ESPN College Football

• Pittsburgh landed a commitment from defensive lineman Marquise Wright, whom ESPN's Scouts Inc. ranks as the 31st-best player at his position.
• Syracuse also added a defensive end commitment
• West Virginia quarterback Geno Smith is still recovering.
• Mardy Gilyard signed with the St. Louis Rams. And so did George Selvie.
• Chris Henry's case may help others in the future.
• Memphis needs to get better on the field if it wants to join the Big East.

The NFL's fortnight of drafting -- what, it was only three days? Really? -- came to an end this weekend. I already touched on the first-round results on Friday. Here's a look at where Big East players went the rest of the draft, with some quick comments on each pick:

Second round

No. 37: Nate Allen, S, South Florida, to Philadelphia: No surprise here, as Allen was mentioned as a possible first-rounder at various points.

Third round

No. 65: Jerome Murphy, CB, South Florida to St. Louis: Here is proof that college production isn't always the most important thing to NFL scouts. Murphy struggled against some of the Big East's better receivers, but he has great physical tools and hopefully will find his niche in the pros.

Fourth round

No. 99: Mardy Gilyard, WR, Cincinnati, to St. Louis: If you watched any Bearcats games the past two years, you know that the Rams got an absolute steal. Think Sam Bradford will like having Gilyard around?

No. 101: Mike Williams, WR, Syracuse, to Tampa Bay: He was a first-round talent who was lucky to get picked this high given his off-the-field issues.

No. 107: Marcus Easley, WR, UConn, to Buffalo: Easley had great workouts, and though some thought he would go higher than this, it's still a great story for a guy who was a walk-on this time a year ago.

Fifth round

No. 157: Arthur Jones, DT, Syracuse, to Baltimore: Jones was talked about as a possible first-rounder earlier in his career. This is a great value pick for a player who will always give maximum effort.

Sixth round

No. 177: Carlton Mitchell, WR, South Florida, to Cleveland: Mitchell looked impressive in his workouts, but falling to the sixth round makes you question if he made the right choice in skipping his senior year.

No. 182: Nate Byham, TE, Pittsburgh, to San Francisco: The best blocking tight end in the Big East during his career.

No. 204: Tony Pike, QB, Cincinnati, to Carolina: Pike has to be disappointed that he fell this low and that he was drafted by the same team that took Jimmy Clausen a couple rounds earlier.

Seventh round

No. 226: George Selvie, DE, South Florida, to St. Louis: How much would you have bet against the notion that Selvie would be a seventh-round pick at this time last year? Selvie's production dropped after his breakout sophomore year, and now he'll have to prove himself again.

No. 227: Dorin Dickerson, TE, Pittsburgh, to Houston: Surprised to see Dickerson go this low after his great Combine performance. He's a tweener who needs the right team to showcase his skills.

No. 231: Selvish Capers, OT, West Virginia, to Washington: Capers has a lot of talent and potential.

No. 237: Ryan D'Imperio, LB/FB, Rutgers, to Minnesota: The Scarlet Knights' linebacker was drafted as a fullback although he never played it in college.

No. 238: Ricardo Mathews, DT, Cincinnati, to Indianapolis: Mathews didn't get as much attention on the Bearcats' defense as some other players but had a nice senior season.

No. 249: Robert McClain, CB, UConn, to Carolina: McClain had four interceptions last year and also served as the team's punt returner.

Here's a handy-dandy list of NFL Draft picks per Big East school:

South Florida: 5

Rutgers: 3

Cincinnati: 3

Connecticut: 2

Pitt: 2

Syracuse: 2

West Virginia: 1

Louisville: 0

And, finally, some notable players who weren't drafted (I'll have more later on those who signed free-agent contracts): Andre Dixon and Lindsey Witten from UConn; Aaron Webster and Alex Daniels from Cincinnati; Scott Long from Louisville; and Jarrett Brown from West Virginia.

South Florida was a popular place to be for its pro day on Tuesday, and with good reason. The Bulls have five legitimate draft picks and others who could earn a shot, and that drew representatives from 27 NFL teams to Tampa.

