South Florida Football Predictions 2009

Written June 28, 2009 by InfoPlays

2009 South Florida Football Predictions The South Florida Bulls don’t have the experience and depth to challenge in the national picture as they did in 2007, but they are a contender in the Big East conference considering it lacks a dominant team. Matt Grothe returns to lead an offense that shouldn’t have a problem scoring points, and if they can find a couple of other defenders to give George Selvie some support, the Bulls could be right at the top of the conference. The college football odds agree as the Bulls are listed at +250 to win the Big East in ‘09.

Offense: Mike Canales takes over as offensive coordinator, a spot he occupied from 1997 to 2000, with the hopes of scoring 35 points/game like they did against Big East opponents in 2007. They averaged less than half that against conference foes last year, which explains their 2-5 effort in Big East play. Only five starters return on offense, but one is quarterback Matt Grothe who is one of the nation’s top duel threats. He has thrown for more than 8,000 yards and rushed for 2,085 over three seasons. The Bulls boast a deep receiving corps headed by Jessie Hester, who had a team-high 54 grabs last year. A.J. Love had 31 receptions in 2008, but both guys missed the spring with injuries. This gave juniors Carlton Mitchell and Dontavia Bogan the opportunity to move up the ladder.

There are five running backs vying for playing time in the spread offensive attack, with names like Moise Plancher, Mike Ford, Jamar Taylor, Richard Kelly and Aston Samuels. The biggest rebuilding project comes up front. Junior Jacob Sims was limited by a broken finger in the spring and was not on the post-spring depth chart, but he expects to regain a starting position at either tackle or center once he comes back in the fall. Zach Hermann returns at right guard after missing the last six games of ‘08 with a nagging foot injury.

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Defense: USF breaks in a pair of new coordinators in Joe Tresey and David Blackwell. But that won’t change the way end George Selvie operates. One of the country’s top pass rushers with 25.5 career sacks and 61.5 tackles for loss, the senior will still be able to move around and create blocking problems to put pressure on opposing quarterbacks. He had to deal with double-teams on nearly every snap last season, thus his sack numbers dropped from 14.5 in 2007 to 5.5 last year. Senior Aaron Harris mans the other end spot. Junior college transfer Jason Pierre-Paul and freshman Ryan Giddins are expected to compete when they report this fall.

Tackle Terrell McClain has a lot of promise as a junior, and Cory Grissom came out of the spring No. 1 at nose tackle after missing all but one game in ‘08 with an ankle injury. Kion Wilson is a returning starter at middle linebacker. Depth is a concern here, which is why senior Donte Spires, who took 2008 off to work on academics after playing a prominent role in ‘07, is a welcome addition. Senior free safety Nate Allen has five interceptions the past two years, and he returns to lead the secondary.

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