Marquel Blackwell, QB/1999-2002

You were expecting someone else, maybe? Not a chance. When it was time to decide who was the greatest player in USF history, it was a unanimous choice. We all voted Blackwell #1.

After a highly successful high school career at Dixie Hollins High School (the same school Jim Leavitt attended), Blackwell signed with USF in 1997, but he didn't want to join the team as a partial qualifier and potentially lose eligibility, so instead he went to work on becoming a full qualifier. Once he did, he enrolled and joined the team in 1998, then spent his redshirt season on the USF scout team. When Glen Gauntt, the heir apparent to Chad Barnhardt, struggled badly in the first two games of the 1999 season, Blackwell got the call and never gave the starting job back. He played in all 44 games of his USF career (the only quarterback to play in every possible game), and finished with a long list of school records, most of which still stand, including:

- Most career wins, 30
- Most career passing yards, 9,108
- Most career touchdown passes, 67
- Most touchdown passes in a season, 20
- Most touchdown passes in a game, 5 against East Carolina in 2002 (the guy basically got Steve Logan fired)
- Most attempts in a game, 65
- Most attempts in a season, 456
- Most attempts in a career, 1417
- Most completions in a game, 37 (twice)
- Most competions in a season, 258
- Most completions in a career, 787
- Most consecutive passes in a single game without an interception, 63
- Lowest interception percentage, career, 1.98% (28 INTs in 1417 attempts)
- Lowest interception percentage, season, 0.74%
- Most consecutive passes without an interception, 235

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J.R. Reed, FS/2000-03

It's a shame that J.R. Reed has fallen through the cracks a little bit with the newest generation of Bulls fans. Between Grothe and Selvie and Allen and Jenkins and Pierre-Paul, there have been plenty of stars worth remembering. But if you didn't see J.R. Reed play, you missed out. He was an absolute badass.

Reed came to USF as a relatively highly-touted recruit from Tampa's Hillsborough High School, and considering the Bulls were just coming out of I-AA when he signed in 2000, it was quite a coup for Jim Leavitt. Reed played immediately, getting into all 11 games his freshman year and then starting the last 33 of his career at free safety, where he proceeded to make more big plays than I can even begin to count. He was the only three-time winner of USF's Defensive Playmaker award, in addition to being the team's Defensive MVP in 2003, the same year he was named to the All-Conference USA first team.

You know how some defenders just seem to have the ball come to them all the time? Reed was one of those players. He holds the USF career record for interceptions with 18, and is also tied for the single-season interception record with 7. He is one of six USF players to recover two fumbles in one game, and he's tied for second all time for the most recoveries in a season (3) and in a career (5). Reed has the longest fumble return in school history (63 yards against Houston in 2001).

Wait, there's more. Reed is tied for the most passes defensed in a game (5), tied for second for passes defensed in a season (16), and second for passes defenses in a career (45). On top of that, he holds the record for the most tackles in a game (19 against Cincinnati in 2003), and he's the only defensive back in school history to have 300 or more tackles in his career. If there was a big play to be made on defense, J.R. Reed was probably the guy who was going to make it. One of his biggest highlights was an incredible interception to seal the Pittsburgh win in 2001, where he took the ball away from the Panthers receiver as he was falling to the ground and landing flat on his back. (Doug Graber's "WHOA!" in the broadcast booth was much louder than normal when Reed came up with that ball.)

But that isn't even in the same stratosphere as Reed's last college game. It was the best single-game performance in USF football history, and if you ask me it's going to take one hell of an effort to surpass it. I don't want to hear about something Grothe or Blackwell or Selvie did. Your argument is invalid, and I'll prove it after the jump.

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Matt Grothe, QB/2006-09

Matt Grothe was the other quarterback in the 2005 recruiting class. Most thought that Carlton Hill was going to be the greatest thing ever at USF , and even then-offensive coordinator Rod Smith thought Grothe should move to safety. After redshirting in 2005, Grothe moved ahead of Hill at QB, and was neck and neck with senior Pat Julmiste on the depth chart. Julmiste started the 2006 opener against McNeese State, but after Pat injured his knee midway through the 2nd quarter, Grothe went in and Pat Julmiste became the USF version of Wally Pipp.

