Leavitt to consult with Washington coaches

As a rule, I try to attend whenever I hear that Jim Leavitt is speaking in public, in the slight chance that he'll slip and say something ridiculously newsworthy. Tuesday offered my second opportunity in less than a day, as Leavitt was the guest speaker for the Kiwanas Club of St. Petersburg's weekly lunch at the Orange Blossom restaurant, just three blocks from the Times' main office in downtown St. Pete.

No huge revelations to report, though Leavitt left the lunch early to catch a flight with his wife Jody for a vacation/business trip to Seattle. The Leavitts have their second anniversary on Saturday, and Leavitt will have a few days to visit with first-year Washington head coach Steve Sarkisian and his staff.

Yes, Washington was the only winless team in BCS football last season, but Leavitt said he's always admired Southern California's defense, and he's eager to talk with Huskies defensive coordinator Nick Holt, who coordinated the Trojans' defense for the past three years.

A few more things to share from the Kiwanis lunch ...

-- Leavitt had been scheduled to be the emcee for the Kiwanis' scholarship fundraiser earlier this summer, but he had to back out at the last minute to attend the funeral of the Darius Wilson, brother of USF linebacker Kion Wilson. Leavitt's a big supporter of the scholarships, which bear the name of the late Jim Fischer, who was Leavitt's middle-school basketball coach in St. Petersburg. Even without Leavitt, the event raised $37,000 -- if you'd like to learn more, visit the Kiwanis site.

-- Leavitt was asked about the in-state games against Florida State and Miami, but he's making it clear his priority is winning Big East games. He expressed concern that both in-state games immediately precede conference games on the road -- the league opener at Syracuse after FSU and the season finale at Connecticut after Miami. If players' thoughts linger after one game, they might not be ready for the next.

-- The big four words for USF -- they're hanging in the weight room, on signs in the locker room, all over -- are Focus, Urgency, Discipline and Intensity. Leavitt's hammering those words into his players as the things they need to improve themselves as a team.

-- Leavitt didn't mention too many players by name, but had praise for St. Pete's own Jerrell Young, saying his "tremendous" play in the St. Petersburg Bowl gave coaches confidence he can step into a starting role next to Nate Allen this fall. The only true freshmen he mentioned by name were cornerback Kayvon Webster and speedy Derrick Hopkins and Lindsay Lamar. He reiterated that senior Aaron Harris, a former starter at defensive tackle, will start at defensive end opposite senior George Selvie.

-- Two areas Leavitt specifically mentioned as needing improvement were pass defense and turnovers. "Last year, we got beat on the deep ball too many times," he said. "And when we don't turn the ball over, we usually win."

-- Specific expectations? "We've got to get away from eight or nine wins. We've got to get up to 10 wins," he said.

-- Having said that, he's not looking past Wofford, noting that the Terriers went to South Carolina last September and trailed 16-13 with two minutes to play before the Gamecocks pulled out a 23-13 win. (Never mind that Wofford's quarterback and top two running backs were seniors last fall, or that its defense gave up 70 to Appalachian State).

-- As he did Monday night at Tampa Palms, Leavitt said he expects redshirt freshmen B.J. Daniels and Evan Landi to push senior Matt Grothe at quarterback. Probably just trying to keep everyone motivated this summer, but he's saying that consistently ...

Comments

[G.A.]

I love that the "need for academic improvement" e-mails are always peppered with "suprised" and such.

I agree that it looks bad that (at least) six signees aren't going to make it to campus this fall, but again, a good chunk of that is by design. USF signed 29 kids, knowing at least four couldn't be on campus.

There's no APR penalty for signees not getting to campus, and Jim Leavitt feels like there's an advantage in the gesture of signing someone who might not be immediately eligible.

This fall, for instance, you should get to see defensive tackle Leslie Stirrups, who didn't qualify three years ago when he signed with USF. Does USF still get him out of junior college if they don't already have a solid relationship with him from his original signing? I don't know.

If there aren't any additional academic losses, I don't think this class has worked out very differently than what USF expected in February when the recruits were signed.

