When South Florida entered the Big East last season head coach Jim Leavitt hoped to use the possibility of playing in a BCS Conference as a key-recruiting pitch. It worked for the Bulls last season as they drew in the 59th ranked recruiting class according to Rivals.com. But once you sign those recruits on LOI day, it should be pretty much a given that they will be there come the fall right?
That hasn’t been the case for the USF recruiting class. Since the beginning of the summer session more than one-third of the 28 players in the
2006 recruiting class have either quit the team or failed to meet the academic requirements set forth by the NCAA. The latest players lost for the Bulls for the upcoming season are Jerrell Young, Joe Jackson, and Kevin McCaskill. McCaskill, a 6 foot 287 offensive lineman, was one of the keys to the recruiting class
Two other players quit the team after a few days of conditioning. Of the 10 players that left, five of them were defensive linemen. That will cause a depth issue at the DT and DE positions. This might change Leavitt’s recruiting philosophy to look harder at academics. It is great to get players who are gifted athletically but they need to be able to have the academic standing to get into school.
