The Fall semester is starting today, so Skip Holtz is giving his players the day off to let them circle the parking lots endlessly like everyone else. Since we've taken the last several days off from our practice roundups, let's get you caught up.
-- Saturday's scrimmage was closed to the public, but reports say the long-awaited progress on offense continued. Dontavia Bogan scored two touchdowns as the first-string units got more work than they did in the first scrimmage. As literally the only experienced receiver available right now, seeing Bogan step up was critical with the first game only two weeks away. If you're a subscriber to Rivals, USFBullsEye.com has a feature on Bogan getting it into gear over the last several days.
-- On the defensive side of the ball, coordinator Mark Snyder sounds convinced that Mistral Raymond will be starting at corner against Stony Brook. From Greg Auman's scrimmage recap:
Defensive coordinator Mark Snyder said Saturday's scrimmage convinced him his secondary is at its best with senior Mistral Raymond, who entered the fall as a starting safety, lined up at cornerback, which means either Quenton Washington or Kayvon Webster wouldn't be part of the starting defense.
"Moving Skinny (Raymond) to corner, there's a big difference when he's not at corner," Snyder said. "We'll go in and talk about it, but from what I saw today, yeah (he would be at corner)."
-- Sorry kids, no Toro Loco this year according to Todd Fitch in Auman's recap (same link as above). He says none of the current players are quite suited to run one, although he hinted at Dontae Aycock maybe doing it next year when he becomes eligible. Aycock is a running back now, but he played quarterback at Chamberlain High School in Tampa.
-- None of us could make it to Fan Fest to add to the 4000 people in attendance or the many, many pictures available from the event at Raymond James Stadium yesterday. Corey Dowlar has a bunch of them on USF's Rivals site, and USF Athletics' Facebook site has a lot more.
-- Before the Fan Fest, and after a morning practice, Skip Holtz announced that HRRRRRRNRRRNNNNNNG RRHRRGGHGHGGHHHH RRHRRRRNRNRNRNNNGGGGG Joel Miller is now on scholarship. He gets the scholarship freed up by tackle Josh Garvin deciding to leave the team to deal with his still-unspecified personal issues. If only Martin Fennelly could have saved his latest one-sentence-paragraph extravaganza about Miller for another couple of days. It could have been even feel-goodier.
-- Mark Snyder also had high praise for weakside linebacker Michael Lanaris. Any time you're getting compared to Andy Katzenmoyer and A.J. Hawk during their Ohio State years, you must be doing something right.
-- Trent Pupello wants to attend the walk-on players meeting tomorrow afternoon. Ummmmm... OK? His Fulmer Cup-winning pistol-whipping spree from last summer somehow ended with all the charges being dropped, so I guess technically that can't be held against him.
-- Finally, before the team left Vero Beach, the players put on a talent show. I can't watch because I have trouble watching people potentially embarrass themselves (unless it's us), but I'm sure it's worth seeing.