The Bull Gator (3/10/10)
with
UCF
. Those of you that follow
USF
recruiting closely remember Jose being one of the more sought after prospects by the Bulls. He was deemed as someone who could come in and contribute right away and USF wanted him. Early in the recruiting cycle, Jose committed to
Tennessee
, but opened back up when
Lane Kiffin
jumped ship for
USC
. After dropping the Vols, Jose pledged his allegiance to USF, only to make a switch on National Signing Day (despite showing up to his high school that day in a Bulls’ hat). The offensive lineman from Miami Central was thought to be able to play along the line or switch to the other side of the ball and try his hand at defensive tackle at the collegiate level. Now he’ll get a chance to see how junior college treats him. Jose was released from his scholarship after being arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a firearm and having a concealed weapon last week. UCF head coach
George O’Leary
wasted little time, dismissing Jose on Monday. Don’t be upset this one got away Bulls’ fans. Sometimes these things just turn out for the best.
Skip Holtz
may have pulled the trigger on Jose’s release even quicker than O’Leary did.
You are all aware of FSU’s sod cemetery, right? If not, here’s the idea: the Seminoles have a cemetery for pieces of turf they acquire during road victories. With the program being forced to vacate 12 victories for downright dirty cheating (!), several of those road wins are technically now a whole bunch of nothing. Think you remember them happening? You don’t. They don’t exist. Were never played. So to reflect that in the sod cemetery, a Florida fan with an assistant in tow placed asterisks where they belong. Asterisks as in “career homerun leader.” Asterisks are fun. They give us some breathing room. They help classify what we may be claiming. Basically they add an element of truth. In this case, “yeah you won that game, but you did so with no-good cheaters.” A round of hearty applause to the individuals that pulled this off. Pranks pulled off successfully against a rival program always deserve admiration. And to you FSU fans out there, sometimes it makes it a lot easier if you can learn to laugh at your own team. (H/T: One Eyed Willy)
The NCAA has given Maryland and Texas (every place else seems to list Texas first, but I’m going all alphabetical on you) an extra year allowing their head coaches-in-waiting to have multiple off-campus visits to recruits. The new rule limits those designated as the next head coach to the same rules current head coaches have to abide by. The Terrapins and Longhorns will get one extra year to recruit with the old rules before having to comply with the new ones. My guess is the schools will appeal again next year or come up with some other designation for their coach-in-waiting. Having an assistant coach who can’t recruit the same way as other assistants doesn’t help. The coach-in-waiting designation might, but limited off-campus visits don’t. Then again, if you’re Texas neither may matter much when it comes to recruiting. Mack Brown isn’t leaving anytime soon and you’ll still end up doing better than okay each year.
Not that many knew, but there was still a five-star recruit out there that had yet to sign. His availability is no more. Latwan Anderson is headed to Miami. Anderson originally committed to West Virginia, but ultimately decided to head to the Hurricanes because he could see himself living in Miami after college, but not West Virginia. Seems reasonable I guess. And yet another reason recruits choose certain schools. We’re up to about 1,837 at this point. Anderson was #15 on the Rivals100 and was the nation’s #2 athlete. He’ll most likely end up playing defensive back although wide receiver might not be out of the question. Okay, so living in the city wasn’t the only reason, but he definitely did mention it. Anderson also cited his belief that Miami is closer to winning championships that West Virginia. Historically, that’s definitely true, but these days who knows which one of these programs could take the leap to contender.
Today’s list is at least football involved. Just a few short movie clips for your viewing pleasure. If you can’t wait live football this time of year, you can wear out your football movie DVDs at the very least. Of course you knew which one I would be starting with.
1. I give it a 10.
The Sixth Man: USF’s basketball season most likely came to an end today. Well, not their season as much as their NCAA Tournament hopes. The NIT is squarely in sight and that’s a great thing for the Bulls. It’s not the ultimate goal, but at 20-12, this program took a huge step forward during the 2009-2010 season. Unfortunately it was USF’s shooting woes that destroyed their chances against Georgetown in the second round of the Big East Tournament. The Bulls shot 29.1% from the floor against the Hoyas and only made one of 10 three-point attempts. Georgetown, on the other hand, made seven of 14 shots from behind the arch and controlled most of the game. The loss was especially devastating for the Bulls because a win could’ve meant a tourney invite. But they should be proud of this season and proud of what they are building. If star guard Dominique Jones decides to return for his senior season (and he should), USF will be in a great position to move even higher up the Big East ranks. Stan Heath has the program headed in the right direction and if he sticks around, he’ll have the Bulls in the Big Dance sooner or later.