[Steve]

Suprised Leavitt didn't address anything about trying to improve his players lack of classroom achievement, and their propensity for going after "questionable" athletes. This affects recruiting, and we are already seeing players leaving (or being dismissed) in droves due to acadmeics. When will Leavitt learn that he needs to qualify these kids prior to recruiting them. It seems to me, a smart 3 star player is much better than an academically challenged 4 star player.

[Ken]

I'd also like to give a lot of credit to Steve and Chalko for their most recent posts. Now, let's talk USF sports.

[USFMikeB]

I think part of the problem is that you claim to come here to talk sports, but you really come here to talk smack. The USF fans on this site are here to get news about USF and discuss it, but your purpose is diametric to that. In short, YOU are the source of the problem chalko.

[Commish Chalko]

Good research Stevo. I'll lay off, kinda. I do like discussing sports, all sports. I don't like the name calling, I'll stop. But I'll still be here to discuss sports. Bottom line.

[Ken]

To All Real USF Fans,

Greg is absolutely right. If we would ALL just stop referring to him, answering him, or commenting in any way whatsoever on his posts, a certain sort of discourse here would disappear and he'd be posting much less often. And when he does post, we'd continue to ignore him. Be a big improvement, I think. Someone earlier said that half the postings here aren't really relevant or worth reading or something, and I'd put all of his silly comments and the responses to them in that category. It's worth a try.

[Steve O'Neal]

Treat others as you want to be treated. You can't attack people on here personally, call them names and then expect to be treated with respect. You say the things you do just to upset us and get a reaction from us. My motives too with regard to the comment about your brother. It was classless and innapropiate. There was only one marine killed in Iraq during May,2004 from Florida. He was a very brave 20y/o cpl from Brevard, Florida. He gave his life for his country while on a dangerous covert mission in Anbar province, Iraq. Based on the location of his hometown in Florida, I'm guessing that this could be your brother, maybe not. Either way, my thanks to all that serve, risk and give their lives for the USA. Thank you also to the families of these brave soldiers.

[G.A.]

You can't lecture about maturity then call names. Please, do not attack other commenters or their family members. This is disappointing.

[Commish Chalko]

Stevo, I told you not to question my family. My brother died in Iraq in May of 2004. That's not something to joke about. But... If you want to continue to show your lack of maturity, go ahead and do it. I'll know you're a lonely old man with no life. You're pathetic!

[WouldYouKindly]

Wow...I leave the board for a couple of days and this happens. Can't we all just get along???

[Steve O'Neal]

"You call him out"? There have only been a very few times that I can recall where a poster mentions Chalko 1st and I don't think I've ever done it. I certainly have responded to him. Mostly it's him posting BS 1st on every article. You don't have to address him to get his stupid comments and insults. That comes when we post comments on our sports teams. He brings NOTHING to the table but constant mindless drivel regardless whether we ignore him or not. I will try to keep future posts related to sports topics, as they should have been all along.

[Greg Auman]

Again, we're not going to block someone just because they have dissenting or even purely agitating opinions.

You guys have to stop pouring gas on his fire, then asking me to put it out. He's here to get a rise out of you, and you guys give him that fix every time. If he doesn't post, you post something suggesting what he would say. You call him out.

Would I like a higher level of conversation here? Absolutely. The simplest path to that is for you guys to not engage him in daily conversation and name-calling if it bothers you the way it does.

[USFMikeB]

I think it is time to shut the comments on this post down...

[Steve O'Neal]

Chalko, you are a liar and useless. Nothing you say has any merit or truth to it. You post BS ALL the time. Panties in a wad? Change panties? You seem to have an obsession with men in panties to go along with your obsession of USF athletics. I don't believe you had a brother that was a marine either, just another lie! Seriously get a real life and quit being such a DA! GA ought to ban your butt from the blog. This is a USF sports blog. It is not a right to post here, it is a privilege extended by Tampabay.com. Remember that!

[Bulliever]

Chalko,

Where do you come up with this stuff...

And we need to stay focused here, we were talking about USF sports, right?

[Commish Chalko]

Mike, that is great for your son, honestly, I wish him well.

Bulliever, How bout you switch panties for a week with Stevo, then we have a deal!

Harn, You're meaningless.

[Wants Chalko to Go Away]

Bulliever, That's a great deal.

[Bulliever]

Chalko,

I said Heisman candidate...I think he is great and if he does well this year he can become a candidate...I don't think he will win.

