QB Voss likely done; Daniels to play as true frosh

Posted Jul 20, 2008 by Brett McMurphy

Updated Jul 20, 2008 at 08:01 PM

Tampa Tribune super correspondent Lee Diekemper, also a contributer to thebiglead.com, files this report from Sunday’s USF Pinellas Boosters get together at Capogna’s Dugout.

CLEARWATER - Some may suggest late July is baseball season. University of South Florida football coach Jim Leavitt would have none of it.

Appearing at a USF boosters function at Capogna’s Dugout in Clearwater Sunday afternoon, Leavitt declared July football season to the delight of over 300 Bulls fans.

“I’m getting really anxious,” Leavitt said. “After July 4, it’s time. I’m on fire.”

The biggest news from Leavitt was that redshirt freshman QB Alton Voss likely will never play for the Bulls and heralded recruit B.J. Daniels will definitely play as a true freshman.

Voss, who was rated the nation’s 26th best QB by Rivals.com as a senior at Gulf High, redshirted last season. With the emergence of Daniels, Leavitt had some discussions with Voss and he “will move to another position or just go to school,” Leavitt said. “Alton is close to figuring it out” as to his immediate plans.

Leavitt made it clear he had no issues with Voss, that Voss was simply caught in a numbers game. Leavitt instead complimented Voss for being “a real good guy, I mean a really, really good guy.”

Leavitt said of Daniels, who was promised he could play both football and basketball at USF: “We’re not redshirting him,” Leavitt said. “He will get in there.”

The event at Capogna’s was billed as a “Preseason Tailgate Party” with Leavitt being the main attraction. It was the second consecutive year Leavitt made an appearance at the popular Clearwater eatery and watering hole to rub elbows with Bulls fans.

Leavitt raved about Daniels and said they have to find the 6-1, 212-pounder some playing time.

At the event, Leavitt was treated as a head of state. He arrived at mid-afternoon, fashionably late saying he was delayed because he was hosting “two of the top recruits in the nation.” Because of NCAA regulations, Leavitt did not identify the recruits or their positions.

Leavitt was escorted into the restaurant by the Bulls pep band, the Herd of Thunder, which seemed to take him by surprise. He beamed ear-to-ear while pumping his fist - with horns up - in rhythm to the Bulls fight song.

“You have no idea how much this means to me,” he gushed. “This is awesome. This is overwhelming. Do you know how far away I had to park to get in here?”

He then played the role of maitre d,’ coaxing Bulls fans stranded on the sidewalk to come in. “There’s room,” Leavitt said.

Not much. The three-room restaurant was packed with the bar area nearly shoulder-to-shoulder, almost as many as last year when some 400 Bulls fans squeezed into the establishment. A second dining room was reserved for Bulls merchandise sales while the third dining room Leavitt walked up and down the aisles, working the crowd at the tables, thanking them all for coming.

This after a lengthy question-and-answer session with the fans in the bar area (though the USF coach was armed with a mug of Pepsi). Leavitt knew how to get a rise out of the fans by mentioning George Selvie and Matt Grothe, as well as noting CB Jerome Murphy “will be a special player.” But additional applause came whenever he often mentioned former starting C Nick Capogna, who graduated this spring.

Capogna’s Dugout is owned by Nick Capogna’s family, managed by his dad, Al Capogna, a former Florida State linebacker. After some cajoling Leavitt even got Al Capogna, who was busying manning a barbeque smoker behind the restaurant, to take a bow, replete with barbeque smock.

“I keep looking for Nick at school,” Leavitt said. “I feel like Nick has been with me for 14 years. Once a Bull always a Bull. Nick will always be on our team.”

Nick Capogna seemed to have enjoyed himself almost as much as his former coach.

“I owe my college degree to the man,” Capogna said of Leavitt. “This is fun. I’m getting to enjoy this as a fan. Last year [at the preseason tailgate party] I was getting ready for two-a-days. Now it’s a little different feeling. I can sit back and relax and even have an adult beverage.”