Grothe took over the team, although there wasn't much buzz nationally on what #8 was doing in Tampa. Then, on a sunny November day against Pitt, Matt did this.

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Kawika Mitchell, LB/1999-2002

USF caught a huge break when Kawika Mitchell decided to transfer to the Bulls after a redshirt season at Georgia. Mitchell slid right into the starting lineup at weakside linebacker at the start of the 1999 season, and he ended up starting all 43 games he played in. Along the way, he moved from weakside to middle linebacker and back again, and turned into a matchup nightmare for any opposing team. By his senior year in 2002, Mitchell was the complete package, a 6'2", 255-pound wrecking ball who could also run a 4.5 40. He was destined for the NFL, but not before becoming the best linebacker in school history.

Mitchell is USF's career tackles leader with 367, and he led the team in tackles in each of his last three seasons. His 117 tackles in 2002 are the second-highest single season total in USF history, and he also tied for second in school history with 19 tackles for loss that season. On top of that, he was named the team's defensive MVP and he was invited to play in the Hula Bowl in his native Hawaii.

And it all nearly didn't happen. During the summer of 2002, Mitchell was riding in the passenger seat of a car that was traveling at about 50 miles an hour when it got into an accident. Mitchell was thrown through the windshield and out of the car, going about 30 or 40 feet by his own estimation, and landing flat on the pavement. Most people would have been badly injured, or even killed, in an accident like that. But Mitchell's thick linebacker body absorbed a lot of the force of impact, and he only suffered a separated shoulder. Mitchell was able to recover in time for the start of the season.

In addition to his outstanding college career, Mitchell is probably the most accomplished Bull in the NFL. Kawika was drafted in the second round by the Kansas City Chiefs in 2003, at the time the highest draft pick ever from USF. Mitchell is now entering his eighth NFL season, and his third with the Buffalo Bills, where he was a defensive captain last season. He also won a Super Bowl with the 2007 Giants, becoming one of only three former Bulls to win a ring. (Kenyatta Jones and Ryan Benjamin are the other two.) Mitchell's NFL totals include 488 tackles, 12 sacks, six interceptions, six fumble recoveries, and three touchdowns.

Anyone who got to watch him every week knew how great Kawika Mitchell was. But he saved his best game at USF for the one time everyone was watching. More after the jump.

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Andre Hall, RB/2004-05

You know, I actually feel bad putting him this low. The truth is that if Andre Hall had been at USF for more than two years, I probably would have voted him #1 on my list, and Ken and Toro might have done the same. Considering the circumstances Hall played in, with no other offensive weapons to speak of and every opposing defense gearing up to stop him, what he accomplished in his short USF career was amazing.

Hall transferred to USF in 2004 as the #1 junior college running back recruit in the country. In his two years of juco (one at Georgia Military Academy, and another at Garden City Community College), Hall ran for over 3,000 yards. When he got to Tampa, it took him a couple of games to establish himself in the Bulls backfield, but against TCU he broke out with 184 total yards and four touchdowns in a crazy 45-44 win. (I wrote about this game last month as part of our "Where I Come From" series, so I won't go over it again.) From then on, the offense revolved around Andre Hall. With a weak quarterback and a middling group of receivers, Hall got the ball early and often for the rest of his career.

Here is a partial list of the USF rushing records held by Andre Hall. And remember, he put these numbers up with almost no passing game to take the pressure off him, which makes them even more impressive.

• Most rushing yards in a season (1374)
• Most rushing yards in a career (2731)
• Most rushing touchdowns in a season (13)
• Most rushing touchdowns in a career (23)
• Most 100-yard games (12)
• Most 200-yard games (3)
• Most average yards per game, career (118.7, almost double the second-place average)
• Most rushing/receiving yards, season (1695)
• Most rushing/receiving yards, career (3201)

And it's not like he was getting Kevin Smith or Ricky Wiliams carries here. He had 210 carries in 2004 and 270 in 2005. Instead, he made the most of his attempts, with a career 5.7 yards per carry (second only to Rafael Williams' 5.8).

