins -- who might dress but likely won't get much game action.

Today's the day to buy a newspaper ...

I say this every year: If you're a college football fan, today is the absolute best day to find a rack and buy a copy of the St. Petersburg Times. Those of you who are subscribers -- I know you're out there -- can skip ahead to the next paragraph, but for those of you in the Tampa Bay area who subscribe to another paper or (gasp) none at all -- well, there might be something else sitting in your driveway, but we know where you are right now. :)

Anyway, that same 50 cents today gets you not only the Times but our 12-page college preview section, jam-packed with information on the Bulls, Gators, Seminoles, with previews on Miami, UCF, Florida A&M and Bethune-Cookman as well. Lots of people put lots of time into making the best preview we can give you. Give it a try and tell us what you think.

And, before I get to links, another reminder I'll be chatting here at 1 p.m., taking your questions and answering them in the blog comments. As one particularly well-rounded reader said, we're doing it Howard Troxler style. Submit your questions now to auman@sptimes.com ... Onto the linkage ...

-- Here's the update on Gus Gilchrist from today's newspaper. USF is hopeful the 6-foot-10 power forward can get a hardship waiver, but his former school, Maryland, doesn't seem to share that support.

-- A few updates on former Bulls who have transferred to smaller schools. I love this story from the Daily Press, not even for its reference to ex-Bull Brandon Peguese, but because the entire story is written in huge type -- like 48-point. I can read it without my contacts in. Outstanding. Another former Bull, Dylan Douglas, should be starting at cornerback at Georgia Southern.

-- Other papers are rolling out their season previews as well, like the Fort Myers News-Press, which has a main story and a feature on the prominent locals playing for USF this fall. The Bradenton Herald's Ryan Boyd looks at last season from the perspective of receiver Taurus Johnson, who was sorely missed with injury during USF's three consecutive losses after the 6-0 start. The Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel has quotes from one of its locals, left tackle Ryan Schmidt, in its USF preview.

-- The Daily Press in Virginia picks USF to win the Big East, with three Bulls games among four "games to watch."

-- Friday, in case you hadn't heard, is College Colors Day -- banks and post offices will remain open -- but fans across the country are encouraged to wear their alma mater's school colors to work, school, etc. ... I'll forgive Jim Leavitt if he's not decked out in Missouri black and gold around the football office.

Wilson, Shields cleared to play for Bulls

Two more Bulls returned to the practice field Wednesday as junior cornerback Theo Wilson resolved his academic issues and freshman tight end Andreas Shields was cleared by the NCAA Clearinghouse. With two days until USF's season opener against Tennessee-Martin, the Bulls have only one scholarship player -- freshman cornerback George Baker -- still awaiting NCAA approval.

USF coach Jim Leavitt said he expects Wilson to play Saturday and said the former Dunedin quarterback could make an impact at cornerback or as a new option on punt returns. Shields is expected to redshirt.

-- Leavitt announced his senior captains for Saturday's game: running back Ben Williams, center Jake Griffin, and linebackers Tyrone McKenzie and Brouce Mompremier. Leavitt said he'll likely rotate captains from game to game throughout the season.

-- Sophomore Aston Samuels, recovering from a broken shoulder socket he suffered in spring drills, is still far away from a healthy return, but he was working informally with USF's receivers Wednesday. Samuels had worked at running back in his first two seasons, but Leavitt said he'll be a "multi-purpose" player when he returns, though that might not be until next year.

-- Defensive tackle Sampson Genus worked at full strength for the second day in a row, showing good progress after being held out with an injured ankle. Leavitt said Genus is "fine" and defensive ends coach Kevin Patrick said Genus, sophomore Terrell McClain and junior Aaron Harris will all see significant action Saturday.

-- Lose a walk-on, add a walk-on: Defensive tackle Lou Alguadich of Fort Myers lasted only one day as a walk-on, so USF added Rony DeLisca, a defensive end from Wharton. DeLisca is the third USF walk-on from Wharton, joining running back Joel Miller and linebacker LaDre Watkins.

USF submits NCAA waiver for Gilchrist

USF should know in the next three weeks whether highly touted freshman power forward Gus Gilchrist will be eligible to play for the Bulls this season.

The school's sports information office said Wednesday that a hardship waiver for Gilchrist has been submitted to the NCAA, petitioning to allow him to play this season rather than sit out a year as is normally required for transfers between Division I schools. The timetable for a response from the NCAA is typically about two to three weeks.

