Basketball: USF falls 80-54 at No. 7 Louisville

Louisville has handed USF its most lopsided loss in each of the past two seasons, and now the Cardinals are the team to beat for 2008-09, after handing the Bulls an 80-54 loss at Freedom Hall on Wednesday night.

USF (7-13, 2-7) trailed by just one at the half, but was outscored 47-22 in the second half. Dominique Jones led the Bulls with 19 points, but Jesus Verdejo (10) was the only other player in double figures. Louisville hit 11 3-pointers and was led by Edgar Sosa's 16 points.

The Bulls next play Sunday at St. John's. We'll have a story up shortly, but here's a link to ESPN.com's boxscore.

Georgia linebacker Lattimore commits to USF

Linebacker remains perhaps the most important position in USF's incoming recruiting class, and the Bulls have picked up a key commitment there, as Devekeyan "DeDe" Lattimore of Athens, Ga., committed Tuesday, according to his high school coach.

"Ever since he made his official visit down there, he's loved them," said Xarvia Smith, head coach at Cedar Shoals High. "He's the most explosive kid I've ever been around, and he wants to be great."

Lattimore, 6-foot-2 and 225 pounds, can run the 40-yard dash in 4.5 seconds, according to Smith, and chose the Bulls over offers from Michigan, Kentucky and Oklahoma State. He played middle linebacker for Cedar Shoals but could shift outside for the Bulls if necessary -- he had 81 tackles as a senior, including 10 tackles for loss, with four sacks, four forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries.

The Bulls have two openings for starting linebackers, with rising senior Kion Wilson returning in the middle. USF already has key linebacker commitments from Tallahassee's Chase Griffiths and junior college standout Jacquian Williams from Riverview. Jacksonville's Sam Barrington remains a top priority for the Bulls' remaining recruiting efforts at linebacker as well ...

Near miss: USF's Grothe almost threw for NBC

USF is the practice home of the AFC champion Pittsburgh Steelers this week, but the Bulls nearly had an unexpected brush of celebrity this week, as NBC called USF to ask if quarterback Matt Grothe could throw passes to analyst Cris Collinsworth for a segment to air on the network's pregame show Sunday.

Grothe would have been off-camera while throwing to Collinsworth, the former Bengals receiver, and USF had signed off on the move, since it wasn't promotional in nature and thus didn't violate any NCAA rules.

Alas, Raymond James Stadium is so locked down in preparation for Sunday's game that NBC couldn't get Grothe added to the list of credentialed staffers with access to the stadium Wednesday, so the plan was scrapped and the network will have to find someone who already has a credential and a decent arm for the segment.

Ex-Bull Jenkins pulling for Cards' rookie corner

Here's how big the Super Bowl is this week: First-round draft picks are helping out as on-call chauffeurs.

Former USF cornerback Mike Jenkins, who just finished his rookie season with the Cowboys, laughs about it, but he's told the Cardinals' Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, one of his closest friends since childhood growing up in Bradenton, that he'll drive him around town this week.

"I told him if he needs anything, I'll come and get him," said Jenkins, who missed the playoffs in his first season in Dallas. "He's like my brother, so we have to look out for each other."

Rodgers-Cromartie and Jenkins talked regularly throughout the draft process last spring and through their rookie seasons. They'd text each other if one got an interception, helping each other as both went through the same difficult transition.

"I've leaned on him, asked him questions, him being from a bigger school, because he's used to talking in interviews, getting attention," said Rodgers-Cromartie, who went to Tennessee State. "I talk to him almost every day. We're real close. We played on all the Little League teams together, and we would have played together in high school, but I moved. We've always stayed in touch."

Jenkins said he's been pulling for Rodgers-Cromartie throughout the playoffs, and was pulling for another friend and corner from Bradenton, Baltimore's Fabian Washington, hoping they'd meet up in Tampa.

"I'm definitely rooting for the Cardinals," Jenkins said. "I wanted both of them to make it. If they did, I guess I'd have to get one of those jerseys, half-Cards and half-Baltimore."

-- Basketball note: Lots of Gus Gilchrist references up in Maryland, where there's some griping between Terrapins coach Gary Williams and his administration about the circumstances that led to Gilchrist transferring to USF. Here's a story from the Baltimore Sun and here's the Washington Post.

Here's how big the Super Bowl is this week: First-round draft picks are helping out as on-call chauffeurs.

Former USF cornerback Mike Jenkins, who just finished his rookie season with the Cowboys, laughs about it, but he's told the Cardinals' Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, one of his closest friends since childhood growing up in Bradenton, that he'll drive him around town this week.

"I told him if he needs anything, I'll come and get him," said Jenkins, who missed the playoffs in his first season in Dallas. "He's like my brother, so we have to look out for each other."

