USF football coach Alex Golesh has made it clear that he will concentrate recruiting efforts on Florida and Georgia.
“That's the great thing about this job is that you don't have to go very far. You just got to be able to evaluate the elite level and continue to build relationships,” he said.
However, when the opportunity arises to expand your reach, you have to take it. That’s what Golesh did in getting a commitment from Washington, D.C. offensive lineman Jordan Harrison.
On3.com reported that Harrison chose the Bulls over Power 4 schools Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia Tech, Syracuse and Boston College. The 6-2, 295-pounder becomes the fourth player committed to the 2026 recruiting class..
Although this is a verbal commitment and Harrison can't offically sign until December, it seems likely that the Bulls don't have to worry about him looking elsewhere.
“USF for me was everything I wanted in a school — experienced coaching staff and a great family,” Harrison told On3’s Mike Singer. “A main factor was just the level of interest the coaches had in me; they made me feel like a priority for their program.”
DeAngelo Bowden, Harrison’s teammate at St. John’s College High School in Washington, is part of USF’s incoming freshman class.
100%% Percent Committed #ComeToTheBay #HornsUp @CoachHoodie @CoachGolesh @parker_ball1 @coach_mirk @patward71 @MikeWard71@MohrRecruiting @RivalsFriedman pic.twitter.com/zjtpbWjZWy
— Jordan Harrison (@jordanharris007) February 7, 2025
“For sure, he was constantly in my ear telling me this was the place for me,” Harrison said. “To be honest, it was only a matter of time.”
Still, Golesh said, USF’s primary focus in recruiting and the transfer portal will be to find Florida and Georgia players from winning programs.
“I said when we got here, we were going to build a build a program, rather than a team. And I feel like each year we've taken less and less transfers, but the transfers have been more and more targeted. You know, you look at the transfers, seven of the 13 are Florida kids,” Golesh said.
“Three are Georgia kids. Again, you see the footprint where we're trying to invest all of our time, and we kind of attacked positions of need there. We don't necessarily want to live in the portal, but we want to be able to continue to fill gaps. And you look at our roster now, we got 31 seniors, and then we've got this crop of the last two recruiting classes of young guys that we're so excited about that just got to continue to grow.”