In his final season at East Carolina, first-year USF coach Skip Holtz suffered a 31-17 loss to North Carolina.

Holtz bounced back in a head-to-head recruiting battle with the Tar Heels on Thursday when Cape Coral OLB Edsel Caprice verbally committed to the Bulls, USF’s seventh commitment for the 2011 class.

Caprice visited USF earlier this week and after returning home to Cape Coral with his parents, decided USF was his choice.

“When I went to USF and just saw everything and looked at the situation, it was just like the place I was most comfortable to play at,” Caprice told Rivals.com site USFBullseye.com. “It was just the place for me.’‘

Caprice said his commitment to USF was firm and that the recruiting process is over for him.

A former teammate of Notre Dame transfer Spencer Boyd, who is currently in the process of transferring to USF by the fall semester, Caprice is the seventh player to verbally commit to the Bulls in the 2011 recruiting class.

He joins Port Charlotte WR Alex Mut, Pahokee LB/DB Rontavious Atkins, Sebring LB Zack Bullock, Stone Mountain (Ga.) RB Willie Davis, Tallahassee Lincoln DB Chris Garye Jr., and Land O’ Lakes QB Stephen Weatherford.