Selling a Scheme and Dream

[Guest BasketBull.]

Selling a scheme and dream

JOHN C. COTEY. St. Petersburg Times.  Feb 4, 1996

It is a typical Wednesday afternoon in January - sunny, but cloudy, with a nippy wind that you can hear biting across the field at Tampa Stadium.

You can also hear University of South Florida assistant football coach Calvin Magee. He is talking to a half-dozen promising local recruits, while fellow assistants Rick Kravitz and Mark Stoops stand off to the side and listen. Magee tells the recruits this can be their tunnel, their field, and the aluminum bleachers can be filled with their fans. It's a great feeling, he tells them, and he knows, because he's been in that tunnel before, when he was a Buccaneer tight end.

Magee is ready to close the deal. He tells the players he is No. 80, Cory Porter. The real Cory Porter, a few feet away, an accomplished receiver out of Tarpon Springs, smiles.

Magee continues with his vision. It is USF's first game. The crowd, decked out in green and gold, is going bonkers, and the cheerleaders have formed a path to the field. Magee then turns away from the kids, who are the reality at the moment, and runs into the vision of USF's future.

Arms raised. Through the tunnel. Onto the field. Just like, he hopes, they will on Sept. 6, 1997.

Clearwater High fullback Otis Dixon looks at Porter, who is still smiling. Then he looks at his arm. He has goose bumps.

"It was pretty cool," Dixon said. "It felt pretty good."

And suddenly, so did this thought: Otis Dixon, USF fullback.

Lots of folks appear to like the idea of USF football. Coach Jim Leavitt says community support has been outstanding, he says. High school coaches think it's a great thing. Players agree - another school means more scholarships, which leads to a more promising future. Which is just what the Bulls are selling.

"We can't show them a weight room or a players lounge or practice fields, but we can show them where they will be," Leavitt said. "I can tell you this - this will be a first-rate program."

You just gotta believe, USF coaches tell potential recruits. So far, they apparently do. Nancy Hasselman, the lone secretary, gets in at 7:30 a.m. The phone starts ringing 10 minutes later.

"By noon, there's about 60 or 70 messages for the coaches," said Hasselman, a Dunedin High graduate who worked most recently for the Florida football program. "By the end of the day, there's over a hundred. My ear is about worn out."

Leavitt is the top recruiter and the recruiting coordinator, at least until he hires one. He has sent assistants Magee, Kravitz, Stoops, Eric Wolford and Mike Canales ticktacking across the state in search of pieces to the puzzle.

"Jim's philosophy is to meet every coach, every player and shake every hand," Kravitz said. "We've been everywhere. I'll walk in in the morning, and Jim will say here, look at this kid, and go out and find out about him. And then you're gone."

So off Kravitz, or Wolford, or Canales go. An example of a recent day for Kravitz is trips to four Pinellas County schools in the morning. McDonald's for lunch (drive through, of course). Then a quick trip across the Howard Frankland. One or two schools in Hillsborough County, Burger King for dinner (drive through, of course), then off to Sebring for a pair of home visits. The day starts at 8 a.m. It ends at 1:30 a.m.

"The example is Jim," Kravitz said. "If he was having us do this and he was leaving at five, well he's non-stop. No one works the schedule Jim works. We're not worried about him burning out. We're wondering, though, when he'll collapse."

It is organized chaos. The staff tries to harness that chaos inside its tiny, four-room headquarters - a not-much-to-look-at, green-trimmed, double-wide trailer on a sandbox patch of land just beyond Red McEwen's leftfield fence.

The offices are rather bare and hospital white, save for desks with Forbes Reports and messages and letters strewn across them. The big room in the middle connects the others as much as it connects the staff.

It is the war room. On one wall, a hand-built wooden shelf houses hundreds of players' videotapes.

In the middle is a table, two TV sets, two VCRs, some stray videotapes, some questionnaires and lots of paper. This is where twice a week it all comes together. The USF coaches meet after doing their individual scouting and evaluating. Names and player profiles get tossed around to be analyzed, broken down, and sometimes dismissed. The VCRs run.

