USF Football: Head Coach Jeff Scott Joined Beckles & Recher For Some Off-Season Updates

We’re 51 days, and two-ish hours away from the South Florida Bulls opening year two under Jeff Scott at NC State, and the Bulls’ leader joined Beckles & Recher on Tuesday afternoon to discuss myriad of topics.

Champa Bay in Full Force

It’s awesome. I’ve been telling recruits that just about everyday. You could not pick a better time to come down to Tampa Bay...College football is an awesome game, and it’s a big deal in the South. Champa Bay has already taken off. And for us really to knock it out of the park, we’ve got to have a successful college football team right here in Tampa Bay and that’s what our goal is, and plan to deliver that for the community.

Between the six team titles for USF this spring, it’s only a matter of time before football catches the #ChampaBay fever.

Changing the Culture

As a leader, you have to clearly define the culture every day. And defend it every day in your locker room, with your coaches, and everybody in the building. They have to take ownership of that culture. And number two, you have to recruit to that culture...I saw a pivotal change in our overall mindset, [and] attitude from when we left in December for the break, and came back in January.

Scott said he and the staff look for signs of change, and pointed to a program record 3.01 GPA in the spring as a good sign toward the culture change, and buying into what Scott is selling.

Scott went on to say that the staff has been honest to recruits about the rebuild, and sold them on getting in on the ground floor to build the program back up to what it was, and leaving a legacy.

Man, If you close your left eye and squint really hard and tilt your head just so, Scott sounds a lot like former head coach Willie Taggart did in 2014.

QB Competition

We know who we want to be on offense, and you know what the ingredients are. We need someone who can move in the pocket when things break down, and make some plays and get out of jams because you’re not as athletic as these defenses are, and you’re not gonna block them exactly perfect every time.

Ultimately, what I look for is: Who can lead the team? Who are the guys gonna get behind? When you look at the successful seasons at South Florida, you can name who the quarterbacks were. They also have to make good decision very quickly. I feel a lot better about our quarterback position going into this season compared to where we were last season.

There’s still a couple of guys who will be battling. Priority number one for us this season is to be able to find out who our quarterback is for this year and for the future, and really be able to build the pieces around him.

Cade Fortin, and Miami transfer Jarren WIlliams each have three years of eligibility remaining for the Bulls, and freshmen Katravis Marsh, and Timmy McClain have four years remaining. All four showed flashes in the spring, but it was Fortin who was the most consistent throughout.

Fall camp will be the separator between Fortin, and Williams for the starting role. September 2 at NC State is slowly creeping up on us.