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Willie Taggart Spices Up The USF Football Spring Game

Instead of going the boring way, splitting the roster into two teams and setting up a careful, low-intensity battle, USF's coach decides to make things more interesting.

By chuckycrater
Jerry Lai-US PRESSWIRE

This is not going to be your average spring football game:

In keeping with his developing culture of competition, coach Taggart divides everyone associated with the football program into two teams, Green and White, from the coaching staff to the administrative assistants. Then, the staffs determine the player rosters through a free agent period and a player draft, setting the stage for the Spring Game, which is played as a traditional game with four 15-minute quarters.

Chuck Bresnahan is the Green coach, and Ron Cooper will coach White.

Now, the free agent period is interesting to see what each team's priorities are going to be, and because the teams can offer incentives and signing bonuses (as long as they're allowed in the NCAA rules). The White team already pulled the trigger on theirs, taking Aaron Lynch, for obvious reasons, and Austin Reiter, because he's the only experienced center).

Naturally they had a signing ceremony and they got their "new" jerseys:

And here are the terms:

The Green team has until this afternoon to sign their free agents. Then comes the draft on Saturday, which will be held in front of the whole team. The two teams pick their first 15 players each in front of everyone. Then the players leave, and the coaches will pick the rest of the teams on their own, so there aren't any hurt feelings.

And of course, there are stakes:

Aside from the bragging rights that come with victory, the USF Football program will hold a cookout for the entire staff before the end of the spring semester. The Spring Game’s winning team will feast on steak and potatoes, while the losing team will be stuck with hot dogs and beans.

This ought to be fun. Whatever makes the spring game competitive.