The big winner might have been receiver Carlton Mitchell, who continues to make his decision to skip his senior year look like a wise one. He ran a 4.40 in the 40-yard dash, down from 4.49 at last month's NFL Combine. With his size (6-foot-3) and speed, he'll be an intriguing option on draft day.

Cornerback Jerome Murphy, who's stock has been on the rise this offseason, improved his 40 time to 4.51 seconds. Defensive end George Selvie turned in a 4.88 in the 40, which was a slight tick faster than what he ran at the combine.

Jason Pierre-Paul ran well enough at the combine that he chose not to do so at pro day, but he did participate in the broad jump (9 feet, 9 inches) and the vertical leap (31.5 inches). Safety Nate Allen didn't the run the 40 because of a pulled quad injury, the same condition that kept him from running at the combine.

And quarterback Matt Grothe worked out. He measured in at 5-foot-11 and 1/2 and posted a 4.84 in the 40. That's faster than Selvie and the same time as linebacker Kion Wilson.

South Florida's official site has video of every drill, plus interviews with the participants.

A postseason ranking of the Big East's top 30 players ...

No. 7

Jason Pierre-Paul, DE, South Florida, Jr.

Preseason rank: NR

Why him here: George Selvie topped my preseason list, but it turns out he wasn't even the most prodigious defensive end on his own team.

That honor, surprisingly, goes to Pierre-Paul, a junior-college import who didn't arrive on campus until fall practice had already begun. By the end of September, Pierre-Paul had developed into a terror against opposing offensive lines and quarterbacks, using his freakishly athletic 6-foot-6, 260-pound frame to register 16.5 tackles for loss, 6.5 sacks, an interception and three forced fumbles.

Pierre-Paul made such an impact so quickly that he decided to skip to the NFL after just one season of major-college football, and he was recently projected as the No. 3 overall pick by ESPN's Todd McShay. Perhaps that's overvaluing a guy who himself admitted during the season that he was still very raw and needed to learn a lot more about the game. But natural talents like him don't come around very often, and even in just one season of work, Pierre-Paul established himself as one of the Big East's very best.

Previous:

No. 8: Devin McCourty, CB, Rutgers
No. 9: Mick Williams, DT, Pittsburgh
No. 10: Anthony Davis, OT, Rutgers
No. 11: Dorin Dickerson, TE, Pittsburgh
No. 12: Robert Sands, S, West Virginia
No. 13: B.J. Daniels, QB, South Florida
No. 14: Jason Pinkston, OT, Pittsburgh
No. 15: Tim Brown, WR, Rutgers
No. 16: Jordan Todman, RB, Connecticut
No. 17: Arthur Jones, DT, Syracuse
No. 18: Lawrence Wilson, LB, Connecticut
No. 19: Tom Savage, QB, Rutgers
No. 20: Andre Dixon, RB, Connecticut
No. 21: Bill Stull, QB, Pittsburgh
No. 22: Nate Allen, S, South Florida
No. 23: Marcus Easley, WR, Connecticut
No. 24: Mohamed Sanu, WR, Rutgers
No. 25: Jarrett Brown, QB, West Virginia
No. 26: George Selvie, DE, South Florida
No. 27: Kion Wilson, LB, South Florida
No. 28: Jabaal Sheard, DE, Pittsburgh
No. 29: Lindsey Witten, DE, Connecticut
No. 30: Jeff Linkenbach, OT, Cincinnati

No lunchtime links today, because there aren't any. It's a slow time, though Rutgers is expected to name two new assistant coaches this afternoon. So instead, I thought I'd give you the full list of Big East players who have been invited to the NFL combine, which begins Feb. 24 in Indianapolis:

• Nate Allen, S, South Florida
• Alric Arnett, WR, West Virginia
• Jarrett Brown, QB, West Virginia
• Nate Byham, TE, Pittsburgh
• Selvish Capers, OT, West Virginia
• Anthony Davis, OT, Rutgers
• Dorin Dickerson, TE, Pittsburgh
• Andre Dixon, RB, Connecticut
• Marcus Easley, WR, Connecticut
• Mardy Gilyard, WR, Cincinnati
• Arthur Jones, DT, Syracuse
• Scott Long, WR, Louisville
• Devin McCourty, CB, Rutgers
• Carlton Mitchell, WR, South Florida
• Jerome Murphy, CB, South Florida
• Jason Pierre-Paul, DE, South Florida
• Tony Pike, QB, Cincinnati
• George Selvie, DE, South Florida
• Mike Williams, WR, Syracuse
• Kion Wilson, LB, South Florida
• Lindsey Witten, DE, Connecticut

