Senior linebacker Brouce Mompremier, who has been limited to conditioning work in the three weeks since he injured his neck against Florida International, returned to practice Monday and worked with the first-team defense.
Mompremier, who has targeted Saturday's game against Syracuse for his return, has yet to participate in full contact drills, but no players were hitting during the first half-hour of Monday's practice. Two other injured defensive starters, end George Selvie and tackle Terrell McClain, participated in drills as well, though it's still too early to know if they're healthy enough to be back in the starting lineup.
Junior Theo Wilson, who had worked at cornerback in the first half of the season but played primarily on special teams, is now working out with the receivers, where he's listed as a second-teamer on the official depth chart. Wilson is recovering from a left knee injury he suffered in USF's win at N.C. State and was not participating in drills Monday; it's unclear when he'll return to practice.
Wilson's transition to offense leaves the Bulls with essentially four cornerbacks to rotate, with starters Jerome Murphy and Tyller Roberts, backed up by redshirt freshmen Quenton Washington and Tyson Butler. Washington has worked in USF's dime package as a sixth defensive back and could be working his way into the Bulls' nickel defense as a fifth defensive back.
The Bulls showed one more potential tweak to their starting lineup Monday, with the right side of their offensive line flipped. Ryan Schmidt, who has started at tackle all season, was lined up at right guard, and Jake Sims, who has been at guard since starter Zach Hermann was sidelined with a broken foot, was at right tackle, the position he held entering fall drills.
-- With Clemson firing coach Tommy Bowden after a 3-3 start, you'll see plenty of talk about USF coach Jim Leavitt being a candidate for the job. The News & Observer's Caulton Tudor named him as a top candidate already, and Coacheshotseat.com dropped his name among 14 potential candidates. I imagine Leavitt will dismiss this as he has speculation surrounding other high-level openings, and he has no ties I know of to Clemson, but it's something we'll keep an eye on ...
Times sportswriter Greg Auman, who covers USF, will post news and thoughts on the Bulletin and we invite your participation in the comments area.
Did Caulton leave any coach off that list of potentials? I'm suprised he didn't mention Nick Saban too.
Posted by: Norb | October 14, 2008 at 10:00 AM
Grothe entering the NFL draft??
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!
And Delbert is going to make the jump with him.
Gotta hand it to the guy, knows his stuff.
Posted by: Ari Hinkelberger | October 13, 2008 at 08:50 PM
Nope. Redshirted last year. I'm wrong more often than I should be, but not here ...
Posted by: G.A. | October 13, 2008 at 07:49 PM
redshirt freshmen Quenton Washington ?
Isn't he a true freshman ?
Posted by: Richard Todd | October 13, 2008 at 07:44 PM
The guy that lists leavitt as the top candidate also says grothe is likely to leave for the nfl draft after the season. he apparently doesnt know much about grothe. i like him, but no way is he ready for the nfl
Posted by: bill | October 13, 2008 at 06:56 PM
He's working at Y and Z positions, but the easy fix is to bump out Jeffrey Wilson, who injured his shoulder and should be out several weeks.
Posted by: G.A. | October 13, 2008 at 06:45 PM
Who does Theo Wilson bump out of the 2-deep?
Posted by: Windbane | October 13, 2008 at 06:14 PM