Gilchrist joined the Bulls this summer after one semester at Maryland, saying he was unaware of an ACC policy that requires an athlete to surrender a year of eligibility when they transfer from one league school to another. Gilchrist originally signed a national letter of intent with Virginia Tech, but requested a release from the school after campus shootings killed 32 people in Blacksburg in spring 2007.

USF has had success in landing hardship waivers for football players, but typically there is some kind of family illness cited which causes a student to seek enrollment elsewhere.

Get it early! Our USF season preview

Our special college football preview section -- yes, we still have one -- will be in Thursday's Times, but they're pushing the content out online a day early, so you can read it now. That starts with the lessons of 2007 and how they may help the Bulls in 2008, both in handling the success that may come and in overcoming the adversities that come with a fall from unprecedented heights. We have position-by-position breakdowns, USF notes -- including Carl Franks on the Bulls' thrifty recruiting practices, and this year's sleeper player to watch, receiver A.J. Love. We have notes on the Big East and our predictions of how the league's final standings might look.

Just a reminder -- I'll be here at 1 p.m. Thursday to chat live and take your questions, and it's getting close on that challenge to get 100 followers for the blog's free counterpart at Twitter.com before the season opener. We're up to 80 with three days to go ...

Trying to catch up on links ...

I'm soooo far behind on the position breakdowns. I could do two a day from here out and I'd still need to post special teams Saturday morning to be done before the season starts. So lots to do in the next few days, but first I'll get some links out of the way ...

-- UCF's year-old Bright House Networks Stadium is getting $400,000 in construction to help limit the amount of "sway" that comes as a result of fans jumping up and down in unison, according to UCF's student newpaper, Central Florida Future. Looks like all the work won't be done in time for USF's game there next weekend, and UCF is only on the hook for $100,000 of the work involved in stiffening support beams in the stadium's end zones. A study of the stadium showed no structural or safety concerns. Florida Today mentions the Bulls in writing about UCF's nonconference games giving a chance for greater exposure for the Knights.

-- An Illinois newspaper writes about the I-AA teams that get big paychecks for traveling to face major-conference opponents, as Tennesee-Martin will this season.

-- Syracuse.com has its Big East preview, with Leavitt quotes from the Big East media days in Newport.

-- Not to look ahead, but Rockchalktalk.com is already addressing a key position battle in the USF-Kansas game in two weeks -- how two untested offensive tackles will be able to handle USF's pass rush and All-American George Selvie. The Bulls' ability to get to quarterback Todd Reesing, especially early, could be the key to the game.

-- The Rocky Mountain News has a good feature on former USF running back Andre Hall, who has vastly improved his position with the Denver Broncos in the past year.

-- Women's soccer! According to the Asbury Park Press, USF coach Denise Schilte-Brown has a commitment from one of New Jersey's top players in sweeper Alexandra Eagle.

Lots more to come, so read these quick ...

Bulls hire recruit's trainer as assistant

One of Stan Heath's most heralded recruits now has a close friend on USF's basketball staff.

Heath announced Tuesday night that he has hired Terrelle Woody, 38, the personal trainer for freshman forward Gus Gilchrist, as the team's video and conditioning assistant. Woody has strong personal ties to Gilchrist, a 6-foot-10 power forward who opted to transfer to USF from Maryland this summer after spending one semester with the Terrapins.

Asked if hiring a close associate of a coveted recruit was something that is standard in college basketball, Heath said: "I don't think that's a reason to hire somebody, but I don't think it's a reason to not hire somebody. The important thing is his ability to help this program."

Woody, who does not hold a college degree, will earn $30,000 a year in his new job, according to USF; he replaces Jamie Angeli, who was video coordinator last season and is now coaching in Kuwait. The position was announced Tuesday, but clearly has been in the works for some time; Woody left his job as a trainer at Hoop Magic Basketball Academy in Chantilly, Va., the first week in July, telling his employer he was taking a job in Florida. He has been working in conjunction with Heath's basketball camps and open gyms in the Sun Dome since Gilchrist started summer classes at the end of June.

A Times reporter attended one such open gym July 3 where Woody was present with current USF players, running the clock during games, calling fouls and choosing teams. Heath has not allowed the media to attend to such informal workouts since and has not allowed Gilchrist or other first-year players to speak with the media. USF did not announce Woody's hiring until the day after fall classes started on campus.

Gilchrist, under advisement from Woody, signed with Virginia Tech in 2006, then requested his release from the school one month after a campus shooting left 32 people dead. He landed at Maryland in January, but left after one semester without playing a game, saying he was unaware of an ACC policy that takes away a year of eligiblity for any transfer from one conference school to another. USF is in the process of submitting a hardship waiver that would petition the NCAA to allow him to play this season without sitting out a year, as Division I basketball transfers normally must do.

