BULLS OFFENSE

WR—81 Keshaun Singleton 6-3 212 So.

TE—88 Payten Singletary 6-4 240 Gr.

LT—70 RJ Perry 6-6 330 Gr.

LG—78 Jack Wilty 6-4 321 Gr.

C—72 Cole Best 6-4 315 Sr.

RG—51 Zane Herring 6-5 315 Gr.

RT—62 Derek Bowman 6-5 300 Gr.

SB—38 Sean Atkins 5-10 186 Gr.

WR—19 JeyQuan Smith 5-10 180 So.

QB—3 Bryce Archie 6-3 215 Jr.

RB—8 Kelley Joiner 5-9 195 Gr.

The Go-Go-Golesh offense is football on fast forward. “A lot of people run a tempo offense,” head coach Alex Golesh said. “It’s kind of our identity. It’s who we are. It’s what we do. It’s how we train. It’s how we go about our every-day business.” The Bulls widen the formation with three receivers and a motion tight end to seek mismatches with tandem routes and overloads. “Honestly, it’s backyard football,” said Sean Atkins, who began as a walk-on in 2019 and will exit as the Bulls’ career leader in receptions. “You kind of feel where the space is. You kind of run around, You play fast. You get cleats in the ground, The defense is not really set sometimes. You don’t really know what kind of coverage you’re looking at. You just go out and react and have fun.” At their quickest, the Bulls snap the ball in 10 seconds. “If we have a delay of game, that’s a problem,” Atkins said. The Bulls have been called for delay five times, but only once on the offensive unit. USF likes to attack early in the count, with 22 first-down touchdowns. Running back Kelley Joiner maintains the pace, averaging 6.9 yards per carry in the first quarter and 12.4 yards on 16 fourth-quarter rushes. “We prepared all spring and summer for this (tempo),” Joiner said. “It’s regular to us.” But who will be at the controls today? Quarterback Byrum Brown started the first five games, but suffered a lower-leg injury against Tulane and has not taken a snap since. Brown reportedly has been cleared to practice. Bryce Archie, who transferred from Coastal Carolina in January 2023, is 4-3 as Brown’s replacement. Archie also is a pitcher on USF’s baseball team. Atkins has thrown three option passes, completing a 12-yarder for a TD, and Joiner took a direct snap, pirouetted out of a would-be tackle, and found the end zone.

BULLS DEFENSE

BLB—34 Rico Watson 6-0 234 Gr.

NT—90 Decarius Hawthorne 6-2 290 Sr.

DT—3 Bernard Gooden 6-1 280 Sr.

DE—14 Michael Williams 6-3 260 Jr.

R—24 Mac Harris 6-0 230 Gr.

MLB—7 Jhalyn Shuler 6-3 225 Sr.

NB—13 Kajuan Banks 5-10 188 Jr.

CB—22 DeShawn Rucker 6-0 188 Jr.

S—2 Tavin Ward 6-1 197 Jr.

SS—10 D’Marco Augustin 6-1 213 Gr.

CB—20 Brent Austin 5-11 180 Jr.

Watch hours of videos and chart notebooks of plays, but it probably won’t be enough to predict defensive coordinator Todd Orlando’s next call. “I thought it was the hardest defense to prepare against,” Golesh said of matchups against Orlando when both were Big 12 coordinators. “So multiple out of the same personnel. For an offensive guy, the multiplicity makes it hard to prepare when you don’t know what you’re going to get play to play.” After accepting the USF head-coaching job two years ago, Golesh offered the DC position to Orlando, whose formations run from 4-2-5 to 3-3-5 to 3-2-6. The Tampa-based school also has different zone and man coverages, including, of course, the Tampa-2. Orlando was a Wisconsin linebacker under Barry Alvarez, and he succeeded defensive coordinator Dave Aranda at Utah State. But Orlando’s best mentor was his father, who emphasized technique and fundamentals. “I’m a coach’s kid,” Orlando said. “I was fortunate to be taught early.” Middle linebacker Jhalyn Shuler, who makes the defensive calls, described Orlando as a “mad scientist when it comes to this defense and how it works. … In the most simple terms I can put it: we’re going to run and we’re going to hit.” With Rico Watson moving up to the edge, the linebackers are Shuler and rover Mac Harris. Both are sure tacklers. “They can do all the faking, but find a spot on their hip, and go get it,” Harris said of tackling ball-carriers. Harris has improved his lateral movements after dropping from 246 pounds to 229 while lowering his body fat from 23% to 12%. “Working out is the easy part, the hard part is the kitchen,” said Harris, who eliminated fatty sauces and found healthy substitutes for his favorite dishes.

BULLS SPECIALISTS

KO—25 Nico Gramatica 5-8 165 Fr.

PK—39 John Cannon 5-9 175 Sr.

P—36 Andrew Stokes 6-5 230 Sr.

LS—95 Garrett Cates 6-2 230 Jr.

H—16 Ryan Bolduc 6-1 210 Gr.

KR—9 Ta’Ron Keith 5-10 195 Sr.

PR—38 Sean Atkins 5-10 186 Gr.

Punter Andrew Stokes is another alumnus of Pro Kick Australia who has found success in American football. Stokes was named to the All-American Athletic Conference first team after averaging 44.8 yards per punt. Of his 61 punts, 25 landed inside the 20, and 15 went at least 50 yards.