Rodgers-Cromartie and Jenkins talked regularly throughout the draft process last spring and through their rookie seasons. They'd text each other if one got an interception, helping each other as both went through the same difficult transition.

"I've leaned on him, asked him questions, him being from a bigger school, because he's used to talking in interviews, getting attention," said Rodgers-Cromartie, who went to Tennessee State. "I talk to him almost every day. We're real close. We played on all the Little League teams together, and we would have played together in high school, but I moved. We've always stayed in touch."

Jenkins said he's been pulling for Rodgers-Cromartie throughout the playoffs, and was pulling for another friend and corner from Bradenton, Baltimore's Fabian Washington, hoping they'd meet up in Tampa.

"I'm definitely rooting for the Cardinals," Jenkins said. "I wanted both of them to make it. If they did, I guess I'd have to get one of those jerseys, half-Cards and half-Baltimore."

-- Basketball note: Lots of Gus Gilchrist references up in Maryland, where there's some griping between Terrapins coach Gary Williams and his administration about the circumstances that led to Gilchrist transferring to USF. Here's a story from the Baltimore Sun and here's the Washington Post.

Former coach: Mercer had potential for NBA

TAMPA -- Roger Fleetwood remembers having to discipline Mike Mercer just one time in three seasons at South Gwinnett High near Atlanta. Mercer was late for practice, and Fleetwood had him run 200 laps around the basketball court.

"Did it without a complaint," Fleetwood said, unable to remember another instance where he had to discipline the talented guard in three years of coaching him.

That made it all the more disappointing for Fleetwood to hear of the latest chapter in Mercer's basketball career: another injury, another poor decision, another dismissal and lost opportunity.

"I'm very saddened by the news," said Fleetwood, now 58 and coaching in Indiana. "Mike did a tremendous job for me. Very talented, very athletic, and always a very hard worker. I really thought he had an opportunity to play professional basketball one day."

Mercer's career at USF lasted just four games, as he was dismissed by Bulls coach Stan Heath after his second arrest since September, this one late Friday night on a misdemeanor charge of possession of marijuana.

Fleetwood remembers when Mercer and fellow guard Louis Williams both committed to play at Georgia as high school juniors. Williams ended up going straight to the NBA, and now averages 12.5 points a game in his fourth season with the Philadelphia 76ers. Mercer went to Georgia, but was gone after two years and one knee injury; his stay at USF wasn't as long.

"I really thought they both would play in the NBA," Fleetwood said. "Of course, things have gone very well for Louis, and a lot of things have gone the wrong direction for Mike. His decision-making wasn't as good as it needed to be."

Fleetwood recalls a game where Williams and Mercer led South Gwinnett against storied Oak Hill Academy, the Virginia prep powerhouse that had NBA star Kevin Durant, UNC's Ty Lawson, Syracuse's Eric Devendorf, Mississippi State's Jamont Gordon and Clemson's K.C. Rivers. And South Gwinnett beat them all, 82-68.

"With his quickness and athletic ability, his potential as a player was endless," Fleetwood said.

Mercer hasn't spoken since his arrests, but Fleetwood now has the same hopes as Mercer's father, that he can stay focused long enough to graduate from USF this summer, while he still has the benefit of a college scholarship. With a degree, he'll have something to fall back on, though Fleetwood isn't ready to write off what Mercer could still do once he gets his knee back healthy again.

USF provost Wilcox saw greatness in Tomlin

TAMPA -- Ask Ralph Wilcox if he's surprised that Mike Tomlin has led the Pittsburgh Steelers to the Super Bowl, and USF's provost and senior vice president for academic affairs will tell you he remembers Tomlin  as a bright, inquisitive mind and a role model for football players.

Nothing new, right? Wilcox saw that in Tomlin in 1996, when he was a 24-year-old graduate assistant at Memphis, taking a weekly three-hour seminar that Wilcox taught, called "Sociocultural Dimensions of Sport in Contemporary Society."

"The irony is that we studied the Super Bowl as a spectacle," Wilcox said Monday, excited to think Tomlin is now centrally engaged in something he once merely debated as a student.

In class, Tomlin was active in discussion, and less likely than most students to blindly accept traditional beliefs about societal tendencies.

"He was a very bright student, one of the best I've had the chance to work with," Wilcox said. "Just an absolute pleasure to have in class. Well-prepared, always did his research, and wouldn't take for granted that what he read was the truth."

Wilcox has followed Tomlin since his days as a Bucs assistant, and said his only regret is that Tomlin didn't stick around long enough at Memphis to complete his postgraduate degree, taking a full-time position at Tennessee-Martin, then Arkansas State.

