TAMPA, Fla. — The University of South Florida football team was back on the field Tuesday for the team’s first spring practice.
“I love practice, I love spring ball, I woke up this morning with no alarm,” head coach Alex Golesh said. “I was just geeked to get in here.”
Golesh led the Bulls to the greatest one-season turnaround in program history (1-11 in 2022) in his inaugural season in 2023 (7-6).
“I just think the standard has been raised here,” he added.
Now the expectations are even higher.
“I want to take this team to the 12-team playoff and win a championship,” quarterback Byron Brown said. "That’s everybody’s goal here.”
Brown, a redshirt sophomore, returns as the Bulls’ starting quarterback. He was the catalyst for the team’s turnaround while setting the single-season program record for passing yards.
“Everybody was juiced to be back out there,” Brown said. “You take a little time off, going into workouts, but once you’re thrust back on the practice field, it’s different; everything is going fast.”
The difference is obvious to defensive lineman Rashad Cheney.
“We watched the film from last year first day of spring ball, it was like ‘wow,’ it was all over the place,” Cheney said. “We still have stuff to clean up here but you can tell we’re a whole different football team. We’re bigger, faster, stronger. We got a different standard.”
USF will hold 14 more practices through the April 13 spring game.