SPARTANS OFFENSE

WR—2 TreyShun Hurry 6-2 194 So.

WR—24 Sebastian Macaluso 6-0 179 Sr.

WR—11 Justin Lockhart 6-3 196 Sr.

TE—81 Jacob Stewart 6-5 227 Jr.

LT—70 Malik Williams 6-5 302 Jr.

LG—62 Tyler Chen 6-3 260 Fr.

C—75 Joseph Harbert 6-3 290 So.

RG—61 Marist Talavou 6-3 338 Sr.

RT—79 Peseti Lapuaho 6-5 285 Jr.

QB—5 Walker Eget 6-3 225 Jr.

RB—6 Jabari Bates 5-6 166 So.

Even before head coach Ken Niumatalolo was hired in January, he had a growing fascination with adding a passing aspect to the triple-option offense he ran at Navy. Former UH quarterbacks coach Craig Stutzmann’s spread-and-shred — a mashup of the run-and-shoot, Air Raid and run/pass option — was the best match to that goal. Stutzmann said the base is June Jones’ four-wide offense, in which receivers select their routes on the coverage. As OC at Emory & Henry, Stutzmann expanded the run game he learned from Curt Newsome. On Nick Rolovich’s staff at UH and Washington State, line coach Mark Weber introduced Stutzmann to more zone and gap blocking to complement the trap game on rushes. Stutzmann also benefited from internships under Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur. Mike Judge, who was with the Miami Dolphins for five years, was hired to coach the SJSU tight ends — a key position in the run and pass games. The Spartans learn most of the plays during walk- and run-through sessions. During games, Stutzmann’s call sheet “is literally a sheet of paper.” The menu of plays is on the front, notes on the back. “It’s like a chef,” Stutzmann said. “When you create a dish, you can tweak it here and there.” The Spartans had hoped to showcase 6-3 Nick Nash, one of the nation’s top receivers, who excelled at running precise routes and catching the high passes. Nash aligned in the slot about 90% of the snaps, much like how Greg Salas was used with Hawaii. But Nash decided to opt out of the Hawaii Bowl to focus on training for an NFL career. Justin Lockhart, who is 27 receiving yards shy of 1,000, will be the featured receiver. After coming off the sideline to complete 10 of 13 passes against Nevada in the fifth game, Walker Eget replaced Washington State transfer Emmett Brown as QB1. “He can make all the throws across the field,” Stutzmann said. Eget said, “Coach Stutz does a great job of simplifying it. Everything he says and does makes it easy for us to understand and why he’s been so successful running this.”

SPARTANS DEFENSE

DE—42 Soane Toia 6-0 278 Sr.

NG—50 Gafa Faga 6-2 296 Jr.

DE—37 Dylan Hampsten 6-3 237 Fr.

LB—26 Ethan Powell 6-2 217 Jr.

LB—8 Jordan Cobbs 6-1 235 Sr.

LB—10 Jordan Pollard 6-0 193 Jr.

LB—4 Taniela Latu 6-2 233 Sr.

CB—6 Amir Wallace 6-0 185 Gr.

S—7 Jalen Apalit-Williams 6-1 192 Jr.

S—1 Robert Rahimi 6-1 204 Sr.

CB—15 Jalen Bainer 5-10 184 Jr.

In 2008, newly named Hawaii head coach Greg McMackin hired Dave Aranda to coach the UH defensive line and recommended Derrick Odum to June Jones, who was SMU’s head coach at the time. Aranda is now Baylor’s head coach, and Odum, who coached the SMU secondary for seven seasons, is the Spartans’ associate head coach and defensive coordinator. “He’s really smart,” Jones said of Odum. “He’s done a good job for a long time.” Odum produces pressure off zone blitzes and relies on combinations of four-across coverages to deny explosive plays. The Spartans have 20 interceptions. Out of the three-man front, the ends will crash down, with the linebackers attacking the running lanes. “I feel (the scheme) is built to feed the linebackers,” said middle backer Jordan Pollard, who has 110 tackles, including 12 in the backfield. In Odum’s 3-4, outside linebackers resemble nicklelbacks and corners act like safeties. In tackling drills, Odum has emphasized proximity, with defenders needing to position within an arm’s length of a ball-carrier to initiate the strike. Cornerbacks DJ Harvey and Michael Dansby did not make the trip after finding new schools, Harvey is transferring to USC, Dansby has committed to Arizona. They combined for six interceptions and 13 breakups. But safety Robert “Rocket” Rahimi is the anchor of the secondary, amassing 78 tackles and five interceptions. Rahimi earned his nickname because of his speed, power and strong arm as a high school QB. “Just working it every single day doing ball drills,” Rahimi said of his picks.

SPARTANS SPECIALISTS

PK/KO—11 Kyler Halvorsen 5-10 175 Sr.

P/H—49 Trent Carrizosa 6-4 250 So.

LS—40 Davis Salom 6-1 265 Jr.

KR—6 Jabari Bates 5-6 166 So.

PR—14 Matthew Coleman 6-0 169 So.

As a kickoff specialist for Hawaii for two seasons, Kaiser High graduate Kyler Halvorsen repeatedly boomed kicks into the Ching Complex end-zone stands during practices. Although he has had uneven performances since transferring to SJSU — 10-for-15 on FGs in 2023, 9-for-14 this year — he has mastered the crosswinds at Ching.