TAMPA, Fla. — The motto for the University of South Florida football team is Fourth and Inches. It’s a reminder to the Bulls’ defense of just how critical each play is.
“The biggest thing with fourth and inches, one play,” USF cornerback De’Shawn Rucker said. “Let’s get a stop. Everyone’s intensity is up, attention to detail goes up. The biggest thing for me is how do we go with that same intensity, attention to detail for every play.”
Fourth and Inches can be interpreted as furthering a football career while helping the team today.
“Time is the enemy. When you get into this, guys have NFL dreams and all that stuff,” USF defensive coordinator Todd Orlando said. "But they only have a short window to be able to do it. Sometimes five years, for some of our veterans, they probably got eight months. So that ‘fourth and inches’ goes into ‘Am I willing to sacrifice some of that stuff that I would do outside of my academics and football? Will I be willing to dive into and get to know a play better?' All these little things kids can steal to make themselves better.”
Orlando credits player leadership for instilling the Fourth and Inches mentality onto the rest of the team.
One player, in particular, is Tavin Ward, who made a position change from cornerback to free safety.
“He’s done a heck of a job as one of the guys we’ve identified as a leader for our defense on the back end,” Orlando said. “Seeing him educate our younger guys. That’s a young group, very talented group. He’s gone through the growing pains the past couple of years.”
“I don’t take it for granted at all,” Ward added. “The defense kind of relies on me in the back end. I’m here to help my brothers out to make sure we can pull off a successful mission.”
That mission is not impossible to open the season, but it sure is daunting. The Bulls’ first three games of the season are against Boise State, Florida and Miami.
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