"He's made some very good decisions since then," Wilcox said.

Stirrups, Davis both set to return to USF

Two USF signees who did not qualify academically initially are on pace to join the Bulls in the next year, and both got a visit Monday from USF defensive coordinator Wally Burnham and defensive ends coach Kevin Patrick.

Defensive tackle Leslie Stirrups, who will sign with USF next week, and defensive end Claude Davis, who is on course to join the Bulls in December, were both highly rated recruits coming out of high school from the greater Tampa Bay area. Both are now at East Mississippi Community College in Scooba, Miss.

We're going to go ahead and classify Davis as a commitment for 2010 -- like Stirrups, he's never wavered in his desire to return to USF as soon as possible. We'll count him as USF's second commitment for 2010, following Bradenton quarterback Brion Carnes.

The two have put up strong stats this season -- Stirrups, who at 6-3 and 275 pounds will play the "three technique" defensive tackle position at USF, had 71 tackles for EMCC, including 11 tackles for loss, two sacks and 13 hurries. It's in anticipation of players like Stirrups that USF has shifted defensive tackles Sampson Genus and Jatavious Jackson over to offensive line in the past month.

The former Hillsborough High standout earned first-team all-state honors, impressive in a state whose junior colleges are well-stocked with Division I signees. William Jones, EMCC's defensive coordinator, called him a "devastating force" on his defense. He was a four-star recruit by both Rivals and Scout in 2006 -- Scout ranked him as the No. 10 defensive tackle in the nation.

Davis was even more impressive statistically, with 87 tackles and team highs in tackles for loss (15) and sacks (7.5), with three forced fumbles, three fumbles recovered and two interceptions, one of which he returned for a touchdown. Davis, a former teammate of Matt Grothe's at Lakeland's Lake Gibson High, will come to USF in December with two years of eligibility.

We wrote quite a bit about Stirrups' off-field legal problems in 2006, but he has since successfully completed the requirements of a pre-trial intervention program to have all counts against him dropped.

One more EMCC update: Last time we'd checked in there, a third former USF signee, linebacker Calvin Sutton, was on campus, planning to redshirt this fall. Sutton was dismissed from the team before the season, however, for a violation of team rules. EMCC's head coach and defensive coordinator did not know where he attended this fall, so he's off the map for now.

USF coach Heath dismisses guard Mike Mercer

Guard Mike Mercer was dismissed from the USF basketball team, coach Stan Heath announced Monday.

"He's disappointed. He's pretty devastated," Heath said. "He just feels like he's snakebit in some ways. Unfortunately, he's got to make better decisions."

Mercer, a junior, and teammate Anthony Crater were arrested late Friday night on misdemeanor charges of possession of marijuana. They were released from jail Sunday. Mercer had previously been arrested in September on a misdemeanor charge of public consumption of alcohol. He had transferred from Georgia after being dismissed from that program by coach Dennis Felton for being "a disruption to the team." He became eligible in December but tore his ACL and was out for the rest of this season.

Heath said Mercer would remain on scholarship through this season and could graduate in the summer. Heath said he waited until Monday to finalize his decision.

"I didn't want to make any emotional decisions," Heath said. "In the first 24 hours, you have to be careful with that, but my thoughts really never wavered."

This was the first offense at USF for Crater, who transferred in from Ohio State earlier this month. Heath said he would remain with the program on a "probationary status." "He's very aware. He knows," Heath said. "His life's not going to be very exciting for a while here.

"(For) any athlete ... it's a privilege to play sports at any level, whether it's Division III or Division I," Heath said. "You can't just think about yourself. You're representing more than just yourself. We all know kids make mistakes -- we all were in college, probably made mistakes, but at some point in time, you get Chance No. 1, get Chance No. 2, at some point in time if you're not making adjustments, the program is bigger than what you are."

-- Freshman forward Gus Gilchrist has been named Big East Rookie of the Week after averaging 17 points and nine rebounds in two games, including USF's win against DePaul on Tuesday night. It's his first weekly honor -- USF guard Dominique Jones earned the weekly nod four times last season.

"He's disappointed. He's pretty devastated," Heath said. "He just feels like he's snakebit in some ways. Unfortunately, he's got to make better decisions."

Mercer, a junior, and teammate Anthony Crater were arrested late Friday night on misdemeanor charges of possession of marijuana. They were released from jail Sunday. Mercer had previously been arrested in September on a misdemeanor charge of public consumption of alcohol. He had transferred from Georgia after being dismissed from that program by coach Dennis Felton for being "a disruption to the team." He became eligible in December but tore his ACL and was out for the rest of this season.

