With spring practice now in the rearview mirror for the USF football team, the focus now shifts to what head coach Alex Golesh called “the hardest gap to close.”
That’s the gap that transitions from a competitive team to a championship team.
“I think it's easy to forget what we walked into when we got here, and I'm not justifying what any part of what we've done, but walking in and starting from scratch in every imaginable way, and winning back to back bowl games, there's this next step we have to take, and the gap is not huge, but it's the hardest gap to close,” he said.
The Bulls have had consecutive 7-6 seasons and back-to-back bowl wins. That’s a monumental leap for a program that was 4-29 in the three seasons before Golesh arrived.
However, he is the first to say that’s not the standard he wants the Bulls to have. It’s about championships, which require building a roster and culture to achieve those goals.
Judging by the performance of several newcomers in Saturday’s spring game at Corbett Stadium, the foundation has been laid.
Starting quarterback Byrum Brown sat out the game after straining his hamstring in practice. Golesh said it wasn’t serious, but he wasn’t taking chances. That decision meant more playing time for freshman Locklan Hewlett, who was up to the task.
Hewlett completed 13-of-14 passes for 110 yards and three touchdowns.
Sophomore wide receiver Brandon Winton had two touchdown receptions, both from Hewlett.
Sophomore Nico Gramatica had a 47-yard field goal.
A pair of sophomore running backs showed up well.
Nykahi Davenport had eight carries for 55 yards and Alvon Isaac had nine carries for 50 yards.
Sophomore cornerback James Chenault and graduate safety Jaelen Stokes had interceptions.
Meanwhile, the building project continues.
“I think this is as close as we've been. We've got to go finish in the portal here, and we've got some official visits here this weekend,” Golesh said.
“We’ve got to go finish, we’ve got to shore up the roster, and then we’ve got to go close this gap. And this gap is going to require so much work and going to require so much grit and discipline and buy-in that it's going to be a challenge every single day until we get to the end of August and line up at Ray Jay against a playoff team in Boise State, but our guys will be ready to roll.”