Aycock has walk-on offer from USF

Posted Jul 8, 2010 by Scott Carter

Updated Jul 8, 2010 at 04:34 PM

Former Auburn running back and ex-Chamberlain High star Dontae Aycock has been a familiar face around the USF football offices in recent weeks.

Aycock, who redshirted his freshman season at Auburn, was dismissed by Tigers coach Gene Chizik in late May for disciplinary reasons. Aycock has spent the past two months searching for a new team.

He has a preferred walk-on offer from USF after meeting with Bulls coach Skip Holtz last week. While USF officials can’t comment on transfers and recruits until they have officially signed, it is believed that the Bulls will make Aycock a scholarship offer if he enrolls in school this fall and stays out of trouble for a minimum of one semester.

Aycock has not returned a phone call and text message from this afternoon.

Brian Turner, currently the offensive coordinator at Sickles High and Aycock’s former position coach at Chamberlain, said Aycock has talked multiple times to USF about an opportunity to join the Bulls.

However, as of Thursday afternoon Turner had not heard directly from Aycock about whether or not he was going to enroll at USF this fall or accept a scholarship offer from another school.

Here is a Q&A with Turner, who handled most of Aycock’s recruiting coming out of high school:

Q: Will you be surprised if Dontae ends up walking on at USF in the fall?

A: Yeah. He could have gone to a junior college and actually played in the fall and then come back to USF next spring, which is what I thought he should do so he wouldn’t have to set out another whole year. If you go to junior college, you can go play August through December and then transfer out to a four-year school after that. I know he had a lot of options. I can’t believe that he would just walk on at USF and pay his own way. I know he has bigger schools than USF interested in him. The last time I talked to him a couple of weeks ago, he was still weighing his options.

Q: What makes him such a coveted Division I running back?

A: He has great vision. He has great feet. He is compact. He is 225 pounds and he’s fast. He’s got the speed to go outside. He’s like the total package. He can catch. He really is the total football player. Coach Chizik at Auburn told me Dontae was going to be a 1,000-yard back if he had stayed there. I talked to him when Dontae left, and he said that kid was going to be a good college player. It just didn’t work out.

Q: Did he make an impact immediately at Chamberlain?

A: Yeah, he was a three-year starter at quarterback. We ran the triple-option. I thought he was going to Georgia Tech out of high school. That’s what they run. He was their guy.

Q: Are you surprised at Georgia Tech not making another run at him?

A: He would have to go after them, because he kind of left them at the last minute, like a week before signing day. They had already quit recruiting quarterbacks because he was the one they wanted.