A year ago at this time, the Big East was dealing with the loss of a plethora of stars, including some of the best players in league history. Guys like Pat White, Donald Brown, Kenny Britt, LeSean McCoy and Scott McKillop seemed difficult, if not impossible, to replace. The league fared just fine in 2009 without those stars, and the good news for 2010 is that many of its top performers will be back. But that's not to say there aren't still some key losses that teams will have to adjust to this spring. Here's a look at the biggest shoes to fill this season in the Big East:

• Mardy Gilyard, WR, Cincinnati: The Bearcats aren't exactly hurting at wide receiver with Armon Binns, D.J. Woods and USC transfer Vidal Hazelton around. Still, someone must replace Gilyard's leadership and knack for making the big play at crucial times. What might be even more difficult to replace is Gilyard's production on special teams. The two-time Big East special teams player of the year was always a threat to score on kickoffs and punt returns. And hopefully someone will step in Gilyard's role as the best quote in the entire conference.
• Tim Brown, WR, Rutgers: Brown may not have received a ton of attention nationally, but he was vitally important to the Scarlet Knights. The speedster averaged 20.9 yards per catch and amassed 1,150 receiving yards and nine touchdowns as the team's only true deep threat. With a still very young receiving corps surrounding Tom Savage, Rutgers will need to find someone who can stretch the field the way Brown did.
• Mick Williams, DT, Pittsburgh: The 2009 co-defensive player of the year in the conference, Williams was a wildly disruptive force in the middle of that Panthers defensive line, as well as an inspirational leader. With fellow senior tackle Gus Mustakas also gone, Pitt needs more production from backups Myles Caragein and Chas Alecxih, among others.
• Devin McCourty, CB, Rutgers: McCourty was an underappreciated gem for the Scarlet Knights, a lockdown cornerback who also was seemingly everywhere on special teams. He was the leader of the secondary. Guys with his skills don't come around that often.
• Reed Williams, LB, West Virginia: The Mountaineers had to deal with Williams' absence for most of 2008 and at times this past season because of various injuries. But it was clear that they were a different team whenever Williams was healthy. A smart player (he's the 2009 Big East football scholar-athlete of the year ) who anchored the defense at middle linebacker, Williams was like a coach on the field.
• George Selvie and Jason Pierre-Paul, DE, South Florida: Say what you will about Selvie's dwindling production, but opposing offense still always had to account for him. And Pierre-Paul ascended to star status in his one year on campus. Combined, the two produced 26 tackles for loss and 10 sacks in 2009. The Bulls now need the next wave of pass-rushers to emerge, with former stud recruit Ryne Giddins one possible candidate.

We're just a day away from national signing day. (Sometimes I inadvertently transpose the first g and n in the word signing while typing that; wouldn't it be cool if there were a national singing day?). Anyway, there will be lots to talk about the next couple of days in the recruiting world. For now, let's address some other issues in the ol' mailbag:

Adam B. from Pittsburgh writes: I have been hearing fairly persistent rumors over the past four to five days that it is a done deal that Pitt will be going to the Big Ten. Have you heard this as well? How likely is this move? I would just like to have some light shed on this.

Brian Bennett: Adam is just one of about, oh, 300 people to ask me this question since Sunday. I can answer this one really quickly: the rumors have no merit. None. Somehow this thing got started on message boards and on the series of tubes and took off, but no one could claim a source and the timing never made any sense at all.

I've talked to people at Pitt, and my colleague Adam Rittenberg has spoken to Big Ten officials, and everybody says there have been no contact whatsoever between the two parties. Look, it's possible that Pittsburgh could eventually be invited to join the Big Ten. But that day is several months away at the earliest and is no guarantee. For now, there's simply nothing there.