Six hours after every meeting begins, USF's first roster takes more shape.

Leavitt knows the kind of players he likes - honest, strong, talented and committed. Now, his staff has to make them like something they can't see. For that, he thinks he has assembled the perfect staff, a group of young men he says care about kids, can relate to kids, can make them see past the next year of practice to the first game.

It is a young, laid-back bunch, but an intense bunch. They laugh and play in their rare free moments.

Just ask Hasselman, affectionately referred to by the group as the Queen of the Double Wide.

"Kravitz is the prankster," she said. "He's the ringleader. The rest are more conservative. But they are fun. Florida was a fun staff, but these guys are a lot of fun too."

"We are very serious about the program, but on the other hand we have to sell our personalities," said Stoops, who will coach the secondary. "I think that's one of our advantages. We are all young, and we can all relate to these kids."

So far, the approach has been successful. USF will sign more players Wednesday, signing day, than it had originally figured.

"It has gone better than we expected," Canales said.

What makes the vision come into focus is the picture Leavitt, Stoops, Magee, Kravitz, Canales and Wolford paint.

Each recruit who visits is driven behind the softball field, to where the practice fields will be and where the viewing tower will stand next fall. Three hundred yards from there is the USF track, and tucked directly behind it is the land where a two-story football complex will sit. Kravitz often kicks at or reaches down and picks up dirt at the spot, shows the recruits, and tells them: "Some day."

They tour the campus, where they'll live and study. They are driven to Tampa Stadium, taken atop the press box for a view of Tampa none has seen before. They are shown the stadium wall where the picture of the first USF football team will hang.

"And that picture will always be there," Kravitz said, "as long as that stadium stands."

The players are offered any number they choose ("We have plenty to choose from," it is noted), and any locker. Maybe, they'll share one with Errict Rhett or Hardy Nickerson. That's exciting.

They are told: You can be something special. You can be history. You can ensure a place in Tampa forever.

"They are going to be the first of something," Kravitz said. "The first group is going to be a special group. Fifty years, or 25 years, or 10 years down the road, they'll always bring back that group. I tell them, in 40 years you'll be 58 years old, and you'll walk on that field at homecoming, and your grandchildren will be in the crowd, waving at you. And there will be tears in your eyes.

"How many programs can offer you that?"

[Guest BasketBull.]

Fans can get taste of USF football

BOB HENDERSON. St. Petersburg Times.  Fla.: Oct 7, 1996

Are you ready for some Wednesday night football? And for some bratwurst with beer? And for that once-a-year chance to boogie down the middle of the Bayside Bridge?

It's all happening this week, folks. The University of South Florida's first football team is still 11 months away from its inaugural game, but Tampa Bay area fans who can't wait for exciting college football in Houlihan's Stadium - actually any kind of exciting football in Houlihan's Stadium - are standing in line for tickets to watch USF scrimmages.

A whopping 4,975 spectators attended the Bulls' first public scrimmage in the USF Soccer Stadium on Sept. 25. The second scrimmage will be at 8 p.m. Wednesday in the Clearwater High School stadium. Tickets for $5 will be on sale at the gate starting at 7 p.m.

Head coach Jim Leavitt, his assistant coaches, 74 players and the cheerleaders will be crossing the bay to give Pinellas a taste of Bulls football. The contingent will include assistant coach Greg Frey, who played for

Clearwater High and Florida State University; and players Otis Dixon and Jermaine Clemons from Clearwater High; Roy Manns from East Lake; Corey Porter from Tarpon Springs; and Kevin Glenn from Pinellas Park.

The crowd in Tampa went wild when the Bulls offense scored with a 70-yard touchdown pass on its very first play. The defense, I'm told, did not know that was coming and probably will be ready for it in Clearwater.

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USF connects with Clearwater

BOB HARIG. St. Petersburg Times, Oct 9, 1996.

Jim Leavitt is trying to build a college football program, but he does have a heart. The University of South Florida coach knows how important the community is to his team and that he will build it with local support.

