In a major rebuild, such as the one currently underway with the USF football program, the third season is widely regarded as a significant barometer of progress.
That holds true for Alex Golesh as he enters a pivotal third season as the Bulls' head coach.
We don’t need to belabor the point about the mess he inherited when he took over in late 2022. We’ve said it often enough. And Golesh and his staff deserves credit for changing not only how USF plays, but also the perception of the program.
USF’s recruiting classes have ranked at or near the top of the American Conference since he got here. The talent level for this year’s team appears exponentially higher than they’ve had around here for years – particularly along the offensive and defensive lines.
“We brought that up in the summertime, as we went through recruiting, the portal deal, and we're like, Hey, listen, like this is what we need,” defensive coordinator Todd Orlando said in a recent media availability.
“We felt like during the course of last year's season, especially towards the tail end … I mean, that's a violent position up there. So guys that you know are normally getting 40 or 50 plays, we had to put other people in there to grab their plays up, and maybe they weren't ready.”
Are they ready now?
Let’s focus on a few statistical eye-poppers from 2024 that could show how far along the rebuild has come.
Too many points allowed: USF was 99th in the nation last season with 29.8 points allowed per game. That was the seventh-most in the American Conference, which doesn’t sound terrible for a 14-team league.
However, the six teams below the Bulls all had losing records.
The additions of Josh Celiscar (Texas A&M), Devin Lee (Vanderbilt), Jacob Merrifield (Florida Atlantic), Dre Butler (Charlotte), Dennard Flowers (Murray State), and Traevon Mitchell (West Florida) should considerably strengthen the D-line.
Merrifield committed to USF over a Big Ten offer from Northwestern.
“You got a whole bunch of guys that have come in, and they’re big, too,” Orlando said. “The comparison between what we had here to what we have right now … I mean, (Lee and Celiscar) played in SEC programs, so, you’ve got bigger body guys that can play, and they're both great kids.”
Shore up the pass defense: The Bulls were 13th against the pass last season in the conference. That has to improve significantly for USF to have a chance to play for a championship.
Defensive backs Boogsie Silvera, who transferred from McNeese State, and Jonas Duclona (Wisconsin) give the Bulls needed secondary depth and experience.
Also, safety Fred Gaskin should build on a solid freshman season with the Bulls.
Play cleaner: USF averaged 70 yards per conference game in penalties last season. That ranked 12th out 14 teams. It’s 39 more yards lost through penalties than Army, which led American teams with only 31 flagged yards per game.
In tight ballgames, penalties are killers.