Skip Holtz Finalizes His South Florida Football Spring Fling

Skip Holtz has been honeymooning with his new band, The University of South Florida Football team, and he's enjoyed it, teaching his brand of football and getting to know his troops.

Spring practice wrapped up for the Bulls this week and Holtz will take his players into the confines of Raymond James Stadium Saturday evening for the Green and Gold game, or perhaps, the Skip Holtz Coming Out Party, if you prefer.

In a chance of time frame, this year's game kicks off at 6 p.m.

Holtz has done all the right things since his arrival on campus in February as the successor to the deposed Jim Leavitt.

Holtz will tell you he loves the job and the opportunity, but has mixed emotions about the circumstances that brought him to Tampa from East Carolina University.

Early reviews are in and all who have met Holtz are impressed with him, his easy manner is diametrically opposed to that of former USF coach, Leavitt.

The players have had to learn an entire new system and Holtz will venture high into the press box at Ray-Jay to watch over his charges, to see what they've absorbed and what they haven't.

He's still evaluating the existing USF talent and to get a better picture, he'll have his first team offense up against the first team defense. Starting quarterback B.J. Daniels will play, but won't be allowed to take a hit while recovering from offseason surgery on his non-throwing shoulder.

Big question for Holtz and his staff: Who is their backup to Daniels? As of Saturday night, it's walk-on Ryan Eppes. The importance of the backup became so very evident last season when the seemingly indestructible Matt Grothe was knocked out in September with a torn ACL.

Holtz cannot be very comfortable with the thought of a walk-on being one hit away from determining the success or failure of the 2010 season.

The staff is also looking for a running game. East Carolina had one, USF hasn't. Daniels will take more snaps from under center with the new offense and run less.

There will no doubt be new ways to utilize some of the team's faster players. The old staff struggled to display the breakaway speed of sprinter Lindsey Lamar, who has moved to wide receiver from running back.

Holtz needs to find depth, and that's one factor that has hurt this USF team over the years.

There are more questions than answers going into this spring finale.

Hopefully there will be some answers come Saturday night.