USF RB Scott humbled, motivated

Posted Aug 15, 2011 by Adam Adkins

Updated Aug 15, 2011 at 11:52 AM

VERO BEACH His mother kept the letters. They fill three heavy duty black trash bags in a closet. The letters are from colleges all across the country, each asking Darrell Scott to come be their running back. No high school runner in the country was loved like Darrell Scott was loved back in 2008.

“But all that high school stuff, all those accolades, doesn’t mean scratch when you get to college, nothing,” Darrell Scott said.

He was once the No. 1 rated prep running back in America, the pride and prize of St. Bonaventure High School in Ventura, Calif. In the end, Colorado beat out Texas. Texas howled. That was then.

These days, hot, working days at South Florida football training camp, Darrell Scott is a redshirt junior sweating it out like his teammates. He spent last season on the USF scout team after transferring from Colorado after two seasons that left many questioning Scott’s desire and wondering what the hype had been about. It was nothing like high school, nothing.

“You’ve got to prove them wrong on the field,” Scott said.

There are Bulls types excited that they might have caught lightning in a bottle with Scott. They see a 6-foot-1, 239-pound downhill threat, a star in waiting. But there’s a serious USF anti-hype machine at work when it comes to Scott. That’s easy to understand: He has yet to do a thing.

You can the rest of Tribune columnist Martin Fennelly’s story on Scott HERE.