Lt. Gen. Martin Dempsey, acting commander of the U.S. Central Command, was a guest of USF's football team and spoke with the Bulls about the importance of teamwork after Tuesday's practice, according to a USF release.

"When this season is over, what you will remember most are the things you did for your teammates and what you did to make this entire team better," Dempsey told players, according to USF's official site. (Photo courtesy of CentCom.mil)

Dempsey's visit was arranged through USF offensive coordinator Greg Gregory, who coached as an assistant on Army's football staff from 1982-97. USF coach Jim Leavitt has strong military roots in his family, as his father Pierce served 23 years in the Air Force, flying P-51 Mustangs in the South Pacific in World War II; his brother Randy flew OV-10s for the Air Force in Vietnam, and his brother-in-law, Ron Richards, flew F-4s with the Air Force in Afghanistan.

Dempsey told the Bulls that they have everyone at MacDill Air Force Base pulling for them this fall.

"You guys are our hometown team," he said, according to Gousfbulls.com. "It's an honor to be here with you today, and I want you to know that you have an entire base behind you this season."

More notes from practice, filed from correspondent Joe Rienzi:

TAMPA — During stretching exercises, USF coach Jim Leavitt was smiling, joking with players and begging for more heat on an already sweltering morning. After practice, however, Leavitt was not in a joking mood.

“We didn’t have a good practice today,” Leavitt said. “I’ll be honest. Right now, it’s a grind. There’s nothing real special. It’s probably going to be like this for a while.”

Defensive coordinator Wally Burnham said his players have room for improvement.

“The first two groups had a pretty good day overall, but nobody lit up the lights,” Burnham said. “Hopefully the players that did have a good day can get back out there and do better tomorrow.”

Offensive coordinator Greg Gregory, however, was not happy with his unit.

“We’re in a phase right now where we’re not playing very good on offense,” he said. “We’ve got to crank it up all the way across — from offensive line to receivers to running backs to quarterbacks. I don’t think any of them are playing at a high enough level and we need to get better real fast.”