It’s that time, ladies and germs—there’s football this week! Hallelujah, baseball’s stranglehold on the summer finally ends and we can stop being bored to death by sports.
On Saturday, the USF Bulls will kick their season into gear with a matchup against the Western Carolina Catamounts. What do we know about the Bulls? How will they look coming off a 2-10 season entering coach Willie Taggart’s second year with the program?
In the first installment today, we’ll take a look at the offense: what it did last year, who will be there this year and what it will do this season.
The Quarterbacks
Last year was a complete and utter mess at quarterback, seeing four guys take snaps from under center. Penn State transfer Steven Bench couldn’t get anything going, throwing for just 392 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions while completing a vomit-inducing 40.6 percent of his passes. Bobby Eveld somehow did worse, throwing for 455 yards on 96 attempts for two touchdowns and two interceptions, but managed to complete just 39.6 percent of his passes.
Three-star recruit Mike White saw the most action, attempting 175 passes. He completed 53.1 percent of those, making him a superstar in this group by proxy, for 1,083 yards, three touchdowns and nine interceptions. It was a tire fire across the board.
White was named the starter last week by coach Taggart and the sophomore should improve in year two in the system.
The Running Backs
This could be an interesting battle. Sure, last year’s leading rusher Marcus Shaw (765 yards, three touchdowns) is gone, but sophomore Darius Tice is atop the depth chart right now after showing bursts of explosiveness last year on just 35 carries. Taggart loves the grind-it-out style of offense, so his running backs will be the focal point.
If Tice doesn’t get it done, he’ll have three-star redshirt freshman Sta’fon McCray behind him and four-star D’Ernest Johnson behind them. They’ll have talented options with decent size to hammer the ball between the tackles and set up White with a decent play-action to work with. If the running game can get some momentum, it will greatly help in the development of White and get the offense moving in the direction Taggart hopes. Still, having just 35 total carries amongst the top three on the depth chart can’t leave anyone feeling warm and cozy at night.
The Wide Receivers
This might be the most talented group on the offense, as the unit will be led by returning leading receiver Andre Davis. The 6-foot-1 wideout has shown star capabilities after catching 49 balls for 735 yards and a pair of touchdowns last year. With growth and improvement from White at quarterback, he could enjoy a breakout season in 2014.
Lining up alongside him will be senior three-star Deonte Welch and four-star senior Chris Dunkley. Dunkley is a tremendous athlete, but needs to translate that to the receiver position to really contribute. White will have his fair share of talented targets to choose from and, if he can show significant improvement, Davis could reasonably be the first wideout in USF history to crack the 1,000-yard mark.
The Tight Ends
This could be a focal point of the offense. The tight ends will be on the field a lot given Taggart’s philosophy on “run first” and could become more of a feature in the passing game as well. Mike McFarland and Sean Price, who combined for 44 catches and 473 yards last year, return to action.
Price, who was one of the top tight ends in the country coming out of high school and choosing USF over the likes of Michigan, Oklahoma and Notre Dame, has earned rave reviews during the offseason for his work in the offense. Taggart loves multi-tight end sets and will likely feature Price heavily. The 6-foot-3 Price could become a matchup problem for opposing defense.
This might be the best positional group on the team and the Bulls will no doubt get heavy use out of their tight ends, be it in the receiving game or paving the way for their rushing attack.
The Offensive Line
One of the bright spots for the Bulls offensively already appears to be the offensive line. They bring back several starters, including three named Quinterrius (Eatmon, RG), Thor (Jozwiak, LG) and Brynjar (Gudmundsson, RT). They have no underclassmen in the starting five and even have three upperclassmen in the two-deep.
This is an experienced group on an offense that has a lot of incoming talent, but even more questions. If this group can keep White off his back and open up holes in the running game, things could take off for the Bulls offensively, where they have a nice crop of underclassmen dotting the two-deep that look like they could make an impact on day one.
Check in later in the week for your defensive preview, predictions and a look at Saturday’s matchup.
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