TAMPA – University of South Florida football coach Jim Leavitt vehemently disagreed with a quote from Alabama coach Nick Saban that claims USF's quick success is because the Bulls have lesser academic standards than other programs. "It's not right [what Saban said], we've done what we've done because we've worked extremely hard," Leavitt said to reporters after today's weekly news conference. In today's Birmingham News, Saban was quoted saying: "The distribution of players is not the same for everybody. There's a significant amount of players who don't qualify [at some schools] and they end up being pretty good players at some other schools. I think there are six guys starting on South Florida's defense who probably could have gone to Florida or Florida State but Florida and Florida State couldn't take them. And if you do a good job of recruiting that way ..." Leavitt disputed Saban's statement. "Of 110 players, we have two nonqualifiers, one starts, one doesn't," Leavitt said. "The Big East doesn't allow nonqualifiers. For a guy to make a mistake like that is not right. "I'm not down on [Saban]. Whoever gave him that information needs to correct it. Certainly this person [Birmingham News reporter Ray Melick], what right does he have to write an article without verifying all the facts. This is why I get disturbed sometimes, because now this article goes out. "It's an absolute wrong to do that." USF senior Mike Jenkins disagreed with Saban's statement, even noting Saban offered Jenkins a full scholarship to LSU when Jenkins was a senior at Bradenton Southeast High School. Ironically, USF freshman running backs Jamar Taylor and Mike Ford both initially signed with Alabama. Taylor enrolled at Alabama in January and was the Tide's leading rusher in the spring game, but transferred to USF over the summer to be closer to his family. ...more

October 2, 2007

How easy was No. 23 South Florida's 37-10 romp against North Carolina on Saturday? ...more

September 23, 2007

University of South Florida quarterback Matt Grothe couldn't have asked for a better way to celebrate his 21st birthday. ...more

September 9, 2007

To the fans at Raymond James Stadium on Saturday night, it was just another play in South Florida's eventual 28-13 season-opening victory against Elon - a simple, unspectacular carry by freshman running back Mike Ford. It didn't even gain a yard. ...more

September 7, 2007

Following the University of South Florida's 28-13 victory against Elon, Jim Leavitt looked like he had just spent the past three hours playing instead of coaching football. ...more

September 3, 2007