No real surprise here, but USF will have quarterback Matt Grothe and defensive end George Selvie representing the Bulls at the Big East's preseason media gathering in Newport, R.I., on Aug. 4.

Grothe and Selvie are arguably the best-known offensive and defensive players in the conference, so their presence as returning stars should yield a higher level of USF coverage from media outlets covering the event.

What remains to be seen is how extensive the newspaper coverage will be from Newport -- such an event is the kind of thing papers needing to cut expenses might skip. The ACC's preseason event had been scheduled for Saddlebrook Resort in Wesley Chapel, but opted to move it to Greensboro, N.C., closer to the geographic center of the league, hoping more newspapers would be able to attend.

Just two years ago, Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly was up in arms at the thought that his hometown papers didn't have a staff writer in Newport to cover the Bearcats -- one of those papers has since stopped publication -- but given the current economic climate of newspapers, you could see fewer papers in attendance this summer.

-- The good news for Bulls fans about Lake City Columbia's rising senior running back, Tiger Powell? He's the Lake City Reporter Male Athlete of the Year. Bad news? That commitment of his to USF still looks a little sketchy -- he tells the paper he's "still open-minded" about his college options.

-- Here's a name for old-school USF baseball fans. Jack Butterfield, who coached the Bulls for two years in the 1970s, has been named to the Maine Sports Hall of Fame, according to the Bangor Daily News. Butterfield, who died in a 1979 car accident, coached at Maine for 18 years before he came to USF in 1975.

-- Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician, a great Syracuse blog, looks at the difficulty of finding the Big East's football champ this fall. He writes that it's a three-team race between USF, Pitt and Rutgers, and is smart to note that a four-game stretch in the middle of the season -- against Cincy, Pitt, West Virginia and Rutgers -- will probably decide USF's season. He writes:

Gotta say, I think the Bulls *might* actually be able to come through this year.  Though we know what happens every time we start to think that...

-- Rivals.com's Matt Hinton writes that the parity the Big East seems to have could hurt the league the same way it did the ACC last season. He writes:

Either one team will separate itself from the rest and carry the
conference banner high, or pundits (maybe even yours truly) will be
holding their nose at the end of the year over another weak, disputed
champion, a la 2004, and wondering exactly who let this league inside
the high-roller's club, again?

-- The Miami Herald has named USF-bound Monsignor Pace sprinter/receiver Derrick Hopkins as its Male Athlete of the Year for Classes A-4A in Miami this past school. year.