TAMPA-It has been a good spring. There have been ups and downs, there always are, but overall, South Florida Coach Alex Golesh says, it has been a good spring.
“I’m really proud of how far we’ve come so far,” Golesh said after one of his team’s final practices before Saturday’s spring game at Corbett Field here. The game starts at 6 p.m. with a fan fest beginning at four o’clock.
“Our message to the guys after practice was man, we’ve got to go finish and every single day matters,” Golesh said. “Every single day that we get an opportunity to go we’ve got to compete, get better as a program and for us to take the next step its gotta come from within the locker room.
“I’m proud of what we’ve done so far up to this point and our program so far,” Golesh added.
“Our confidence level, you know, I continue to talk about earning confidence,” Golesh remarked. “I think you earn confidence as you continue to perfect the process, continue to improve day-to-day.
“It’s a really confident bunch,” Golesh said of his team. “I think as the leadership continues to grow and you continue to go through hard situations you build confidence. I think it’s really high.
“There’s a bunch of guys out there that are guys we know will contribute and have contributed so I think where we are, you’re seeing a lot of young guys start to gain confidence as they’re making plays,” Golesh went on.
“I think we do a really good job of not looking forward too much. We don’t focus on anything other than what we’re doing today and like I said, that was the message to the team,” Golesh concluded.
Two areas where younger players have had a chance to step up are the offensive line and the secondary. That’s because 12 players missed all of spring practice including some returning veterans in the line and defensive backfield.
“You know I think there have been bright spots at a lot of places,” Golesh said as he continued to assess his team. “I think the offensive line, there’s a handful of guys who are not going through spring practice that have played a ton of snaps for us.
“And seeing the depth and the young guys step up there and develop, that’s been really exciting,” Golesh said. “I think when offensive linemen are out you start to panic; man, can we operate? I think we’ve operated really well.”
The Bulls’ offensive line holds the key to how far this team will go in 2025. “This could be the deepest offensive line room I’ve ever been a part of,” veteran offensive line coach Tyler Hudanick commented on the USF football website.
USF has some solid starters returning including guard Zane Herring, who, along with veterans center Cole best, has missed all of spring practice; tackle Derek Bowman and center Mike Lofton. Cole Skinner and Deonte Bowie are seasoned reserves.
In college football, or football at any level, it’s what’s up front that counts. It doesn’t matter how good your quarterback is, he can’t throw on his back or if he’s constantly got hands in his face or if he’s forced to run for his life.
Running backs can’t explode through the hole and break tackles if there’s no hole to explode through.
So, for USF, having quarterback Byrum Brown back is great because he puts some pop in the offense, but having a veteran offensive line to protect him might be even better.
At any rate, this will all come to an end, or should we say be put on hold until the fall, with Saturday’s spring game.
“It’ll be good for our kids to come out and compete in front of a crowd,” Golesh said. “It’ll be offense versus defense. There are not enough players to split the squad into teams, but we’ll go offense versus defense for four quarters and make it as much like a game as we can.”
And just like this spring has been, it will be good preparation for the real thing. This team will have a lot of hurdles to jump if it is to reach its goals once September rolls around, but it will be ready. It’s prepared to take its best shot.
In the past, that hasn’t been good enough. This year, it might be.
