Offense takes over 3rd USF spring scrimmage

A scrimmage that started with a splash play — two of them, in fact — for USF's defense ended with a scolding.

Courtesy of coordinator Brian Jean-Mary.

Jean-Mary could be heard dressing down his unit immediately following Saturday's mostly-closed scrimmage, where pick-six touchdowns by DB Ronnie Hoggins and DE Josh Black were followed by a sequence of offensive big plays.

Third-year sophomore Chris Oladokun ran for approximately 100 yards, and fourth-year junior Brett Kean found Ryeshene Bronson for a TD on a back-shoulder throw, according to USF sports-information officials who observed the practice.

Hillsborough High alumnus Duran Bell also dashed for a 15-yard TD, while TE Mitch Wilcox had another productive day that included a 5-yard TD catch.

"You just can't give up the scores we gave up," Coach Charlie Strong said.

"Even though we got the two pick-sixes early, right after that it was big play after big play. And then when you get in the red zone, you have to be able to stop people, and that was one of our weaknesses last year. So we've got to improve and get better in the red zone."

STATE LIFT RECORD FOR LEACOCK: Bulls incoming freshman Devin Leacock, a three-star defensive lineman, set a Florida high school weightlifting record — any weight class — with an overall total of 880 pounds at Saturday's Class 2A state meet in Panama City.

Competing in the heavyweight division, Leacock had a 470-pound bench press and 410 clean-and-jerk, shattering the previous overall mark of 830 set by Lake Region's Lamar Myles in 2004. His clean-and-jerk eclipsed the state record of 405 held by Ponte Vedra Beach Nease's Matt Koch in 2005.

Leacock's bench was 35 pounds greater than his performance at last year's state meet, when he also won the state heavyweight title. His clean and jerk was a 45-pound increase from 2017.

Only performances at the state meet qualify for state-record consideration.

Related: New USF signee Devin Leacock strong in mind, body