Hall is the only USF player to be first-team all-conference in two different leagues - Conference USA in 2004, and the Big East in 2005. He was USF's offensive MVP both years, and he was a Sports Illustrated honorable mention All-American in 2005. Hall was also the first Bull to participate in the Senior Bowl, and he briefly played in the NFL for the Denver Broncos in 2007 and 2008.

Andre Hall was an incredible running back, but he was also a committed chess player. Before the 2005 season, in a feature for his USF season preview, Greg Auman asked Hall what his favorite piece was on the chessboard.

"The knight," Hall says, smiling. "You never know if I'm going to go left or right, front or back. You never know. As a knight, you can do many things. You can cover eight spaces. At my position, I have to wear a lot of hats, so it represents me the most."

That's really a perfect way to describe Andre Hall. He played running back like a knight - he made guys miss all over the field, and he was great at finding the hole and setting up his next moves to beat defenders in the open field. But he could run with the power of the queen, too. He broke tackles, pushed piles, and dragged guys for extra yardage. He was easily the best running back USF has ever had, and no one since has come close to replacing him.

There is one more record that Andre Hall holds. Keep reading to find out more about the night he set it.

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Anthony Henry, FS/CB 1997-2000

Like Chad Barnhardt, Anthony Henry was one of the players who took a leap of faith and decided to sign on with the new football program at South Florida. He committed to the Bulls out of Estero High School as part of USF's first recruiting class in 1996, and joined the team for the practice season that September. Henry then took his place in the secondary when the games began in 1997.

Henry played his first three seasons at free safety, where he played in 31 out of 33 games (he missed two with an injury). Henry was the team's first-ever Defensive MVP in 1997, and he collected five interceptions, 14 pass breakups, five fumble recoveries, and 216 tackles. He had 18 tackles in one game against James Madison in 1999, which is still tied for the team record in a regulation game.

Before I get into Henry's senior season, let me ask you a question. What were you doing in the spring of 2000? I think I took 12 credit hours, kept a part-time job, participated in SG, watched a mess of basketball games, and commuted across town from my parents' house to USF almost every day. Maybe you were doing something similar to me. If you were, YOU WERE A DAMNED SLACKER, and here's why. In order to get another year of eligibility, Henry had to graduate after the spring semester. So he took a brutal 22-credit-hour courseload to get to the magic number of 120, and got through all of it so he could play in the fall. On top of that, he switched from safety to cornerback in spring practice. And then all Henry did in the 2000 season was start all 11 games at corner, collect 40 tackles, five interceptions (more than the rest of the team combined), break up eight more passes, recover a fumble, and basically take away his side of the field from opponents.

Henry was drafted in the fourth round of the 2001 NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns, and he got himself noticed in a hurry with 10 interceptions in his rookie season. It tied him with Ronde Barber for the league lead, and made him one of only seven players in the 2000s to hit double-digit interceptions in a season. He played for the Browns from 2001-04, then moved to Dallas for four more seasons, where he got to play along side fellow USF alum Mike Jenkins in 2008 (the first instance of two former Bulls playing on the same team -- later duplicated by George Selvie and Jerome Murphy with the 2010 Rams). He played last season for the Detroit Lions, and is currently a free agent. In his nine NFL seasons, Henry has 502 tackles, 31 interceptions, and three touchdowns, and he is neck and neck with Kawika Mitchell for the USF alum who has had the most distinguished NFL career.

As one of the original members of USF football, Anthony Henry's place in Bulls history was already secure. But as the best of those original players, he'll be remembered for a long, long time. If you'd like to learn about the first recruiting class and the 15 so-called "Bullblazers" who made it all the way through, read the story on Page 1 of the 2000 USF media guide.

