LB Barrington to open year at strongside

Posted Aug 24, 2011 by Adam Adkins

Updated Aug 24, 2011 at 08:21 PM

Here is Wednesday’s USF practice report from correspondent Michael Manganello:

USF’s starting lineup for the September 3 season opener against Notre Dame is coming more into focus.

USF defensive coordinator Mark Snyder, who has been toying with the idea of keeping senior linebacker Sam Barrington in the middle linebacker position, isn’t ready to reveal his starting linebacker corps, but Barrington may have let the cat out of the bag.

“According to coach Snyder, I’ll line up at (strongside linebacker) against Notre Dame,” Barrington said after practice Wednesday.

Senior Curtis Weatherspoon and redshirt freshman Reshard Cliett were battling in camp for the starting strongside spot, but by shifting Barrington over from the middle, where he started last season, it allows junior Mike Lanaris to move up and join weakside linebacker DeDe Lattimore to give the Bulls their three most experienced linebackers on the field at the same time.

As for which quarterback USF’s linebackers will be facing in the opening week, Snyder says the announcement that Dayne Crist will be the Fighting Irish’s starting quarterback didn’t surprise him and won’t change the way he game plans.

“(Crist and backup Tommy Rees are) both the same kind of people,” Snyder said. “They’re going to do the same kind of things with both of the quarterbacks. I assumed they’d probably go with Crist because he’s a little bit older, a little bit more experienced and so that didn’t shock me much. It wouldn’t shock me again to see two or three of their quarterbacks.”

SCOUT TEAM IMPROVED: Snyder got his first look at the offensive scout team Tuesday and is impressed with its talent, which will help him better prepare for Notre Dame’s skill players.

“Our offensive scout team is by far, better, in a way, than it was last year, which is a good thing,” Snyder said. “You’ve got (Chris) Dunkley out there who can be just like (number) six for them, Andre Davis, who can be like (number) three for them—for a scout team, I was pleased for the first day.”

DAVIS COULD BE FACTOR: Redshirt senior defensive end Claude Davis was singled out as a potential x-factor in the spring, but spent most of his time in training camp working with the third- and fourth-strings. Defensive ends coach Vernon Hargreaves says Davis will still have a role to play as a speed pass rusher.

“Claude is probably going to be one of those specialty guys for us, you know, one of those pass rush guys, third-down type guys,” Hargreaves said.

Davis recorded one tackle last year.

BULLS BITS: USF’s football practice center, the Frank Morsani Football Complex, will be formally dedicated after Thursday’s practice.