4 observations from the USF football spring game

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TAMPA — The sky was cloudless, the Corbett Stadium bleachers were crammed, and the food trucks did bustling business.

As observations go, those are the only definitive ones that can be taken from Saturday afternoon’s USF spring game, where the team was evenly divided (via a draft of team captains), assistants did practically all the play-calling and any prominent player with even a modest injury was held out as a precaution.

But from a broader perspective, second-year coach Alex Golesh said the Bulls’ 15 spring practices — culminating with Saturday’s 10-7 triumph by the White team — represented a collective quantum stride from a year ago.

“We’re a lot deeper than we’ve ever been, we’re certainly a lot more competitive than we’ve ever been,” said Golesh, who returns 20 starters (including two specialists) from last season’s 7-6 team and landed the highest-ranked recruiting class in the Group of Five this past winter.

“I think we’ve got a long way to go, as every coach would probably say in the country, but I genuinely think we’ve got a recipe to have a foundation for a good football team. I think what happens here in the next three months will determine what the outcome is at the end of it.”

As for Saturday, which drew an announced crowd of 5,168, here’s what we saw.

Byrum Brown’s still here

In terms of his unquestioned starting quarterback, Golesh approached the spring game like an NFL preseason contest, limiting Brown (3 of 3, 13 yards, one sack) to only a pair of possessions.

And Bulls fans should’ve relished every rep they witnessed. Considering the recent departure of the basketball team’s three top scorers, Brown’s decision to remain at USF — instead of chasing more lucrative name, image and likeness opportunities — after a breakthrough redshirt-freshman season is an…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/4-observations-usf-football-spring-233900624.html

Author : Tampa Bay Times, St. Petersburg, Fla.

Publish date : 2024-04-13 23:39:00

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