The other day, I was a guest on “The Big Show” in Columbus, Ohio, hosted by former NFL/Ohio State LB Chris Spielman and Bruce Hooley. They were previewing USF’s upcoming season and one question they asked: will USF be improved in the kicking game?

Fair or not, they asked because a lot of folks outside Tampa - and in Tampa - only remember K Delbert Alvarado for his nationally televised struggles at Auburn when he missed four of six field goals.

And Alvarado admitted Tuesday: “I’ve got to step it up.” Early indications are, he will, too.

Alvarado spent the summer working with former USF and NFL K Bill Gramatica “trying to work on mechanics, techniques.

“He’s helped, working with him,” Alvarado said. “That was different, we’ve really never had anyone to help us out from that perspective. I’m just trying to work on little things, get the mindset of a game in practice.

“I’ve got to step it up. It’s about time. Coach [Jim Leavitt] basically told me being OK basically isn’t good enough. You’ve got to step above that.”

Alvarado, who handled both the kicking and punting duties, said he likes doing both. “I want to help out the team,” he said. “I will never complain about having too much to do.

“I personally believe I can do a lot better and I know our coaches and players know I can do a lot better. That’s why I’ve been so hard on myself. Coach has been expecting and demanding more of me, he knows what I’m capable of. It’s just a matter of time.”

Last season, Alvarado made 19 of 29 field goals, including nine of his last 10. He also made 52 of 53 extra points and averaged 41.6 yards per punt, finishing third in the Big East behind Cincinnati All-American Kevin Huber (46.88) and Syracuse’s Rob Long (41.8).

When asked what Alvarado needed to do better this season and if he preferred one person to handle both field goals and punting, Leavitt responded with two minutes and 19 seconds worth of insight.

“He was second [actually third] in the Big East in punting last year, which probably isn’t too bad,” Leavitt said. “That means he was better than six other teams out of eight. That’s pretty good. How does he do better than that? Drive the ball a little more. [He averaged] 42.8 or I don’t know what his average was. Second in the Big East is pretty good. Now can he do it consistently? He wasn’t first in the Big East, but he wasn’t far off from being first in the Big East, but he was close.

“He needs to get a little bit stronger. A little bit more confidence. But I was happy with being second in the Big East. I thought that was pretty good personally. Like to be No. 1, but second was not bad.

“Delbert I thought had an outstanding year with field goals. He had a bad game against Auburn, we didn’t protect for him real well in the Rutgers game. He missed one in the rain in Connecuticut, which he has to do a good job when it’s raining, with a wet ground, wet ball. It was really a tough day for a kicker. He has to make that.

“If you take one game away, his percentage on field goals was decent. He owns the Big East record for longest field goal [56 yards against Syracuse] in the Big East, that’s in the history of the Big East. He has the longest field goal kicked, which isn’t bad, and he had some pretty good percentages last year. Pretty extraordinary to be honest with you, the guy was second [third] in the Big East and take one game away and was pretty good in field goals. Extra points? I think he missed one out of 55, 56. I don’t remember. That’s not good that needs to be 100 percent, you know we’re 55 of 56 or 54 of 55, we need to do better than that – needs to be one better kick. I’m pretty proud of him right now.”

The Q Factor: Senior LB Tyrone McKenzie was asked who’s been the biggest surprise after the first two days of practice. His response: freshman CB Quenton Washington.

“Quenton Washington,” McKenzie said. “The way he’s working, his work ethic. He comes ready to work. He has a good attitude. If you have those two things going for you, the sky’s the limit.”

Not the weakest link: Much has been made about how difficult it will be for CBs Tyller Roberts and Jerome Murphy to replace NFL draft picks Mike Jenkins and Trae Williams.

“Me and Jerome expect a lot,” Roberts said. “It’s definitely a big challenge, those guys were great athletes, being able to play on Sunday. Me and Jerome, we stay in contact with those guys. We don’t get too big headed. We just go and play the game.”

Murphy declined an interview request, but Roberts said they’re continually working to improve.

“It’s a work in progress,” Roberts said. “We’re shaking the rust off, get our steps right, get our minds right. Overall we’re real focused.

“We take a lot of pride. We have a lot of seniors in defense. We [Roberts and Murphy] take much pride in that. We never want to be labeled the weak link. Everyone says, ‘you lost Trae and Mike, how do you replace those guys?’

“We can’t. But we can just go out and play our game.”

Old school Bulls: Former USF C Joey Sipp, now an assistant coach at Hillsborough High, stopped by Tuesday’s practice. Sipp was the first position player to start every game of his USF career from 1997-2000. Although he hasn’t played at USF in eight seasons, he said Leavitt hasn’t changed. “He’s the same,” Sipp said. “He never changes. He still sounds the same.” … Former Bulls RB Otis Dixon and QB Marquel Blackwell stopped by Monday’s practice. … Another former Bull - DB Glenn Davis is currently helping out as a volunteer coach. ... Renato Diaz, a member of USF’s original coaching staff from 1996-98, was named running backs coach at Delaware State last month. A 1993 USF graduate, Diaz had spent the previous three years at Florida A&M.

Odds and ends: Fielding punts during the team’s speciality team drills were WR Marcus Edwards and Patrick Richardson and CB Theo Wilson. Edwards returned 31 punts last season for a 7.5 average. ... Freshman OL Jeremiah Warren has moved from guard to tackle.