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2018 Preseason Camp Begins Where it All Started for USF Football

It’s a bit of a hike from the Lee Roy Selmon Center, but worth it to preserve the history.

By Nathan Bond
Nathan Bond/The Daily Stampede

Year two for USF football under Charlie Strong will be much, much different, but the place they began preseason camp was the same. For (at least) the third consecutive season, the Bulls have begun their fall camp at the Sycamore Fields where former head coach Jim Leavitt and his very first team spent an entire year just practicing.

“We love going there. Those guys laid the foundation for this program and that’s something we appreciate [about] those guys,” senior nickel back Ronnie Hoggins said.

The rain and lightning stayed away for the entire practice, but only just. The post-practice media session was moved into the Lee Roy Selmon Center because the lightning began to get closer (IPF, anyone?).

Observations:

While the numbers of all the newcomers aren’t for locked in, it seems like a safe bet that the quarterback’s numbers won’t change. Senior DB Nate Ferguson is no longer with the program, Strong wished him well and said that the Sickles alumnus will transfer.

Barnett connected with tight end Mitchell Wilcox for a touchdown over redshirt freshman Bentlee Sanders (was #25, now #20) just before the media was granted access. Then right after we were let in, Barnett showed off his wheels.

All of the Kickers

In the race to replace former kicker Emilio Nadelman, who is now a graduate assistant with the team, USF will turn to a group of five potential suitors. Marco Salani, Jake Vivonetto, and Aussie punter/kicker Trent Schneider were here in the spring, but no one truly separated themselves from the herd, are joined by Tennessee Tech transfer Colby Weiss and freshman Jake Stone.

By all accounts, the kickers had a very good first day, going 8/9 on field goal attempts combined.

Strong’s Comments on Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer:

“No I haven’t [spoken with Meyer]. The thing about Urban...we’ve coached together at Notre Dame, we coached together at the University of Florida and it’s all about developing young men for him. And he respects people and he treats people the right way. I can’t speak on that situation there because I don’t know much about it, but I know there’s an investigation going on and the right thing will be done.”