That's why he is kicking around the idea of starting a Clearwater running tandem for the second of USF's three public scrimmages. It would make sense: The 8 p.m. scrimmage will be played at Clearwater High School.

Fullback Otis Dixon and tailback Jermaine Clemons starred for the Tornadoes, and they will see at least some action together on that field tonight for the Bulls.

Both players are finding the early days of USF football fun but demanding.

"You have to be on the ball every play," said Dixon, who last played at Clearwater High in the Palms Pinellas All-Star Game in December, when he scored a touchdown and rushed for more than 100 yards. He was named the game's MVP.

"You can't ever take the mentality of slowing up," Dixon said. "There is someone right behind you equal in talent."

Dixon is listed as the Bulls' No. 1 fullback, and he would love nothing more than to share the backfield load with Clemons, who last played at Clearwater High two years ago. Clemons is listed third on the depth chart, behind Rafael Williams and Zack Powell.

"It's more competitive than I thought it would be," Clemons said. "But everybody is out here to win a position. Nobody is taking any prisoners. I guess I expected this, because Coach Leavitt is the type of coach who wants the best players he can get. He wasn't going to bring in anybody who he didn't think would be successful."

Clemons was away from football for a year. He enrolled at Bethune-Cookman last fall but left the school after a week and attended St. Petersburg Junior College.

Dixon and Clemons will try to impress the USF coaching staff and an estimated crowd of about 3,000. The scrimmage will be much like USF's first, two weeks ago, but extra points and field goals will be added. It is expected to last about 90 minutes.

Even though the Division I-AA program does not play its first game for 11 months, Leavitt is looking for players to emerge now.

"This is the weakest we will ever be, right now," Leavitt said. "This is the weakest competition these young men will ever have. We will continue to recruit, continue to get better all the time. That's the big difference. They don't have the competition of seniors and juniors, but we will have an influx of transfers and junior college players who will strengthen us at certain positions." USF scrimmage WHEN: 8 p.m. WHERE: Clearwater High School. COST: $5 at the gate. FORMAT: The scrimmage begins at the 20-yard line, with the No. 1 offense going against the No. 1 defense. After the No. 1 offense runs eight plays or a drive stalls, the No. 2 offense begins at its 30, and so on. Unlike the last scrimmage, this will have extra points and field goals.

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Times Publishing Co. Oct 10, 1996

A night under the lights in a high school stadium before a few thousand fans is as good as it gets for University of South Florida football players now. The first game is 11 months away. The first victory could come much later.

Lance Hoeltke knew the negatives and chose USF anyway. At this point he is the Bulls' starting quarterback, hoping he will be behind center when the Division I-AA program begins its first season of football next fall.

A year ago, Hoeltke was the starting quarterback at Austin Peay, a Division I-AA program in Tennessee. He decided to transfer to USF after the program came into existence.

"I have a lot of confidence in what I can do, and I just wasn't really satisfied with the way things were going up there," said Hoeltke, who played at Palm Beach Lakes High and completed 4 of 7 passes for 72 yards, a touchdown and an interception Wednesday night. He also ran for an 11-yard score. "I didn't think there was a real want or desire to be a successful program. I think they just wanted a program. They didn't care how the team did.

"Down here, I think there's a need for success. The goals are higher. They set their standards higher down here. I was happy to get back to Florida and play for a team that wants to win."

The Bulls and coach Jim Leavitt began practice six weeks ago and had the second of their three public scrimmages Wednesday night.

Former Clearwater High stars Jermaine Clemons and Otis Dixon started in the backfield Wednesday night, but tailback Rafael Williams stole the show. The freshman from Perry had 22 carries for 112 yards and three touchdowns. Clemons, now a backup tailback, rushed 14 times for 94 yards and caught two passes for 56. Dixon, a fullback, had two carries for 12 yards.

Hoeltke came in ready for the run or the pass. The offense he ran at Austin Peay combined the wishbone with a shotgun attack. He passed for nearly 1,600 yards and rushing for another 500.

Three other quarterbacks were involved in the scrimmage. Leavitt plans to recruit more quarterbacks in the spring and look at transfer possibilities, but they will be behind.

