08/14: Bulls Battle The Heat In Third Morning Practice; Ben Williams Impresses

[Brad]

Courtesy USF

Bulls Battle The Heat In Third Morning Practice; Ben Williams Impresses

TAMPA, Fla. (Aug. 14, 2007) – While the University of South Florida football team practiced Tuesday morning, junior running back Ben Williams continued his impressive fall camp. 

With the Bulls featuring tremendous depth at running backing in 2007, Williams continues his efforts to hold onto the No. 1 spot with his ability to be an all-around player. He finished the 2006 campaign strong, earning Papajohns.com Bowl Most Valuable Player Honors, and his overall strengths in blocking, rushing and catching are helping solidify his spot. 

“Ben Williams is solid,” coach Jim Leavitt said. “He’s a solid guy. There are no issues there. He’s got work to do, don’t get me wrong, but the rest of them are right in a battle and Ben’s going to play a lot of football right now.  He’s ready to go. He blocks, he runs, catches, does everything, knows the offense. He’s so solid and he’s worked hard. He’s better than he was last fall.”

While Leavitt said there isn’t really a depth chart at the position yet, he feels that Williams is playing at a high level.

“He is, right now, I feel, playing at the level I would want,” Leavitt added. “Everybody else has work to do.”

Moise Plancher is also making strides at running back. After tearing his ACL last season,

the sophomore seems to be getting back into the routine of things in the second week of camp. 

“I saw an early set back for the first two to three days, but now he’s really going and getting into rhythm pretty good,” Leavitt said. “He looks good out there.”

Overall, Leavitt was pleased with the performance of the team on the field Tuesday.

“We had a lot better practice this morning,” Leavitt added. “They worked hard and we played hard. They did a good job. I am proud of them. We hit it pretty hard today. I didn’t want what happened yesterday to happen very often, and hopefully never again. (Yesterday) I just didn’t think we practiced good enough. We didn’t practice very good. You are either going to go out for a BIG EAST Championship or your not. There’s no gray area.”

The Bulls will return to two-a-days Wednesday, hitting the field from 8:30-10:30 a.m. and 3:55-5:15 p.m.

[usfgrad84]

Whether it's a good or bad report, I always discount whatever leavitt has to say during the summer practice season.

Just about every coach will talk about practices like yesterday (Rutgers and West Virginia did it last week).  You never know if he is trying to motivate somebody or a particular unit, etc. 

He has his agendas and his motivations.  That's typically why he doesn't allow the assistants to make too many comments. 

That being said, it is good to hear that Ben Williams and Planchar continue to progress.  It just gives us more options at RB.  Any word on how Samuels is progressing?  We haven't heard much about him.

[Jihme]

That's true.  Coach Leavitt always says the same things.  Not sure either if it's for motivation, but you have to remember that there is at least some political aspect to being the head coach.

[USFbulls0208]

It is kinda comical to read Leavitt saying basically the same thing every day.

But it is for a reason.

Go Bulls!

[SANJAY]

Whether it's a good or bad report, I always discount whatever leavitt has to say during the summer practice season.

Just about every coach will talk about practices like yesterday (Rutgers and West Virginia did it last week).  You never know if he is trying to motivate somebody or a particular unit, etc. 

He has his agendas and his motivations.  That's typically why he doesn't allow the assistants to make too many comments. 

That being said, it is good to hear that Ben Williams and Planchar continue to progress.  It just gives us more options at RB.  Any word on how Samuels is progressing?  We haven't heard much about him.

I took that as encouragement for Ben and Moise to keep them going and a kick towards Aston, Ford and Jamar to pick it up.  Although I expect Ben to start against Elon and Auburn I think CJL expects to see one of the others guys start by the end of the year.

[BullDoug]

Every football team at every level, every year always has a down practice within 3-6 days of first putting the pads on and the coach 99% of the time over reacts to make it clear to the team days like that are not acceptable.  As for Leavitt's comments, he's saying Williams is going to play but that don't mean he's the feature "runner".  Ben will get in to block and the occasional third down carry or toss.  More than likely one of the others be the first and second down premier backs.

[usfgrad84]

Every football team at every level, every year always has a down practice within 3-6 days of first putting the pads on and the coach 99% of the time over reacts to make it clear to the team days like that are not acceptable.  As for Leavitt's comments, he's saying Williams is going to play but that don't mean he's the feature "runner".  Ben will get in to block and the occasional third down carry or toss.  More than likely one of the others be the first and second down premier backs.

"Feature Runner".  Very well put!!!!

[Guest JulmisteForPrez]

Every football team at every level, every year always has a down practice within 3-6 days of first putting the pads on and the coach 99% of the time over reacts to make it clear to the team days like that are not acceptable.  As for Leavitt's comments, he's saying Williams is going to play but that don't mean he's the feature "runner".  Ben will get in to block and the occasional third down carry or toss.  More than likely one of the others be the first and second down premier backs.

I sure hope you're right.

I love little Ben, but he was a walk-on for a reason.  He's getting more out of his ability than almost anyone.

That being said, if Planchar or Ford cannot beat him out, that's a very bad thing.  We need one of these guys with all the physical tools to be the one.

[Greg Auman]

one thing to remember is that it's not just about running the ball. it's picking up blitzes, blocking, knowing the offense, all of which is a challenge for freshmen like ford, taylor, butler, samuels, even plancher to an extent. williams is the only one with experience and familiarity in USF's offense. coaches need to be able to trust someone, and williams is ahead because they trust him.

[Cardo4]

Williams is a solid player and someone the coaches can trust but he isn't someone that the opposing defense will respect or game plan for because he doesn't have the size or speed to be a tremendous threat.  In my mind this is why we need the other backs to step up.