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Andrew from California writes: In your questions with Big East head honcho John Marinatto you mentioned Villanova for possible expansion. My question is how come no one considers Georgetown for expansion? Philly already has Temple and the Eagles to compete for ticket sales, and Villanova only has about 9,000 students and very little money in the bank. Georgetown is bigger, has a lot more money and D.C. is a big tourist draw to help bring people in. They could easily bring their on-campus field to 35,000 seats with the available space and use RFK stadium for big games.

Brian Bennett: Sounds good on paper, but in reality Georgetown's program is really struggling at the FCS level. The Hoyas went 0-11 this past season and are just 5-38 since 2006. And my understanding is the school has had issues with its on-campus stadium. Georgetown just isn't in a position to move up to the FBS and compete anytime soon. Right now it needs to focus on trying to win at the lower level. Villanova, meanwhile is the reigning FCS champion.

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Brett from Austin, Texas, writes: I'm disappointed that you didn't ask Marinatto tougher questions regarding the possibility of the Big 10 possibly taking a Big East team. This is a serious crossroads for the Big East and you let him off the hook by alllowing him to deflect just about every question you question. The commissioner came off as out of touch with what is really going on in college football and I'm afraid that might be bad news for those us that are fans of Big East football.

Brian Bennett: Well, Brett, the bottom line is that right now this is a Big Ten issue more than a Big East one, so what's the commissioner supposed to say? At the end of the day, if the Big Ten offers a Big East school a chance to make a whole lot more money, there's not much the Big East can do to match the financial incentives, other than -- as Marinatto pointed out -- make the league as strong as possible right now. I assure you Marinatto is not out of touch; in fact, he's very plugged in, and many people credit him for being one of the strongest reasons the Big East survived after 2004. But it's clear that his style is not to talk much about these issues publicly, unlike some other leagues.

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Ken from Philly writes: Hey, BB, how can you have George Selvie and Jabaal Sheard ahead of Lindsey Witten [in your postseason Top 30 list]? Yes alot of his sacks came against lesser competition, but USF and Pitt had there share of cupcakes (especially USF). And Selvie and Sheard played opposite two players who will be in your top 10 whereas Witten played opposite true freshman all year.

Brian Bennett: It's close -- I had Witten 29th, Sheard 28th and Selvie at No. 26. The reason I ranked Witten behind those guys is because I felt like he disappeared during the middle of the year. And it seemed like he even worked his way into Randy Edsall's doghouse after a hot start. I felt like Selvie and Sheard, on the other hand, brought it every game even if their stats maybe aren't as good. And I thought Witten was a little weaker against the run, particularly compared to Sheard. Again, though, we're almost splitting hairs here.

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Dave from Charlotte, N.C., writes: The Big East has two big things going for it: 1) the perceived greatness of the basketball conference; and 2) the actual computer-ranking "goodness" of the football conference (at least for the past few years). Given that, in your opinion, is there any chance at all that the Big East could expand by raiding other BCS conferences? Maryland, Georgia Tech, and Penn State come to mind. I know it's a long shot, but it doesn't seem that crazy when you add it up. Of course, the major stumbling block in this is that the Big East management seems to act reactively instead of proactively.

Brian Bennett: For all the expansion talk about schools like Villanova and Central Florida, the best thing the Big East could do is grab an established program that's already in a BCS league. It's not going to be anyone from the Big Ten because that league makes too much money and going to the Big East would be a step down.

So the only real option on that front would be the ACC, which hasn't exactly tore it up in football since expanding to 12 teams. Maryland and Boston College would make the most sense, especially if they get fed up with what is perceived at times to be a bias toward the Carolina schools. I have no idea if either would be interested in bolting or what it would take, but those seem to make the likeliest targets if the Big East chose to go that way.

I think the Big East learned some painful but valuable lessons from the last raid and I believe the conference will be more prepared this time around. But the next year or so will present a major challenge that requires bold thinking and leadership.

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Jim from Fort Mitchell, Ky., writes: Cincinnati wins two Big East titles and has Tony Pike and Mardy Gilyard being drafted and you focus on Pitt?

