Bulls Set to Begin Spring Practice Tuesday; Hold Open Public Practice on April 6

USF ATHLETICS GoUSFBulls.com

Bulls Set to Begin Spring Practice Tuesday;

Hold Open Public Practice on April 6

USF to hold open public practice at Clearwater Central Catholic on April 6

Spring Game set for Saturday, April 13 at Corbett Stadium

Strong, Barnett & Reaves available at press conference Tuesday

TAMPA, MARCH 14, 2019 – The USF football team will return to the field on Tuesday, March 19 for the first of 15 spring practices as the Bulls prepare for their third season under head coach Charlie Strong.

Strong announced one of those spring practices will be held on location at Clearwater Central Catholic High School on Saturday, April 6 and will be open to the public. The open practice is scheduled from 10:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.

The USF Spring Game presented by USF Federal Credit Union will once again return to Corbett Stadium on the USF campus on Saturday, April 13 with a 1 p.m. kickoff. The spring game, which has drawn capacity crowds the past four seasons to Corbett Stadium, is free to the public and will cap off a day of entertainment on campus that begins with a street festival starting at 11 a.m. outside the stadium.

The 2019 Bulls return 16 starters (9 offense, 5 defense, 2 specialists) from a 2018 squad that reached the program’s fourth straight bowl game. USF will feature a new offensive coordinator in Kerwin Bell, who led Valdosta State to an NCAA Division II national championship with the nation’s top scoring offense (52.0 ppg) last year.

Bell will take the reins of an offense that returns starting quarterback Blake Barnett (2,710 passing yards), first team all-conference tight end Mitchell Wilcox (540 receiving yards), tailbacks Jordan Cronkrite (1,121 rushing yards) and Johnny Ford (787 rushing yards), leading receiver Randall St. Felix (679 receiving yards) and all five starters along the offensive line from the Gasparilla Bowl.

USF’s defensive returners are led by second-leading tackler Greg Reaves (89 tackles), who is expected to return to his defensive end position after starting the final seven games of 2018 at linebacker. Honorable mention all-conference cornerback Mike Hampton returns after posting the second-most pass defenses (18) in program history, as do safety Nick Roberts, who led the team with three interceptions and was fourth with 72 tackles, and defensive end Kirk Livingstone, who tied for the team lead with 10 tackles for loss and was fifth with 56 tackles.

USF will play seven games in Raymond James Stadium during the 2019 season, highlighted by visits from preseason top 25-ranked Wisconsin to open the season (Aug. 30) and BYU (Oct. 12) in the non-conference slate and three straight November home games vs. conference contenders – Temple (Nov. 7), Cincinnati (Nov. 16) and Memphis (Nov. 23).

USF football season ticket member priority renewal period has ended, but members can still renew their tickets for the 2019 season by calling 1-800-Go-Bulls. New season ticket sales for all stadium locations will begin on March 25. In-person sales will also take place at USF Spring Game on April 13.

ABOUT USF FOOTBALL
In just its 22^nd season of football, and 19^th at the FBS level, the USF football program has earned 10 bowl appearances, including a current run of four straight, and owns a record of 6-3 in bowl games. The Bulls have appeared in the national top 25 rankings in each of the past three seasons, including a program record run of 20 straight weeks in the top 25, and in 2018 reached the program’s 150^th win faster than any FBS program in state of Florida history. USF has posted a pair of 10-plus win seasons in the last three years, including a program-record 11 wins (11-2) in 2016, and logged 15 winning seasons overall. Since first taking the field in 1997, the USF program has reached as high as No. 2 in the national rankings (2007), seen 30 players selected in the NFL Draft, 14 named All-American and 29 earn first-team all-conference selection.

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