Skip Holtz welcomed in the newest members of the USF football team as OLs Chandlor Mathews (Guess the York will be removed) and Lawrence Martin, DE Tevin Mims, and DBs Fidel Montgomery and Josh Brown signed their National Letters of Intent before enrolling in January.
The Bulls were in desperate need for players who could immediately come in and play at all three positions, and Holtz thinks he has the players who can come in and fill out the two-deep.
"We have a veteran group returning and we wanted to bring in some young men that could help us fill some holes on the depth chart. We feel we've addressed some need areas and this will help our depth as we go through winter workouts and into spring practice."
Greg Auman spoke with Holtz on where some of the players will lineup, and it looks like Martin and Mathews will each have a chance to compete for an open starting position. Holtz mentioned Mathews for the job at center, where he will battle Thor Joswiak and Austin Reiter for the starting job. Martin was mentioned by Auman as possibly being either a guard or a tackle, but you'd have to assume he would face off with Damian Edwards and John McGhin for the left guard spot vacated by Jeremiah Warren.
With JaQuez Jenkins moving back to safety for the spring, it leaves only Kayvon Webster and George Baker as the only healthy experienced cornerbacks on the roster. With both backup positions open for spring practice, it gives both Brown and Montgomery the ability to play a ton of snaps in their first year here. Auman said that Montgomery could follow Jenkins at safety while Brown lines up at corner, but I wouldn't be surprised if both are out wide when spring starts as fellow early enrollee Chris Bivins will miss spring practice due to a knee injury.
Auman also received news that freshman DT Marquis White has left the team due to academics and will not return. White was considered a project at DT with only playing one year of organized football, but seemed to have the ability to become a solid rotation player if he was able to continue his development. We wish Marquis the best of luck wherever he lands.