"That's what's giving him the edge," Leavitt said of Hoeltke. "It's very difficult to learn our system quickly."

USF's system is a version of the West Coast offense, utilized in the NFL by teams such as San Francisco and Green Bay. Offensive coordinator Michael Canales is implementing the system that he learned under coach LaVell Edwards at Brigham Young, where he was once a graduate assistant coach.

"It puts the defense in limbo," Hoeltke said. "It forces them to make decisions. No matter what decision they make, it's wrong, because we put four or five receivers into the pattern. Someone is always open.

"On paper, it's undefensible," Hoeltke said. "It's just human error on offense that slows it down."

The Bulls expect plenty of that as they grow through the pains of a new program.

"What really impressed me was how the offense moved the ball," Leavitt said. "We ran the ball well. Rafael Williams and Jermaine Clemons had great nights. We're probably where I thought we'd be. We've got to improve so much on our fundamentals."

[Guest BasketBull.]

USF football program convinces locals

ERNEST HOOPER. St. Petersburg Times. Oct 23, 1996.

Even in the middle of an evening downpour, you can find South Florida freshman Joey Sipp rooting for his former Hillsborough High teammates at Chelo Huerta Field.

"I go back for all the games. I gotta support my boys," Sipp said. "I always wanted to go to Hillsborough when I was little. When I went there the football program started turning around, the basketball program turned around and the track program started turning around. I feel like I was part of that, especially the football program."

Now Sipp and three other Hillsborough graduates - Jariya McIntyre, Isaac Bristol and Hassan Wadj - are hoping to be a big part of the new football program at USF. The Terriers helped Hillsborough go 28-5 during their three years.

As the team approaches its final fall scrimmage at Sarasota High's Ihrig Field tonight, the Hillsborough quartet can look back on the Bulls' fall drills as a series of highs and lows.

Wadj, a receiver, injured his back and is not practicing, although he hopes to return in the spring. Sipp, an offensive guard, was listed on the first-team depth chart until strained knee ligaments slowed his progress. Bristol is on the second team at defensive tackle after moving from tight end.

McIntyre caught a touchdown pass in the first scrimmage and made an attention-grabbing reception in the second scrimmage. The catch was memorable because McIntyre was leveled by free safety Brian Surcy but still held on to the ball.

"The quarterback kind of led me, and I saw the free safety standing there," McIntyre said. "I was like he's going to hit me anyway, so I might as well catch the ball." The hit left McIntyre with a sore neck and a slight concussion. He may not play tonight.

Through the ups and downs, the Hillsborough guys have had each other to lean on. Sipp and McIntyre room together and Wadj and Bristol are a few doors down in Fontana Hall.

"You have someone to relate with because you've been through a lot," Bristol said. "Me and Joe go all the way back to the eighth grade (Van Buren)."

Said Sipp: "If one of us gets down, the other can pick you up. We're used to doing that through the years at Hillsborough. I like the fact that I have other people who understand how I play and I understand how they play."

Two quarterbacks from Sarasota are looking forward to the scrimmage as a homecoming. Sarasota High's Garrett Jagdmann and Booker's Glen Gauntt have battled for the No. 2 spot behind Lance Hoeltke.

USF coach Jim Leavitt hopes the scrimmage will be an exclamation point on fall drills, which will end with a light practice Friday.

"They're not where they need to be for a seasoned team, but they're farther along than most freshmen groups I've been around," Leavitt said. "It's really interesting. You have the powerhouses Florida, Florida State and Miami and you've got Central Florida, Florida A&M and Bethune-Cookman.

"And then you got South Florida out there somewhere, and people are wondering which direction this school is going to go in. That's what makes it pretty exciting."

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Bulls shine in dry run

ERNEST HOOPER. St. Petersburg Times. Oct 24, 1996

University of South Florida football coach Jim Leavitt looked like a politician as he shook hands with well-wishers and greeted prospective recruits.

What would you expect after a scrimmage that looked more like a successful political rally before 1,200 fans at Sarasota High's Ihrig Field Wednesday night?

