In an earlier blog post, I asked for any questions you wanted me to ask USF coach Jim Leavitt and he answered your questions (at least some of them). I didn’t get a chance to get to all of them because he needed to leave after Thursday’s Florida Sports Writers Association’s College Football Media Days, but he did address the majority of the questions. And, my apologies, Nabeel, I didn’t see your question you posted Thursday morning until after the event, but I did post another recruiting question that was asked.

Thanks for everyone who took the time to post a question. Listed below are the questions, that I edited to save time, and JL’s answers.

Posted by Mike Lakeland, Lakeland, FL on 07/11 at 09:14 AM
Q: What one game during the three-game losing skid (Rutgers, UConn, Cincy) would you like to replay the most? Jim Leavitt: “None.”
Q: If you could trade the win at Auburn for the Big East Title, would you do it? JL: “I want the Big East title.”
Q: Would you ever like to see the UCF series continue? Mike, Leavitt has answered this 1,000 times. He was asked about playing UCF, FIU and FAU and replied: “I don’t know that we want to schedule a whole bunch of games in Florida because the emotion is so high in this state,” Leavitt said. “You all recruit the same players. No matter if we’re playing Central Florida, FAU, FIU, it’s tough.”

Posted by Matt, Lexington, KY on 07/11 at 10:00 AM
Q: Will Mike Ford become more of a feature back this season? JL: “We want him to be. We want Mike to be in there quite a bit, but he has to continue to get better.”

Posted by Ari Hinkelberger, Tampa on 07/11 at 11:10 AM
Q: What are we going to change or do this year to stop the inside run?? It is clearly a weakness with our team.  JL: “True. We have to get better. I’m not going to be specific on what we’re going to do. We just have to get better.”

Posted by Dave Weber, USF on 07/11 at 08:58 PM
Q: What have the new assistant coaches brought to the table? JL:”A lot. Kevin Patrick and John Hendrik are really good. Really good. I’m very fortunate, you lose someone like Dan McCarney, that’s a tremendous coach. We didn’t lose much ground there so far. Dan’s been in games alot and all that and John has been, John has the experience there. Kevin’s good. Kevin has a chance to really coach for a lot of years.”
Q: Which newcomers will be making a big impact? JL:”True freshmen Mark Popek and Damien Edwards. We’re going to count on some freshmen, I guarantee you. Those guys, we’re planning on getting them ready at both tackle spots.”
Q: How will the D-Line shape up over the season? JL:”We’ll see. I don’t know. Good question.”
Q: What do you think about the increased media attention? JL: “I haven’t noticed it, a little bit. We’ve had media attention all the way through. I just take it as I go. I think we’ve always had a lot of media attention because Tampa is one of the biggest media markets in the country. To be honest with you, I think it’s always been there. Maybe a little more national. When we were up there at [No.] 2, we got a lot of pub going. Usually those teams in the top two. The ones in the top two always get a lot because of the national championship.”
Q: Which Big East team will be most improved? JL: They’re all good and I mean it. They’re all good.”

Posted by Bill Bellamy, Ocala on 07/12 at 10:35 AM
Q: What has CJL learned about himself and his staff from the Oregon loss that will help this next year? JL:”We weren’t ready to play, I didn’t do a real good job. We learned a lot. We have to stay on edge and learn to make sure we fight every inch of the way. Our guys practiced well and Oregon did some different things offensively and we kind of stayed with what we did. They had a month to prepare. They made some changes and we didn’t. But I didn’t want to make changes because we had won three in a row and were playing pretty good football.”

Posted by Hector Jimenez, Forsyth, GA on 07/12 at 05:24 PM
Q: Will you use last year’s Sun Bowl loss to Oregon as motivation? JL:”We already have. It’s helped me a lot in a lot of ways I really don’t want to share, but it’s helped a lot. It brought us down. It humbled us quite a bit.”

Nabeel, I didn’t ask your specific recruiting question, but here’s a question Leavitt answered about USF’s recruiting efforts against Florida, Florida State and Miami. JL: “Florida, Florida State and Miami get most of the guys they target, but we’re staying with a lot of those players a lot longer than we ever have. The percentages aren’t real high [for USF getting a recruit], but before it never happened. We weren’t in the discussion. Now, guys want to be a part of history and we’re probably going to be on TV more than anyone else in the Big East.”