A Georgia newspaper reported July 11 that USF had hired Woody as its strength and conditioning coach, but USF officials said then the report was false and asked for a correction, saying they had not hired him "in any capacity." Woody, reached then by the Times, said the report was false. Heath said Tuesday that while Woody had already worked in his camps, he did not consider that a hiring, but merely a part-time job. "Getting to know him in the past month, I was very impressed," Heath said.

As a trainer at Hoop Magic, Woody charged as much as $75 per session to work out basketball players from the Washington, D.C., area in a six-court facility. Hoop Magic's Web site advertised that Woody had played basketball at TCU and played professionally in "Europe, Belgium and Italy." He is not listed among TCU's all-time lettermen, and Monday, TCU's athletic department confirmed that it has no record of him playing basketball there.

Heath addressed that discrepancy Tuesday, saying that Woody did not play basketball at TCU and had been honest with him about that during the hiring process.

"He did not write that Web site. He had the (information on the) Web site taken down. He made a mistake by allowing that information to be posted about him," Heath said. The information had remained on Hoop Magic's site as much as a month after Woody stopped working there. Woody did not return a message seeking comment Tuesday night.

It's not the first time Woody has followed Gilchrist to a program. In 2006, after three years at Friendly High School in Fort Washington, Md., Gilchrist transferred to Progressive Christian Academy in Temple Hills, Md.; Woody joined the staff at Progressive that season as coach of the school's prep team and to teach Spanish at the school, according to the Washington Post. Woody left Progressive's staff before the season ended.

Heath said he has known Woody since before he started recruiting Gilchrist, that Woody had trained one of his players at Kent State when he was working in the Fort Worth area. Asked if Woody would have a job on his staff if Gilchrist were not part of the team, Heath said: "He's qualified for the job. I would certainly consider him."

Gilchrist isn't the only incoming USF recruit with ties to Woody. The Bulls announced last week that they were signing largely unheralded point guard Justin Leemow of Brooklyn, N.Y., to a scholarship, nearly three months after the end of the standard signing period. Heath said Tuesday that Leemow had trained with Woody in the past and was an AAU teammate of Gilchrist's. "He's had a relationship with Justin," Heath said of Woody. "I wouldn't say he recruited him, but he made me aware of who Justin was and gave Justin a very high recommendation."

USF women's basketball coach Jose Fernandez has added a position to his staff as well, hiring Mike Teasley, formerly the head coach at Notre Dame Academy in Middleburg, Va., a program that finished last season ranked as the No. 4 high school girls basketball team in the nation and was ranked No. 1 nationally during last season.

Shameless plug: Me on Catch 47

Not much to report from Tuesday's news conference, where Jim Leavitt detailed how tough an opponent Tennessee-Martin will be Saturday. (He had me at "Their long-snapper is back.") Anyway, it's short notice, but those of you on Bright House Networks for cable can watch me tonight on the Press Box show with the Times' Tom Jones. It's on at 6:30 p.m. and again at 8:30 and 10:30 tonight -- I'm on a great panel with Rays broadcaster Todd Kalas and Catch 47's Roxanne Wilder, talking about the Bucs, Rays and, yes, college football.

We've got DirecTV at the house, so I don't get to watch me or anyone else on Catch 47, so I have to watch vicariously through you guys. I have to find someone to tape Saturday's game for me so I can watch it after the fact ...

While I'm self-promoting, just a reminder that we'll be having a live chat here on the blog on Thursday at 1 p.m. -- send in your questions to auman@sptimes.com ...

-- More attendance notes: USF reports that 39,000 tickets have been distributed for Saturday's opener, with four more days to sell individual tickets, which go as cheap as $5. It's already a considerable bump from last year's opener against Elon, which drew 33,639. The record for a home opener is the 49,212 that saw the first-ever game in 1997, but this game could challenge the second-biggest home opener, which was 43,122 to see USF play Florida A&M in 2005.

-- Soccer note: USF's men's soccer team, fresh off a 2-1 exhibition win at No. 8 Maryland, will open its season Saturday at 7:30 p.m. against Bowling Green -- I understand if you have other plans. The match will take place at the University of Tampa's Pepin Stadium, however, and not on USF's campus. The men's team won't play on campus in its renovated soccer/track facility until Sept. 13 against Florida International. USF's women's team, which opened its season with a 1-1 tie against North Florida at Pepin on Friday, won't play on the new field until Sept. 11, against Stetson.

USF-UCF game nearing sellout in Orlando

The last football game scheduled between USF and Central Florida, on Sept. 6 in Orlan