National QB tour makes stop at USF

Posted Jun 16, 2010 by Scott Carter

Updated Jun 16, 2010 at 11:16 AM

The world of college football recruiting has changed drastically over the years.

One of the more recent trends is for elite prospects to join together and go on a “tour’’ of top college campuses around the country.

One of those tours stopped by USF on Tuesday: The Whitfield College Football Tour.

The tour is led by George Whitfield, a San Diego resident nicknamed “The Quarterback Builder” for his work with some of the top prep quarterbacks in the country, including former Cincinnati starter Tony Pike.

Basically, Whitfield has gathered up some of the top quarterback prospects in the country to perform in front of college coaches and recruiters during on-campus stops.

This year’s 10-day tour features 20 quarterbacks and includes stops at Miami, Florida Atlantic, Florida State, USF, Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, Ohio State, Penn State and Maryland.

Who pays for all this? The Xenith helmet company sponsors the tour according to Whitfield’s website. Click here to check out an ESPN.com story by Bruce Feldman on Whitfield’s tour.

Maikhail Miller of Fulton, Miss., Panama City’s Chase Smith, and San Antonio-area standout Blair Sullivan are some of the top QBs on this year’s tour.

A couple other nuggets worth mentioning:

+ USF coach Skip Holtz and his former East Carolina assistants plan to attend the funeral of their former colleague, Thomas “Rock’’ Roggeman, when arrangements are finalized.
Roggeman passed away Monday after a year-long battle with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. He took a leave of absence from Holtz’s staff on Sept. 28, two days after East Carolina defeated UCF last season.

+ Former USF men’s basketball coach Robert McCullum has resurfaced after being part of UCF’s housecleaning that ended with the firing of former head coach Kirk Speraw.

McCullum was hired Tuesday as an assistant at Georgia Tech.