Recruiting? Holtz will stay close to home

When he decided to leave East Carolina to come to USF, one of the things Skip Holtz said made the job so attractive was the Bulls' recruiting base.

Florida is consistently ranked alongside Texas and California as the nation's most talent-rich states. Holtz plans to make full use of the state's talent base as he begins to set his sights on building the 2011 recruiting class.

"It's going to start with the 100 closest schools right here to South Florida," Holtz said Wednesday. "We're going to make this our home area. We're going to take these surrounding counties. We are going to recruit the entire state of Florida.

"And then, if we don't have the interest and can't find what we're looking for, then we'll turn and leave the state a little bit."

The Bulls signed five out-of-state players - two from Georgia and one each from Texas, New Jersey and Alabama. However, Holtz faced unusual circumstances this year since he took over for Jim Leavitt so close to National Signing Day.

While Holtz plans to recruit nationally if needed - he used the signing of New Jersey offensive lineman Jake Kaufman as an example Wednesday - he doesn't expect the need to reach too far outside the state's borders considering the talent pool close to home.

"It's all going to start here," he said. "We certainly are not going to leave the state to go spend a lot of time recruiting."

Our first two to three weeks in spring recruiting will all be spent in the state of Florida."

Personnel decisions

Holtz and his staff plan to take a few days off following a frantic pace the past couple of weeks trying to finalize USF's recruiting class.

Once the staff returns to work next week, Holtz said he will make some staff decisions. He still hasn't assigned the assistant coaches titles, and when he released five of Leavitt's assistants last month, he said he would re-evaluate recruiting coordinator Carl Franks and receivers coach Phil McKeoghan at a later date.

Basketball shocker

USF had beaten only nine ranked teams in school history before Wednesday night's upset at No.7 Georgetown. Now, the Bulls have back-to-back Big East wins against ranked teams and four in a row overall.

"South Florida's win at Georgetown (is) one of the more impressive this season," ESPN national basketball writer Andy Katz tweeted late Wednesday. "Bulls are in play now with the current streak. Who had that?"

Quote of note

"At the beginning, it's going to be kind of like drinking out of a fire hose. There is no way they are going to be able to absorb everything you are trying to give them right out of the chute." - Holtz's plan to move slowly implementing new schemes in spring practice.

Grading out

USF's football team had an impressive showing in the classroom during the fall semester. The Bulls placed 13 players on the Big East All-Academic Team, a school record.

Nate Allen, Delbert Alvarado, Jake Sims, Eric Schwartz, Colby Erskin, Chaz Hine, Mike Lanaris, Evan Landi, Tyler Stowell, Patrick Richardson, Armando Sanchez, Maikon Bonani and Joel Miller all were honored.

Bull bits

Junior G Dominique Jones leads the nation in scoring since Jan. 1, averaging nearly 30 points a game ... Holtz said he remains uncertain whether he'll use Landi, the backup to starting QB B.J. Daniels at the end of the season, at quarterback in the spring. Landi wants to move to receiver ... Holtz made it clear Wednesday that he doesn't want his quarterback to lead the team in rushing the way Daniels did in 2009.