The fax machine at the Lee Roy Selmon Athletic Center on the campus of USF was as quiet as it had ever been on a signing day.
But no one was really too worried about that.
Charlie Strong already had a 24-player class under his belt from the early signing day period in December, so he just needed to put on the finishing touches on Wednesday.
So when he went to bed on Tuesday night, the USF football head coach was able to sleep much better than usual.
“Usually in the past, you’d get the news (from a recruit): ‘Oh, coach, I’ve decided to go (to another school),’” Strong said. “And any time they’d say, ‘Coach, I really love your staff, I really love you,’ then you knew what was coming next: ‘I think I’m going to go somewhere else.’ But it’s so much easier, because you were able to get the ones in December.”
While the Bulls lost out on George Jenkins defensive end Jordan Domineck, Strong was able to get two other three-star defensive linemen with local ties to ink the dotted line on Wednesday: Admiral Farragut’s John Waller and Venice’s Tyrone Barber.
“With big Waller coming in, it’s really going to help,” Strong said. “And Barber out of Venice, where they won a state championship. So it’s always good when you get guys from winning programs. That really helps also. And I always tell our guys: big guys beat up little guys. And I want big guys.”
The only unexpected things to happen Wednesday was when the Bulls had some issues with their Twitter account in the morning.
That’s never a good thing to happen on signing day, but it was smooth sailing after that.
Ninety percent of the Bulls’ 26-member class is made up of three-star recruits, and USF ended up with the second-ranked recruiting class in the American Athletic Conference behind only Cincinnati.
Six of the Bulls signees are early enrollees who can participate in spring practice.
Coach Strong said he was most pleased with the eight defensive linemen and four offensive linemen he added, hoping to continue to build the program through outstanding play in the trenches.
Here's a complete list of USF signees:
NAME | HIGH SCHOOL/JUCO | POSITION |
*Stacy Kirby | Jones | 3-star DE |
*Zion Roland | Admiral Farragut | 3-star WR |
Dwayne Boyles | Miami Central | 3-star WR |
Sebastian Sainterling | Chaminade-Madonna | 3-star G |
Brian Norris | Chiefland | 3-star RB |
Trent Schneider | Santa Barbara City College | 3-star P |
Octavious Battle | Carver (GA) | 3-star QB |
Vincent Davis | Robert E. Lee | 3-star CB |
Rashawn Yates | Treasure Coast | 3-star DE |
Brad Cecil | Bartram Trail | 3-star C |
Jajuan Cherry | Okeechobee | 3-star ATH |
Trey Laing | Godby | 3-star DE |
*Donovan Jennings | Gaither | 3-star OT |
Ethan Watson | Pensacola Catholic | 3-star OT |
Chris Carter | South Dade | 3-star TE |
Tyrone Barber | Venice | 3-star DT |
Keyon Helton | West Florida Tech | 3-star S |
Johnny Ford | Miami Senior | 3-star APB |
Devin Leacock | Port Charlotte | 3-star DT |
*Jordan McCloud | Plant | 3-star QB |
Terrence Horne | Miramar | 3-star ATH |
Eugene Bowman IV | Robert E. Lee | 3-star CB |
Randal Copeland | East Gadsden | 3-star ILB |
Armon Williams | South Gwinnett (GA) | 3-star DE |
*John Waller | Admiral Farragut | 3-star DT |
Antonio Grier | Mays (GA) | 2-star OLB |
*Bay Area and Central Florida recruits