Brian Bennett: Since that's all you wrote, I don't really know what you're referring to, Jim. But given the timing of your e-mail, I'm going to assume you're talking about my post that looked back on the 2006 recruiting classes. And clearly, Pitt had a great haul that year with players like Nate Byham, Jason Pinkston, Dorin Dickerson and Greg Romeus. Neither Gilyard nor Pike were in the '06 class; they were both fifth-year seniors from the class of '05. While Cincinnati certainly had key contributors from its '06 class, notably Aaron Webster, Ben Guidugli and Ricardo Matthews, by my count more than half that class never did much. The players who formed the nucleus of the two-time Big East champs mostly hailed from other classes.

A postseason ranking of the Big East's Top 30 players ...

No. 26

George Selvie, DE, South Florida, Sr.

Preseason rank: 1

Why him here: No one took a more precipitous drop from the preseason rankings than Selvie, my top-ranked overall player going into the 2009 campaign. Selvie had the prior accomplishments as a two-time All-American and former Big East defensive player of the year. But I simply can't justify placing him higher on this list than here based on his production.

Selvie had just 3.5 sacks on the season, tying him for third on his own team. His 9.5 tackles for loss ranked just 18th in the Big East. This downward trend occurred despite him being much healthier this season than his junior year and with him playing on probably the best defensive line of his career. Offenses couldn't just load up on Selvie anymore because of the emergence of Jason Pierre-Paul.

None of this is to suggest that Selvie is still not a terrific player, because he is. But the bigger and better offensive tackles in the league were able to contain him. Though Selvie put on a lot of weight during his career, he's still undersized for an NFL defensive end at 250 pounds. He may have to try his hand at outside linebacker to make a big impact. And it's quite possible that two of his Bulls teammates will be drafted higher than him.

No. 27: Kion Wilson, LB, South Florida
No. 28: Jabaal Sheard, DE, Pittsburgh
No. 29: Lindsey Witten, DE, Connecticut
No. 30: Jeff Linkenbach, OT, Cincinnati

NFL scouts and casual fans watching the Senior Bowl over the weekend learned what Big East followers already knew: Mardy Gilyard just makes big plays.

The former Cincinnati receiver was one of the game's brightest stars, hauling in 103 yards receiving, including a 32-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter, and another 76 yards on punt and kickoff returns. Gilyard probably helped himself in the draft as much as anyone from his performance in the game.

Gilyard's ex-Cincinnati teammate, quarterback Tony Pike, finished 5-of-12 for 45 yards. Scouts Inc. gave Pike a "B" grade for his work all week in Mobile, Ala.

Former West Virginia quarterback Jarrett Brown completed four of his seven passes for 57 yards, though he did throw an interception.

Pitt's Dorin Dickerson made one catch for 7 yards.

Rutgers' Devin McCourty started at cornerback and collected six tackles, while adding a 47-yard kickoff return.

South Florida's Jerome Murphy had four tackles, while former teammates Nate Allen had three and George Selvie made one.

The Senior Bowl practices are wrapping up, with the game coming up Saturday in Mobile, Ala. Let's take a look at some of the reviews about former Big East players:

On Tuesday, ESPN.com's Scouts Inc. team had this to say about West Virginia offensive lineman Selvish Capers:

"Capers was the best offensive lineman on the South team on Day 2, showing good mobility when getting to the second linebacker as a run blocker. He also played with balance and showed good lateral mobility with his feet. During 1-on-1 drills, Capers anchored well and held his ground, at one point just erasing East Carolina DE C.J. Wilson on consecutive plays. He is not overly explosive and will have trouble at times with bigger bull rushers, and Capers needs to get stronger in the lower body, but he will be a good fit for a zone blocking scheme in which the emphasis is on getting into space and taking sound angles to defenders because he plays under control and has good feet."

Cincinnati's Mardy Gilyard has been playing well, if not spectacularly, as this Day 3 report notes:

"Gilyard is having a strong overall day. He's running good routes and making a lot of plays during seven-on-seven drills after showing off his quick hands and feet early in practice."

Analyst Rob Rang had high praise for West Virginia quarterback Jarrett Brown in his CBSSports.com blog:

"Brown has a quick release and a strong arm and was fearless Wednesday, attacking all levels of the field despite having already secured his status as one of the risers from this week's action. His strong performance and legitimate upside may have boosted his status into the late 2nd or early 3rd round."