The fall campaign for USF's fledgling football program ended with the last of three scrimmages. A gleeful Leavitt had nothing but compliments for his team. The Bulls' offense scored six touchdowns under normal game conditions, while the defense disrupted 11 drives.

"It was fantastic," Leavitt said. "The emotion was there and there were a lot of good hits.

"The guys are excited to be moving forward. We have an awfully good group. We're a little bit further along then I thought we would be."

The scrimmage was a blend of big plays on offense and defense. Standouts included quarterback Lance Hoeltke and Anthony Paradiso, receiver Charlie Jackson and linebackers Demetrius Woods and Bernardo McFadden.

Hoeltke, a sophomore from Palm Bay who played one year at Austin Peay before transferring, engineered the scrimmage's first scoring drive, an 11-play, 70-yard march that ended with a 6-yard pass to Jackson.

Paradiso entered on the next series and produced the night's most exciting play: a 70-yard pass to receiver Leon Matthews. Matthews caught the ball on the left sideline, outraced two defenders and broke across the field to escape two other players.

Paradiso finished 6-of-9 for 145 yards and two touchdowns.

Glenn Gauntt and Garrett Jagdmann, two Sarasota natives, started but neither was as successful as Paradiso and Hoeltke. Gauntt was 4-for-9 for 8 yards and a touchdown, Jagdmann 5-for-11 for 85.

"Anthony did some really nice things," Leavitt said. "When he was pressured he hit the hot receiver. Really, all four of our quarterbacks played well. We have to look at the film to really evaluate the situation, but this is probably as competitive of a position as we have."

There also is some competition on defense, especially with players like Woods and McFadden having standout nights. McFadden, who played at Tampa Catholic last year, had 2 1/2 sacks.

Woods, from North Miami Beach, had three sacks and a fumble recovery.

"It was the last one, so it was time to just put the pads on and go after it," said Woods, a 5-foot-11, 195-pounder.

Jackson has made a lot of strides in the right direction. With four receptions for 66 yards, he finished the three scrimmages with a team-high nine receptions for 172 yards and three touchdowns. He also scored on a 21-yard reverse.

The running game was effective with Rafael Williams, out of Perry Taylor County, carrying 12 times for 74 yards, and Jesuit's Zach Powell carrying 11 times for 42 yards.

The team will have a light practice on Friday and then turn its attention toward conditioning, weightlifting and, Leavitt emphasized, class work.

The Bulls debut at Houlihan's Stadium Sept. 6 against Kentucky Wesleyan.

[Guest BasketBull.]

LEAVITT'S BUILDING PROJECT

SHARON GINN. St. Petersburg Times. Aug 28, 1997

Jim Leavitt, South Florida's traveling salesman, was on the road again.

This time, he wasn't trying to convince high school players to jump onto a bandwagon that hadn't been built yet. No, he was working over sports editors around Florida, hoping to persuade them that his first-year program deserves press coverage in a state already littered with national champions and powerhouses and just-okay football teams.

Leavitt, no surprise, was driving. Sports information director John Gerdes, sitting in the passenger seat, broke the silence with a thought.

"He looked over to me and he said, `You know, Jim, when you win your first game, you're going to be the winningest coach in South Florida history,' " Leavitt recalled recently. "I started thinking, `Well, that's pretty good.' "

About 10 miles down the road, Gerdes spoke up again.

"John says, `I've been thinking there, Jim. You know, when you lose you're first game you'll be the losingest coach in South Florida history,' " Leavitt said.

"I kind of slowed the van down and said, `John, we have to look at the glass being half full and not half empty.' " Reality coming fast

Leavitt is the eternal optimist, constantly wondering how he can move to the NCAA's Division I-A faster, join a conference quicker, make the top 25 before a decade is up. But reality - in the form of 11 diverse opponents - is heading straight for him and his young Bulls.

So far, the only things filling up are the stands at Houlihan's Stadium (with nearly 19,000 season tickets sold) and USF's coffers, which hope to hold $10-million before the football fund raising is over.