Big East Championship is possible if Grothe does well and our O-line keeps it together... But we do have 4 away games...

Wager: I will go on UCF's blog and talk smack all day because Chalko told me to!!

[mike]

Chalko, my son is entering his junior year and already has a stack of letters from schools. I know that means little until he signs, if he signs but hey I could care less if it is Div III as long as it is where he wants to go.

[Harn007]

How about you just go away Heisman or not!

[Commish Chalko]

Bulliever, USF has a better chance of winning the BE and playing for a national championship than Grothe winning the Heisman. If he wins it, I'll go away. What's your wager?

[that hurt...]

cg...Hosley definitely hurt. The Kayvon surpise was nice but if we had landed both that would have been a truly perfect class, and actually would have shot our ranking to 20 or 21st best class in the country.

If I had to choose between the two I'd take Kayvon, he's more versatile, and with the same speed. But Hosley was shifty, a pure cover corner with good return skills. If we had Hosley too, something tells me we would have found our dynamic returner of the future among the group of Hosley, Hopkins, Lamar, Battle, ...the answer still may be in that group but without Hosley it takes a hit.

[cg]

Kayvon Kayvon Kayvon.

Was still so mad when Hosley picked VaTech

[Bulliever]

I got an equation for you guys (and it is gonna freak Chalko out :)

Grothe (making good decisions) + Good O-line = Heisman Candidate + Big East Championship

[Commish Chalko]

Do you not think other college quaterbacks deal with the same types of issues Grothe deals with???

[where do some guys get stuff from...]

Dave-O, you obviously don't know college football well.

This isn't the NFL champ...you don't just look for an expert FA QB with experience. The guys behind grothe have zero college experience, and zero experience playing, and zero experience reading defenses and leading a college team. This isn't the difference between starting Luke McGowan, or Lefwich.... this is the difference between starting a cagy veteran that knows what he's doing and how to do it, over starting a guy that still hasn't got his jersey dirty yet playing 1-A football.

With an inexperienced offensive line, anyone that thinks Grothe, and all his experience and knowledge wouldn't be the better choice is a fool. They don't know football, they don't know psych issues with players...

physical tools Daniels has them all, but for some crazy reason a few fools forget that he also is a guy that has thrown 1 INT in under 10 passes in his limited college duty. He also had two turnovers in the spring game, as did Landi. So what in the world would make anyone think these two young bucks, with zero knowledge, experience, leadership, or caginess would not turn the ball over as much as Grothe or more...and also make many more poor decisions.

Remember this isn't the vanilla spring offense Daniels, and Landi will go against this fall. It will be blitzing guys, and changing formations, and disguising coverages to confuse these two cherries. You can bet your butt there will be many mistakes for them too. to suggest otherwise is crazy, and to take away team chemistry on a team that returns so much, for what amounts to unrealized potential is NUTS!

[Greg Auman]

Richard, who else do you expect to be talking about Kayvon at this point? He's been on campus a week, and the coaches have been out of town for most of that time.

I don't think we'll see real specific quotes about players' abilities and chances to play this fall until practice starts in August ...

[Richard Todd]

34 posts(35 INCLUDING THIS) plus some deletions and about 12 worth anything. When will you guys learn to ignore the trash posting. Oh aqnd USFMike - really disappointed in you insulting your own 2 year old child - bad comparison on any level.

Now - CJL keeps talking about Kayvon Webster but I see little other press about him. Have we got a diamond in the rough or was he ranked that high and just being ignored until he proves something.

[DHRebel]

"Leavitt didn't mention too many players by name, but had praise for St. Pete's own Jerrell Young, saying his "tremendous" play in the St. Petersburg Bowl gave coaches confidence he can step into a starting role next to Nate Allen this fall."

[Commish Chalko]

Why is it so darn difficult to spell the word "lose" or "losing?"