Previous entries: #7 - Mike Jenkins, #8 - Stephen Nicholas, #9 - George Selvie, #10 - Nate Allen, #11 - DeAndrew Rubin, #12 - Hugh Smith, #13 - Kenyatta Jones, #14 - Ben Moffitt, #15 - Chad Barnhardt

Mike Jenkins, CB/2004-07

Mike Jenkins may be the only player in USF history to whom opposing teams paid the ultimate compliment - they wouldn't allow him to be involved in the game. His glamour stats (like interceptions) aren't as high as other cornerbacks who have come through the program, but that's mostly because teams tried their best to avoid him. I don't think there's much debate that Jenkins was the best cornerback in school history.

Jenkins got on the field immediately as a freshman out of Bradenton's Southeast High School. In fact, he started the first game of his college career in 2004, and even blocked a punt in the win over Tennessee Tech. While he dealt with a lingering ankle injury and didn't start the second half of the year, he still played in 10 games, with nine breakups and two forced fumbles. From there, he started 36 of his last 37 college games (only missing the Papajohns.com Bowl in 2006). He played suffocating man defense against everyone's best receivers and often took them out of the game. And when the other team bothered to throw his way, Jenkins was there to stop it. His 47 career pass breakups is a school record, he finished with 133 career tackles, and he also had six career interceptions with a near-touchdown against Auburn in 2007.

Towards the end of his senior year, Jenkins even dabbled in kick returning. Against Cincinnati, he returned the first kickoff of his career 100 yards for a touchdown, and ended up with a team-record 192 kick return yards on the day. If you recognize the picture of Jenkins from your copy of NCAA Football 10, that picture is of Jenkins taking that kickoff to the house.

You probably know what Mike Jenkins is up to these days. He was the first player from USF ever to be drafted in the first round when the Cowboys took him 28th overall in 2008. And in only two years in Dallas, he's proven to be just as good an NFL cornerback as he was a college corner, combining with Terence Newman to form one of the best cornerback tandems in the league. He went to his first Pro Bowl in 2009, and with apologies to Kawika Mitchell, Jenkins is the best USF alum currently playing in the NFL.

South Florida's Lockdown Corner Mike Jenkins (via CBS)

Mike Jenkins Highlights (via THESAINTHIMSELF)

Previous entries: #8 - Stephen Nicholas, #9 - George Selvie, #10 - Nate Allen, #11 - DeAndrew Rubin, #12 - Hugh Smith, #13 - Kenyatta Jones, #14 - Ben Moffitt, #15 - Chad Barnhardt

Stephen Nicholas, LB/2003-06

Stephen Nicholas might have been the first player in school history who USF fans identified from a long way away as someone who would be playing in the NFL. When he arrived in Tampa in 2002 from Jacksonville's Lee High School, he immediately found himself on the field until an ankle injury against Arkansas ended his season. After getting a medical redshirt year, he returned to the lineup and 2003 and never left it. He ended up starting 45 games and playing in 51, both second all-time, and he currently ranks third on USF's career tackles list (326). Surprisingly he's second in sacks as well, with 20.

Among his many honors are the team's defensive MVP in 2004, two team defensive playmaker of the year awards, plus a third-team Freshman All-American and a spot on the All-Conference USA Freshman first team in 2003. Nicholas was second-team All-Big East in 2005, and with a lot of people thinking he might leave early for the NFL Draft, he made everyone happy and came back for his senior year. In 2006, he was first-team All-Big East and again earned the team's defensive MVP award.

Stephen was a quick and formidable tackler, and although he was an outside linebacker during his career, he could play any linebacker position (and sometimes did). He probably didn't get as much due as he should have because the team as a whole was still fairly unknown. The team "struggled", relatively speaking, during his first three years, and didn't get their first taste of national buzz until he was just about ready to graduate. It was unfortunate timing for Nicholas - a year later and he's a superstar as part of that 2007 defense. But that's why we have this list.

Nicholas was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons in the fourth round of the 2007 NFL Draft, and last season he took over a starting outside linebacker job, a spot he still holds going into the 2010 season.

Previous entries: #9 - George Selvie, #10 - Nate Allen, #11 - DeAndrew Rubin, #12 - Hugh Smith, #13 - Kenyatta Jones, #14 - Ben Moffitt, #15 - Chad Barnhardt