The Bulls' first full roster is far from it, numbering just 83 players, smaller than some high school teams. As a Division I-AA coach, Leavitt could spread 63 scholarships among 85 players . . . if he had them.

So as much as he likes to think of that glass as half full, Leavitt is doing his best to empty his mind of expectations.

"The expectations (are) just to improve every time," he said. "I think we'll win a game. We probably wouldn't win the national championship" - he laughs here - "so somewhere in between.

"(We just want) to get better all the time, because our guys will be around for awhile."

Leavitt does promise one thing: The Bulls will win, at least once. He guarantees this because, frankly, it would kill him to lose all 11. `Little bit of everything'

On USF's inaugural schedule there are a few games that, on paper, the Bulls might be favored to win. There also are a few teams that seem to be scheduled just so the 83 youngsters could get a nice taste of how it feels to lose. Badly.

The rest fall somewhere in between. Only Monmouth (N.J.) and Robert Morris (both in 1994) have started a program at I-AA, so it is difficult to know what to expect. "When (schools) started hearing we were a new team, we got calls from everybody in the world," Leavitt said. "Everybody wanted to play us. . . . They get a chance to come down to Florida and win a ball game."

Several schools are being paid to come down, too. One of them is Kentucky Wesleyan, the opponent for the Sept. 6 opener at Houlihan's Stadium. It also happens - and this cannot be a coincidence - to be the team the Bulls seem to have the best chance to beat.

Kentucky Wesleyan was 3-7 last year in Division II. The school has just 800 students and doesn't give scholarships for football. The Panthers, who play in a stadium that seats 3,000, in all likelihood will be thrust in front of a screaming crowd of more than 40,000 people.

The Bulls will not schedule Kentucky Wesleyan again. The feeling is they will not need to.

If USF wins its opener, however, the delirium is not expected to last long. The next week, the Bulls travel to The Citadel. The Bulldogs were just 4-7 last season but played in the Southern Conference, which sent three teams to the I-AA playoffs.

And the schedule continues with little-known teams like Drake, Elon College, Charleston Southern, and with I-AA heavyweights Western Kentucky, Southern Illinois and Georgia Southern.

"You get a little bit of everything," defensive coordinator Rick Kravitz said. "You go from one extreme to the other. . . . You may win big in the first game, and feel real good about yourself and the next game you say, `Oh my God, these guys are a lot better than those guys.' You may not have a measuring stick for two or three ball games as to what these guys are really going to be like." Raw talent, little experience

And that seems to be the big question: How good can this year's Bulls be? More than half of the projected starters are, after all, freshmen whose last game was in high school.

If recruiting analysts and scouts are correct, USF has the kind of raw talent that, once cultivated, could do well against high-level teams. But the players are nearly all unproven.

The ones who do have significant experience - players like quarterbacks Chad Barnhardt and Lance Hoeltke, center Ivan Alicot and cornerback Glenn Davis - have been standouts in practices and scrimmages. But Leavitt laments there aren't enough of them.

Leavitt is not so worried about talent, skill and conditioning. He is most concerned about gaining maturity and developing chemistry and leadership.

Maturity will come only with years and games. Chemistry and leadership, he is working on.

After the Bulls' long practices, where not a moment is wasted, players gather with their position coaches for a little extra work. There is even some of what Leavitt calls "New Age" stuff, where players just sit together and "share thoughts about life."

Is it the right formula for success? Leavitt doesn't know - but he will soon have an idea.

"I know that nobody's working any harder than we are," he said. "I know that. But no one else has 51 freshmen that can play."

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A welcome dilemna

JOEY JOHNSTON. St. Petersburg Times. Aug 28, 1997

Lance Hoeltke - pronounced like hokey - keeps on talking. Mostly because he always has something to say. "I'm a Type A kind of guy," he said. "My battery never goes dead."

Neither does his smile. When his University of South Florida football teammates are down, Hoeltke picks them up with a joke, an encouraging word or maybe even his impersonation of John Facenda, the former voice of NFL Films.

The day instead belonged to the swaggering and outspoken Joe Namath. Namath had guaranteed victory the week before, and he backed up his flamboyant boasts.

