TAMPA, Fla — It's hard to argue with USF offensive lineman Mike Lofton.
"The world’s happy when football’s around [haha]," he joked during media day at the USF indoor performance facility.
The graduate student gets so happy that he can't take himself off the field. Lofton, a Clearwater native, led the nation with 1,050 snaps played last season.
"I gotta give a shout-out to athletic training. Gotta give a shout out to nutrition staff and strength staff and equipment staff. I gotta make sure I get everybody in- they got mad at me last time," he said with a smile. "It’s really just about taking care of yourself on and off the field. And then putting the good stuff in your body. Make sure you’re getting rest and recovering. Just making sure you’re able to make it to Saturday, and then ultimately putting your best foot forward on Saturdays."
Bulls quarterback Byrum Brown certainly did that last season. The junior signal-caller passed for 3,292 yards and rushed for 809 more. LSU quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels was the only other player to hit those numbers (3,812 pass, 1,134 rush). Brown could've tested the transfer portal after leading USF to a 45-0 win over Syracuse in the Boca Raton Bowl, but he decided to stay in Tampa. Byrum says he has some unfinished business to take care of, and he likes the system head coach Alex Golesh has in place.
"I can’t wait to continue to improve and take this team to where it needs to go," Brown said. "That starts by taking it one day at a time, one step at at time, one practice at a time, and one game at a time, ultimately. Sights are just set on this season and winning."
Brown won over the locker room and is now the face of Bulls football. The former fourth-string quarterback says staying consistent is the key to becoming a leader in the locker room.
"Come in, put my head down and go to work," he explained. "I didn’t do a lot of talking last year, which is an area that [head coach Alex Golesh] challenged me in. To be more vocal, and I feel like I’ve done a better job this year. Just getting those guys to follow after me. That just goes with doing the same thing every single day."
"It's easy this day and age to make it about you, and he’s never made it about him," head coach Alex Golesh said. "It’s about his teammates and the guys in that locker room. He’s a special cat now."
Golesh added that his job is to build a winning brand, and he's completely confident in Brown's ability to be the face of that brand through good moments and bad.
"It’s our job to help guide him through that process. He has tough days like everybody else," Golesh continued. "He really can’t show you he’s got tough days ‘cause he’s gotta maintain a certain persona. But that’s part of it. It’s part of growing up. It’s part of being a quarterback at this level. But boy am I proud of how he portrays himself and how he portrays this football team."
USF returns 19 starters from last year's team, which finished 7-6 last season after a 1-11 campaign in 2022. The Bulls kick off the regular season on August 31 when they host Bethune-Cookman. Kickoff from Raymond James Stadium is set for 7 p.m.
