Standouts? You want standouts?

Posted Nov 12, 2008 by Brett McMurphy

Updated Nov 13, 2008 at 09:39 AM

Standouts? You want standouts?

“Everybody. The whole team. All standouts,” said University of South Florida coach Jim Leavitt about who stood out at Wednesday’s practice.

Unfortunately one player who didn’t stand out was senior kickoff specialist Justin Teachey. That’s because Teachey did not practice. He won’t play the rest of the season because of a quad injury, ending his USF career.

Teachey had appeared in 42 games and handled the kickoff duties all four years. He was an asset for the Bulls and consistently had booming kickoffs - he had 45 touchbacks in his career. I asked Leavitt how much of an impact it would be not having Teachey on kickoffs?

“He hasn’t been kicking off for us the last number of games,” Leavitt said.

OK. Well, besides Teachey, freshman DL Cory Grissom (legs) and sophomore RG Joe Herzhauser (knee) will not play the remainder of the season.

Leavitt said USF will petition the NCAA for a medical hardship for Grissom which, if successful, would leave him with four years of eligibility.

Herzhauser, listed as third-team right guard, had played in six games this season.

BEDFORD UPDATE: I had received some E-mails wondering about the status of sophomore DE David Bedford, who some thought before the season might start opposite George Selvie. The junior college transfer has played in four games and has two tackles.

“I think David’s been fine,” Leavitt said. “He’s a true sophomore. I wasn’t expecting a lot out of him or Craig Marshall.

“Craig Marshall has done more than I expected. David’s about where I expected him to be. David has a great attitude and works hard. He’s just learning and developing. He’s almost like a high school freshman.”

HOOPS SIGNS TWO: Jordan Dumars, the son of former NBA star Joe Dumars, and Shaun Noriega signed with the University of South Florida’s men’s basketball program Wednesday.

Dumars (6-5, 225) holds the Detroit Country Day school record with nine 3-pointers in a game, while Noriega is already North Port High School’s all-time leading scorer.

“We felt we needed to address our perimeter shooting and both Shaun and Jordan are very skilled players that can stretch the defense and consistently knock down 3-point shots,” USF coach Stan Heath said. “We also felt both players had very high basketball IQ’s and will be players that will make good decisions and be good teammates. Both players come from winning programs and have very strong academic backgrounds.”

Also, the USF softball team signed St. Pete Northeast’s Melanie Stickney and Cooper City’s Stormi Grzybek. The men’s soccer team received a commitment from Malcolm Manswell, a senior at River Hill High in Maryland.