USF players eager to move forward with Holtz

University of South Florida football players were eager to meet new coach Skip Holtz at a team meeting Thursday night and came out to support him during Friday's introductory rally.

So far, they are impressed.

"Just him being here calmed a lot of people down, because you always wonder who they're bringing in," said linebacker Sam Barrington, a freshman from Jacksonville.

"He has a young vibe to him, so that's always good, because college football is vigorous. Bringing a guy like Skip Holtz in and his reputation is good. Change is always good. Sometimes you get complacent with what's always going on. We just have to go from here. We can't look back on the past."

Holtz, 45, replaces Jim Leavitt, who was the school's only coach for 13 seasons before his dismissal on Jan. 8.

After spending a week in limbo, players were relieved to have a new coach.

"It's been crazy not knowing what's going to be what," said junior David Bedford, a defensive end from Palm Beach. "I've heard Leavitt was fighting for his job back and this and that. I didn't know what was going to happen. I'm happy to have somebody in and to know who it is - not just anybody. They got a real solid coach."

Holtz, whose specialty is offense, coached the past five seasons at East Carolina. Bulls freshman quarterback B.J. Daniels has friends who played for Holtz at ECU and received favorable reviews.

"There are a couple of players where I'm from in Tallahassee that played for him and they have a lot of respect for him," Daniels said. "They hate that he left, but they told me we were getting a good coach."

Daniels looks forward to developing a quarterback-coach relationship with Holtz.

"The offense that he runs at East Carolina is very similar to what we've done and what I'm use to. So everybody's really excited."

Mostly, players were eager to emerge from a tumultuous week with a new direction.

"It's exciting, more than anything," Barrington said. "Love goes with Coach Leavitt, but I understand it's a change with the program. I'm going to try to be a leader coming into the new season and just make sure everybody else is ready for it, coming together as a team. Show camaraderie and we'll be alright."

Bradford and Barrington attended Friday morning's rally to show support for Holtz.

"I didn't expect this change," Bradford said. "But now that it's here, that's one of the reasons I'm here, to let Coach know I'm behind him 100 percent. We love some of the things he talked about (Thursday) night. We can't wait for all the new coaches he's bringing in and to get started with it."