So, Willie Taggart is USF's new coach, and that has excited a lot of people. A lot of coaches, a lot of players.
Highly regarded for his recruiting of Tampa Bay kids to his former program, Western Kentucky, I was wondering: will those offers extended by Taggart the Hilltopper coach be good enough for Taggart the Bulls coach?
Or put more bluntly, was Taggart offering kids that he thought weren't quite BCS players and would never be considered good enough to play at USF, or did he think the kids he was recruiting were BCS players plenty good enough to play at USF that he was hoping he might steal away?
What does he think now?
It could create an interesting dynamic. Looking through our list of local 2013 recruits, here's a few who have offers from Western Kentucky, including some that were offered by the Hilltoppers but did not, as far as we can tell, ever get offers from USF:
Mike Love, DL, Countryside: Has coveted a USF offer that never came, but Taggart offered him at Western Kentucky. Hmmmm...
Rodney Adams, WR, Lakewood: Probably the juiciest player out there for USF, and he's visiting Western Kentucky with or without Taggart. Since the new USF coach offered him there, maybe he can talk the Spartan pass catcher into another stop by Fowler Avenue?
Nigel Harris, LB, Hillsborough: He has some nice offers (Purdue, Vanderbilt), but he was offered by USF and Western Kentucky.
Shaquill and Shaquem Griffin, DBs, Lakewood: Both brothers are verbally committed to UCF. Shaquill had a USF offer, but not Shaquem, according to some Bulls coaches. And considering they were a package deal, that was never going to work. But Taggart offered both at Western Kentucky. Will he try to flip them?
Derrick Doss, LB, Largo: The Packer linebacker was offered at one point by Western Kentucky. We're not sure that offer still stands.
Juwan Brown, QB, Largo: Offered by Western Kentucky, but not by USF.
Janarion Grant, ATH, Pasco: Offered by USF, and the Bulls really could use a guy like Grant. But he's also been offered by Taggart, so will that be a deciding factor?
Wesley Bullock, RB, Plant: He has a Western Kentucky offer, but was never offered by USF.
Antonio Geraud, DT, Tampa Bay Tech: He's committed to UCF, but he did have a Western Kentucky offer. Does that mean Taggart may want to sway?
Robert Davis, Carrollwood Day: Hillsborough County's all-time leading rusher decommitted from Cincinnati on Saturday afternoon, prompting some buzz he might be hoping for USF. I'm just throwing him on this list for that reason, but Davis had neither an offer from USF or Western Kentucky, so we shall see.
Times preps columnist John C. Cotey can be reached at cotey@tampabay.com or on Twitter @JohnnyHomeTeam.