Heath said Mercer would remain on scholarship through this season and could graduate in the summer. Heath said he waited until Monday to finalize his decision.

"I didn't want to make any emotional decisions," Heath said. "In the first 24 hours, you have to be careful with that, but my thoughts really never wavered."

This was the first offense at USF for Crater, who transferred in from Ohio State earlier this month. Heath said he would remain with the program on a "probationary status." "He's very aware. He knows," Heath said. "His life's not going to be very exciting for a while here.

"(For) any athlete ... it's a privilege to play sports at any level, whether it's Division III or Division I," Heath said. "You can't just think about yourself. You're representing more than just yourself. We all know kids make mistakes -- we all were in college, probably made mistakes, but at some point in time, you get Chance No. 1, get Chance No. 2, at some point in time if you're not making adjustments, the program is bigger than what you are."

-- Freshman forward Gus Gilchrist has been named Big East Rookie of the Week after averaging 17 points and nine rebounds in two games, including USF's win against DePaul on Tuesday night. It's his first weekly honor -- USF guard Dominique Jones earned the weekly nod four times last season.

Gregory meets with South Alabama coach

USF assistant coach Greg Gregory said Monday that he talked with South Alabama coach Joey Jones for about two hours this weekend, but wouldn't classify the conversation as an interview, contrary to a report Monday from the Mobile Register which identified him as the leading candidate for the upstart program's offensive coordinator job.

Gregory said he was not offered the job but said there is a level of interest on both sides. He said he does not expect South Alabama to hire an offensive coordinator before National Signing Day, which is Feb. 4.

Gregory, who was demoted from USF's offensive coordinator position last weekend, said he was in Mobile with his son Grant and USF tight end Ben Busbee, a Mobile native, to see the Senior Bowl, where USF linebacker Tyrone McKenzie was playing. Gregory was staying at the same Mobile hotel where South Alabama's recruits stay during official campus visits, setting up a happenstance meeting with Jones.

South Alabama is in the process of launching its football program this fall -- former USF assistant Dan McCarney interviewed to be its first head coach last year, but wound up as defensive line coach at Florida. The Jaguars will play as I-A independents for the first three seasons from 2010-2012, then join the Sun Belt in 2013.

By coincidence, the opening at South Alabama came because the Jaguars' previous coordinator, Les Koenning Jr., took a job on Dan Mullen's staff at Mississippi State. Gregory was demoted at USF because he interviewed for the tight ends job at Florida -- which he ended up not getting -- and that position was made available because John Hevesy left the Gators with Mullen to go to Mississippi.

It's doubtful that the South Alabama job would pay comparably to the $160,000 that Gregory made this past season at USF, but his future with the Bulls remains uncertain. If USF coach Jim Leavitt were to hire a new coordinator from outside his current staff (promoting receivers coach Mike Canales remains a strong possibility), then he would have to create an opening for the new coach.

Gregory declined to comment when asked about his demotion from offensive coordinator or his thoughts about his future with the Bulls.

Doing the math: Bulls need room for recruits

Most fans know that college football teams are limited to 25 scholarship players joining a team in a given year, and with National Signing Day now just nine days away, it's time to answer an annual question: Just how many recruits will sign with the Bulls next week?

It's a complicated answer, because teams can sign more than 25 players, so long as only 25 join the team on scholarship in the fall. I've heard that USF might sign as many as 30 players, knowing some won't qualify academically (so signing is just a gesture to establish a relationship for when they're coming out of junior college or prep school) and some might be "grayshirted" -- having their enrollment deferred until January, when they can count against next year's class.

As it stands, USF is generally listed with 23 commitments, but there are still a lot of scholarships in play with recruits who have yet to make their college decisions. And remember that defensive tackle Anthony Hill, who joined the team earlier this month, can roll back as part of last year's class, which had just 24 members. Still, the limit of 25 "initial" scholarships isn't the only one the Bulls are bumping up against.

Programs are limited to 85 total scholarships at any point, and after graduation and the attrition we're aware of -- we've reported that Danny Tolley (medical), Shane McElwain (graduation) and Marvin Peoples (graduation) won't be back -- the Bulls have 64 players returning on scholarship. (This also doesn't include quarterback Grant Gregory, who could hear back on an NCAA appeal for a sixth year this week).

With 64 kids back, that leaves USF with only 21 scholarships available for the fall, but more room could be cleared out by standard offseason turnover of players transferring to smaller schools or otherwise moving on. Freshman linebacker Quavon Taylor, for instance, wasn't with the team most of the fall, suspended by coach Jim Leavitt, though he is registered as a full-time student at USF this spring.

Interestingly, the 64 returning players is heavy on the offensive side -- 35 players on offense, 26 on defense and three on special teams.