USF RB Scott shines in first career start

Posted Sep 18, 2011 by Adam Adkins

Updated Sep 17, 2011 at 11:28 PM

The story from correspondent Michael Manganello:

University of South Florida running back Darrell Scott had his coming out party Saturday night against Florida A&M, producing his best college football performance to date.

Scott, the former No.1-rated running back out of high school and touted transfer from Colorado, was handed his first collegiate start against the Rattlers and did not disappoint as No.20 USF marched to a 70-17 win.

Scott had 12 carries for 146 yards and three touchdowns, along with one catch for 84 yards and another score, despite playing barely more than a half in the lopsided game.

“I definitely had fun. Everybody had fun out there,” Scott said. “Usually teams struggle against lower opponents, but I’ve got to give them credit. They were flying. They were blitzing. They didn’t give up. They were scratching and clawing.”

Alternating possessions with fellow running back Demetris Murray, Scott totaled 113 yards and two touchdowns on the ground in the first half, along with the touchdown catch, as the Bulls’ offense racked up 537 yards of total offense in the first 30 minutes.

On USF’s second scoring drive, Scott again did most of the work, accounting for 30 of the 42 yards USF needed and capping the drive with a 6-yard touchdown run.

Early in the second quarter, Scott broke off a 56-yard touchdown run through the middle of the Rattlers’ defense. Though the run was long, it wasn’t even Scott’s longest scoring play of the game.

Deep in his own territory, USF quarterback B.J. Daniels found Scott open on a screen pass later in the quarter that Scott carried 84 yards into the end zone, which was his favorite score of the night.

“I loved the screen pass,” Scott said. “I was blowed with 50 yards to go. Once the head goes back, it’s over. It was a really fun game.”

In USF’s first two games of the season, Scott totaled 115 yards rushing, just two more than he produced in the first half against Florida A&M. He had 230 all-purpose yards in the game.

Scott scored his third rushing touchdown of the game on USF’s first offensive possession of the second half, finishing the drive with a 30-yard run. Scott and the first-team offense played no further part in the action with USF leading 56-14 early in the third quarter.

“He is starting to feel more and more comfortable,” USF coach Skip Holtz said. “He was tentative in the beginning. The last two weeks, I don’t believe we’ve had a play over 24 yards. We haven’t done a good job of making people miss and turning that 15 to 18 yard play into that home run ball.

“It was really nice to see him do that. Darrell Scott is a load and it’s great to get that kind of work for him. He was able to knock some of the rust off it.”