[Bill]

Thanks GA for having us get back to USF and not to the other issues. You are right that if we look past any opponet USF will loose or come close to loosing, FIU game for example. Groethe is a talented QB and he believes in himself, sometimes too much. He makes some fantastic plays, but a fantastic play slightly off is a blown play (turnover). He needs to learn to accept he can't do it all the time. It is ok to loose a round and still win the fight. Then there is the other parts of the TEAM. That includes the coaches. USF has new OC and DC, if CJL holds his emotions in check or when he goes way off the OC and DC step up and do thier job not waiting for CJL to give them permission USF has an even chance of getting to a BCS bowl game. Sun Bowl showed the obvious. All the fifth string QB had to do is watch the middle LB. If he stepped backwards hand off, if he stepped forward fake the handoff and pass. Oh, so simple. Just look at the second half. I still have my season tickets and tickets to the FSU game.

[Commish Chalko]

????

[G.A.]

Don't make me turn this blog around ...

[Steve Stacy]

You guys got dad mad!

[Commish Chalko]

Kansas gave you guys that game. Where are the BE wins???

[Steve O'Neal]

Windbane, is that your opinion that we won those games? Wait, that is a FACT that we won those games. After listening to the clown, I sometimes forget that opinion is NOT a fact!

[Windbane]

Blowing games? Kansas, Auburn, WVU, FIU and UCF as a freshman. He's been quite clutch.

[Commish Chalko]

Thank you for taking care of the haters G.A.

[Steve O'Neal]

I apologize to you Greg for having to go to the trouble of deleting comments. Not apologizing for what I said though.

[G.A.]

Guys, enough. I don't like deleting comments. I want to think my readers are smart enough to know what's appropriate for a public forum. Of course, I want a lot of things ...

[Commish Chalko]

Stevo, Grothe has great stats. Is there a stat for "blowing games," He'd be in the top 5.

[Steve O'Neal]

Rivals.com has Grothe ranked #19 in the 2009 QB power rankings. Grothe has a 131 QB rating over the past 3 seasons. He has rushed for over 2000yds(4yds/carry) over the past 3 seasons. Not my opinion, Rivals and the stats to back it up. If that is average, then most teams would love to have an "average" QB.

[Commish Chalko]

Stevo, the fact that you fail to form a comprehensive sentence makes anything you say irrelevant. Wasn't really trying to take shots at anyone's family, but when you bring up your own family and use your child to take shots it's fair game. Grothe is a playmaker, but makes more mistakes then plays. I've been attending at least one FSU game per season for the past 7 years, don't flatter yourselves! FACTS STEVO, FACTS!

[Steve O'Neal]

Clown, I thought you didn't like it when people pick on family. Why then say something about someone you know nothing about? I guess knowing nothing has never stopped you before.

[Commish Chalko]

Actually, I take back what I said about Leavitt. He's a good guy. I just like messing with you folks. I'm jealous that I couldn't attend college. Once I obtained my G.E.D., I started mowing lawns and never had the time to go back.

[Steve O'Neal]

You think the inconsistency on the o-line and Grothe having no protection most of the time might have something to do with interceptions? Just maybe? Wasn't comparing Grothe to ucf. How did the average QB get to be the all time yardage leader in the BE? Not by being average! Grothe gives USF a chance to win games. Something missing since Blackwell was QB. Being a good college QB does not equate to being an NFL caliber QB. Some gnat fan, going to another schools game rather than attending your own game! I guess I can't blame you for wanting to see two good schools play instead!

[USFMikeB]

Sorry, chalko, the only day that I cook breakfast is on Saturday mornings. Personally, I prefer eggs benedict, but with a 2 year old son, I have been using the griddle lately. Since you seem to be on the mental par with my son, feel free to stop in for pancakes!

[Commish Chalko]

Dave, I doubt your kid gets an offer to play D-III ball.

[Dave in Lakeland]

Steve O'Neal, you obviously don't know football to well. Grothe is average, his numbers are average. Sure compared to UCF's QB he is good, then again, my son that is a starting high school QB is better than they have. But we are talking about a BCS starting QB that has been starting for three years. I remember after his first year they compared him to Colt McCoy. Well Colt could have come out and been a first round pick in the draft, Grothe, not so much.

I have nothing against the man personally but he is erratic, he can make a great play and two bad plays after that. With the game on the line, I would pick 20 other BCS QB's ahead of him.

[Commish Chalko]

A) How many interceptions does Grother average per year? Where does Grothe go in the 2010 NFL draft?

2) I'm not going to a USF game, I'm going to an FSU game. Just happens to be the same day USF gets crushed!

3) Pull your panties up.