Bulls Provide Fireworks in Spring Game

Offense posts five touchdowns and two field goals to claim victory over the defense

TAMPA, APRIL 13, 2019 – Fans packing Corbett Stadium got a good glimpse of just how explosive new coordinator Kerwin Bell‘s offense can be during the USF Spring Game presented by USF Federal Credit Union on Saturday afternoon.

Starting quarterback Blake Barnett (Corona, Calif.) set the tone in electric fashion by throwing a 75-yard touchdown pass to all-conference tight end Mitchell Wilcox on the very first play. By the final whistle, USF’s offense sported a lot of smiles after producing five touchdowns and two field goals in a 73-36 victory over the defense, which was limited by spring practice rules.

“I just feel like we’ve got a lot of momentum coming from this spring camp and I think we’re going to take that into the fall,” said Wilcox, a senior from Tarpon Springs, Fla., who led all receivers with 90 yards on two catches.

Saturday’s scoring system featured normal point totals for touchdowns and field goals on top of two points being awarded for 15-plus yard plays and one point for fourth-down conversions. Defensively, three-and-outs counted for three points, turnovers counted for four and fourth-down stops earned the Bulls one point.

“I like the way the offense just came out. They were able to operate,” head coach Charlie Strong said. “Defensively with the scoring system, defensive guys got mad at me because I took away the sacks and tackles for loss, which could have added more points to the score.”

USF’s offense was certainly happy with the result after producing what would have been 41 points in a real game situation as all three quarterbacks threw at least one touchdown and combined for 509 yards passing.

Seven went on the scoreboard quickly thanks to innovative Bell cooking up a new play that got Wilcox wide open in the middle of the field during his 75-yard touchdown reception. Barnett was quick to spot Wilcox downfield on the play and went on to cover 135 total yards on eight completions during his limited outing.

“That was all the brains, I just finished the deal,” said Wilcox of Bell’s big play idea.

Behind Barnett, redshirt freshman Jordan McCloud (Tampa) put the exclamation mark on his impressive spring by competing 17 of 25 passes for 228 yards and two touchdowns. Before McCloud’s scores, redshirt freshman Octavious Battle (Atlanta) threw a perfect 29-yard pass to Jernard Phillips (Miami) for a score and added a 10-yard TD toss to emerging slot receiver Bryce Miller (St. Petersburg, Fla.) in the first quarter.

USF produced more fireworks after halftime with running back/standout slot receiver Johnny Ford (Miami) hauling in a 20-yard touchdown pass from McCloud in the third quarter. Redshirt freshman receiver Deric DuBose (Sarasota, Fla.) capped off the scoring with a 10-yard reception on another throw by McCloud with 6:57 to go in the game.

“From day one of spring practice to where we are now, we’ve come a million miles on offense,” head coach Charlie Strong said.

Defense Brings Pressure, Gets Takeaways
Playing defense during a spring game like Saturday was no easy task with pressure being limited to five Bulls or fewer rushing the quarterback along with other restrictions.

Despite that, USF’s bulked-up defensive line made an impact with 13 sacks on quarterbacks wearing non-contact jerseys.

Back at defensive end, senior Greg Reaves (Bradenton, Fla.) excelled on the edge with a game-high three sacks and five total tackles.

“I wanted to come out and compete with the guys one last time,” Reaves said. “It’s my last spring, so it was a fun time being at Corbett Stadium.”

Linebackers also racked up tackles with six different Bulls combining for 21 stops. Breakout middle linebacker Andrew Mims (St. Johns, Fla.) led the group with six tackles, two sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss. Fellow sophomore Antonio Grier Jr. totaled four tackles, including a sack and 2.5 tackles for loss.

“We’ve got some guys that we’re rotating,” Strong said. “We’ve just got to get (Nico) Sawtelle back and get that position shored up.”

USF’s secondary is getting back to its ball-hawking ways and it showed with interceptions by freshman Daquan Evans(Orlando) and junior McArthur Burnett(Pahokee, Fla.) – both early enrollees – along with sophomore Nick Roberts(Jacksonville, Fla.).

Aside from picks, sophomore defensive back Vincent Davis (Jacksonville, Fla.) used his physical style to total a sack, two tackles for loss and three total stops.

“I feel like we have a new era in the secondary,” Davis said. “(New DBs coach Steve) Ellis, he’s been teaching us a lot of new things.”

Bulls Bits

WEISS WAS ON TARGET: On top of making five extra-point tries, junior kicker Coby Weiss was all good on both his field goal attempts from 34 and 21 yards out. The Gainesville, Fla., native has stayed in a groove this spring after going 15-for-18 on field goal attempts last fall in his first season with the Bulls.
FORMER BULLS SHOW STRONG SUPPORT: A large group of Bulls showed up for the USF Football Reunion on Friday night and strong support continued Saturday. Former USF standouts in attendance included George Selvie, Kayvon Webster, B.J. Daniels, Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Sam Barrington along with many others who helped build the program.
SANDS HAS SOLID ALL-AROUND PERFORMANCE: USF did a lot of passing Saturday but Trevon Sands still made an impression in the run game, averaging 4.5 yards per carry with a long of 23 yards. The senior back from Miami also caught two passes for 44 yards with a long of 34 yards.

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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