Signing Day brings good news and happy surprises for USF football

Technically, Wednesday was known as the Early Signing Day in college football, but it really was for all intents the traditional National Signing Day.

It was moved up two weeks to its earliest date ever so athletes could decide their next move before the transfer portal opens on December 9.

USF coach Alex Golesh added 25 new Bulls, with the possibility that more could arrive over the next several days. There were 23 from high school, one from junior college, and one from Australia. USF, like every other school, has one eye on the incoming list of players and the eye focused on the portal — both for players they add and players they could lose.

The portal giveth and the portal taketh away.

At a news conference where Golesh appeared with his cell phone at his side, he talked about the day’s events up to that point.

“We're we're still waiting on on five guys that we haven't announced,” he said. “There's three of them that have signed that are waiting for things at their schools or events or be able to announce it live, which will be, which will be, a couple of really, really cool surprises that that, obviously we've worked on really, really hard first.”

USF apparently got a major boost on the offensive line and wide receiver in that group Golesh alluded to.

On3 reported that offensive lineman Garrick Gordon of Tampa’s Carrollwood Day flipped his commitment to USF from Rutgers. He is 6-4, 290 and was also sought by South Carolina.

Wide receiver Christian Neptune of Pensacola Tate High School turned down offers from Mississippi State, Stanford, and Louisville to join the Bulls. He missed several weeks early in the season because of an injury but returned to post 560 receiving yards and six touchdowns in six games.

The Bulls initially announced class includes eleven defensive players, eleven on offense, and the aforementioned Australian punter. That would be Luke Goater of Melbourne, Australia. If he can match the success departing Bulls punter Andrew Stokes, also from Australia, USF will have found something special.

The Bulls signed only one quarterback — Locklan Hewlett of St. Augustine. He threw for more than 2,500 yards this season and led his team to the state semifinals. USF also signed a pair of running backs — Chase Garnett of Fort Worth, Texas, and Tray Kinkle of Holly Springs, Miss.

Garnett rushed for 1,307 yards and 20 touchdowns this season. Kinkle won the Mississippi 3A 100-meter, 200-meter, and 400-meter state championships as a junior. He rushed for 1,325 yards and 15 TDs. Kinkle also was recruited by Auburn and Florida.

“I think everybody gets up on every Signing Day and talks about how they won, and everything's great, and that's pretty typical. For us, this is, this is the first class where we've had two full years to recruit, go through two full years of a cycle, and so we're really, really happy,” Golesh said.

“You know that first class, when, when we got here, we pieced together the best way we could. There's a handful of guys there that are making a huge impact right now. I think last year's class, which was just what people talked about it being as, which was the top group of five class in the country, and in a top 50 class. I think this one, when it’s done, is going to end up being in the same exact way.”