It's one of Facenda's lines from the clips of Super Bowl III, Jets-Colts, that you might see on ESPN at 3 o'clock in the morning. Hoeltke has the whole thing practically memorized. Just for fun.

He swears by a sign in his dormitory room: "Persistent labor overcomes all things." He loves tradition and locker-room speeches. Hoeltke is endearingly hokey.

"Lance can be kind of weird that way," USF receiver Cory Porter said. "He's different. He stands out."

Chad Barnhardt blends in. He laughs at the jokes, but probably doesn't tell many. He's happy at his fishing hole, on the golf course, in the weight room, just keeping to himself.

He's John Wayne tough. Hoeltke is in-your-face tough. Different styles, same results.

USF coach Jim Leavitt figures he can't lose with either at quarterback when the Bulls begin Sept. 6 against Kentucky Wesleyan at Houlihan's Stadium. He hesitated to name a starter after spring practice. And even now, he says both will play.

Both are 21 and experienced. Barnhardt is a pocket passer with an arm that has been compared to Chad May, the Kansas State pro-style quarterback from 1993-94 that Leavitt knew when he was a Wildcat assistant. Hoeltke, a USF captain, is mobile, quick-thinking and accurate.

Those were Hoeltke qualities in 1993, when he was the state's leading prep passer at Palm Beach Lakes. After a year at a military prep school, he started for Division I-AA Austin Peay as a freshman. Life was molasses slow in Clarksville, Tenn. So was the football pace, so he transferred to USF's new program.

Barnhardt, a standout baseball and football player at Lake Wales High, had a few more layovers during his journey to USF. He was an eighth-round pick of the Boston Red Sox, signing out of high school. One summer of playing catcher and designated hitter in Fort Myers was enough. He quit.

"It seemed too much like a job, and not enough like the fun I always had playing sports," Barnhardt said.

He signed with coach Brad Scott's football team at South Carolina, where he became Steve Taneyhill's understudy. Then Barnhardt's chance disappeared as Anthony Wright won the starting job last season. The coaching staff promised another summer of competition, but Barnhardt bailed out last December. USF was a chance to come home, probably a chance to play.

Hoeltke clearly was USF's starter after last fall. Barnhardt's emergence last spring turned it into a two-horse race. Both players dearly want to start, but Barnhardt is less eloquent about expressing that desire. Too laid back?

"Chad isn't necessarily as laid back as everyone thinks," USF offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Michael Canales said. "If you're getting the best of him, he's not going to let you know it. He's too busy thinking of a way to beat you."

"I guess I'm a product of my environment in Lake Wales," Barnhardt said. "It's a great place to grow up. The people there are really sincere and supportive. When all is said and done, that's where I want to be. Lake Wales is where family is. Lake Wales is home."

Barnhardt is sentimental that way.

So is Hoeltke. Here's another selection from Lance's life. It's more sweet than hokey. He was 13 when he went alone to watch Field of Dreams, which instantly became his all-time favorite movie. He expected baseball. Really, it was about family.

"You know the part at the end, when Kevin Costner says, `Hey Dad, wanna have a catch?' " Hoeltke said. "I just started blubbering. I couldn't stop. To this day, I can't watch that part without crying.

"I was thinking about what my dad means to me, and about how sports kind of brings us all together. That's just the way I am. I just have these deep thoughts and feelings. It's tough for me to keep them inside."

The history made on Sept. 6 will not be lost on Hoeltke or Barnhardt. One shows feelings on the sleeve of his forest green jersey. The other seems quiet and unaffected.

But they are equally emotional about this: They want the ball. And only one can take that first snap.

"You can win with them both," Leavitt said. "And they will both be winners for us."

In different ways, with different styles.

[S p e n c e]

Basketbull we get it...

That was an exciting time, and Coach Leavitt has done a great job getting us to where we are, but that doesnt give him a free pass to make stupid mistakes which costs us games 8 years later.  I wont go into it here, but you can see my post under the topic "Calling for coach Leavitts head"