USF Football Preaseason Practice Report: 8/22

Today was the last day of USF football practice that had open media availability toward the end of practice and it was the last scrimmage of the fall camp before the Bulls turn their attention to Elon ahead of their season opener in nine(9) days!! Except the end of practice was not open to the media so we were not able to see any of practice.

Fortunately, The Daily Stampede received images of two of the touchdowns thrown by quarterback Chris Oladokun and Brett Kean during red zone drills as they battle Alabama/Arizona State transfer Blake Barnett for the starting job.

Oladokun connected with Ole Miss transfer Jacob Mathis for a 10-yard touchdown:

Nathan Bond/The Daily Stampede

It was a fantastic trick play by the offense.

• Oladokun takes the snap and slot receiver Tyre McCants runs back toward his end zone and Oladokun throw it to him.
• Oladokun then rolls out to his left where McCants throws the ball back to him and then he finds a wide open Jacob Mathis for the touchdown.

The next play we have is redshirt junior QB Brett Kean connecting with junior wide receiver Darnell Salomon for a 17-yard TD.

Nathan Bond/The Daily Stampede

• Kean takes the snap and redshirt freshman Randal St. Felix immediately darts backward toward his end zone.
• McCants runs a slant then pretends to be chasing an imaginary tail, then runs a bit more before chasing that elusive tail again.
• Tight end Jacob Mathis literally runs circles around junior linebacker Nico Sawtelle. Running back Duran Bell runs straight toward the sideline waving his hands in the air like he’s on fire (which he has been this camp).
• Salomon runs the most picture perfect Loopty-Loo Sluggo I’ve ever seen and catches a well-placed pass for a touchdown.

Other Observations Per USF:

• Tight end Mitchell Wilcox practiced in a red non-contact jersey again, but head coach Charlie Strong said that Wilcox could’ve gone full bore today.
• Running back Elijah Mack had touchdown runs of 12 yards and four yards.

I firmly believe we will know who the starting QB will be for Elon this time next week.

“They’ve done a really good job. They respect one another,” Strong said. “Each day one of them looks like he could start off with the [first team]. They’ve been given enough reps, and they’ve been evenly distributed so now it’s about us going and making a decision.”

Strong said today’s scrimmage was “a little better” than Saturday’s scrimmage but said it was tough to compare because the team focused on different aspects in each one. Today’s emphasis was on the red zone among other things. The Bulls scored touchdowns on just 52% (32-61) of their red zone possessions in 2017.