USF 2018 football season preview: Bulls enter life without QB Quinton Flowers
When Willie Taggart abruptly left USF in December of 2016 for Oregon, the Bulls hustled to find his replacement: Charlie Strong.
Strong’s first season in Tampa came with high expectations as the defensive-minded coach inherited a team running the Gulf Coast offense under quarterback Quinton Flowers.
A Miami native, Flowers was electric in his career with the Bulls. A three-year starter, Flowers tallied more than 12,000 yards of total offense with his dual-threat skills.
USF tallied double-digit wins for a second straight season, but losses to Houston and UCF nixed any chance of winning the American Athletic Conference.
Flowers, though, headed to the NFL, meaning Strong’s mission this camp was to figure out a starter.
The three choices, graduate transfer Blake Barnett (Arizona State), junior Brett Kean and redshirt junior Chris Oladokun each were given time to assert themselves as the starter.
Barnett threw three touchdowns in a scrimmage on Aug. 18.
“We both love competition, Blake loves competition, so we were excited for the opportunity for him to come in and compete,” Kean told the Tampa Bay Times. “At the end of the day, we want what’s best for the team.”
Aside from Flowers, the Bulls lost another four offensive starters from the 2017 team. Two top receivers return. They are Tyrie McCants and Darnell Salomon.
McCants, a senior, snagged seven touchdowns with 686 receiving yards, while Salomon, a junior, had 512 receiving yards and five touchdowns.
Most of the rushing game is gone from last season, so it’ll be a new-look backfield for Bulls fans.
Defensively, USF lost linebacker Auggie Sanchez and defensive back Devin Abraham to graduation. However, linebacker Nico Sawtelle led the team with 54 tackles in 2017 and defensive end Greg Reaves, who played at Manatee High in Bradenton, Florida, returns as the Bulls leader in sacks with 4.5.
The secondary shouldn’t see a drop off, either.
Mazzi Wilkins and Mike Hampton are two Hillsborough County natives that are likely the starting cornerback pair, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
“At the end of the day, we want the best guys out there, but it is exciting because it shows that we’ve got talent in our area,” Wilkins told the Tampa Bay Times. “We want to put on for Tampa. That’s always what we talk about. There’s always a feud in the locker room with Dade County, Duval County and Hillsborough County, so that always feels good.”
USF has the chance for a win over a Power 5 team. Granted, Georgia Tech isn’t a regular ACC behemoth, but the Yellow Jackets still come from a big-time college football conference on Sept. 8.
Other games to pay attention to are road games at Houston (Oct. 27) and Temple (Nov. 17). The Temple trip precedes the annual War on I-4 rivalry game with UCF. And the game with the Owls could easily trip up on any AAC title game plans the Bulls might have at that time.
Mental toughness reportedly is the biggest thing Strong’s wanted his team to develop during camp.
Finding that should lead to success on the field. If not, a similar 2017 season awaits in 2018.
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