Pitt's Dorin Dickerson has been working out exclusively at receiver, but will move back to tight end for the NFL Combine workouts. He has been impressive lately.

"In a nutshell, wow!" DraftInsider.net wrote. "He is fast and was able to beat cornerbacks down the field. He is also a terrific pass catcher with strong, reliable hands."

Here is DraftInsider.net's analysis of other players of note:

• George Selvie: "[Wednesday] Best effort to date for the collegiate sackmaster. Selvie showed more strength against double teams. He was quick off the snap. He even threw a fantastic bullrush to plant an opposing blocker in pass rush rush drills."

• Jerome Murphy: "Continued to struggle. Loses out in battles when he should not and just did not show a good feel for coverage."

• Devin McCourty: [Tuesday] was inconsistent. He showed himself to be a strong corner and physically beat down Mardy Gilyard on a number of instances. Yet when he was not able to press receivers it usually ended up in completions for the opposition.
  
  Looked better [Wednesday]. For some reason showed a better burst to the ball out of his plant and did not struggle as much making plays with his back to the pass. Overall a good performance by McCourty on the most important day of the week."

• Syracuse has apparently dipped into the Florida high school ranks for its next running backs coach, Donnie Webb reports in the Syracuse Post-Standard.
• West Virginia got a commitment from a receiver who went to the same high school as Geno Smith.
• Jim Leavitt deserves a chance to coach again, Gary Shelton says in the St. Petersburg Times.
• George Selvie is out to prove his NFL critics wrong, Stephen F. Holder writes in the Times. He might have to do so at linebacker.

It's Senior Bowl week in Mobile, Ala., and it's time for a lot of the top NFL prospects from the Big East to make their cases.

Here again are the Big East players on the rosters for Saturday's game:

North

Dorin Dickerson, TE, Pittsburgh

Mardy Gilyard, WR, Cincinnati

Devin McCourty, CB, Rutgers

Tony Pike, QB, Cincinnati

Mike Windt, LS, Cincinnati

South

Nate Allen, S, South Florida

Jarrett Brown, QB, West Virginia

Selvish Capers, OL, West Virginia

Jerome Murphy, CB, South Florida

George Selvie, DE, South Florida

It could be like old times with Selvie trying to sack Pike or Gilyard trying to beat Murphy on a route during the game.

The two quarterbacks could have the most to prove during this week's practices and the game. Pike is an intriguing prospect because of his size (6-foot-6) and arm strength, but there are questions about his durability and his ability to play under center. Brown has unlimited potential because of his physical gifts and could wow scouts with his arm and mobility. But he started only one year and still has a lot to learn about the position.

Others who could really help themselves include Gilyard, who was one of the most productive receivers/return men in Big East history, and Selvie, whose numbers fell off after his huge sophomore campaign. If McCourty plays like he did this year at Rutgers, I think he could have a big week. And Allen has some freakish physical tools.

I've found it unusual this week to be writing about Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College while putting together all-decade lists for the Big East. It feels like forever ago that those teams were part of the league, and I know a lot of Big East fans would rather never hear those names again.

So I thought it would be fun to come up with a different sort of all-decade team, one that incorporates only the current teams and the current league format. In other words, only players from 2005 on. So call this the All-Half-Decade Team.

Offense

QB: Pat White, West Virginia

RB: Ray Rice, Rutgers

RB: Steve Slaton, West Virginia

WR: Kenny Britt, Rutgers

WR: Mardy Gilyard, Cincinnati

WR: Harry Douglas, Louisville

OT: Ryan Stanchek, West Virginia

OT: Jeremy Zuttah, Rutgers

C: Eric Wood, Louisville

OG: Trevor Canfield, Cincinnati

OG: Donald Thomas, Connecticut

Defense

DE: Elvis Dumervil, Louisville

DL: Eric Foster, Rutgers

DL: Amobi Okoye, Louisville

DE: George Selvie, South Florida

LB: Scott McKillop, Pittsburgh

LB: H.B. Blades, Pittsburgh

LB: Tyrone McKenzie, South Florida

CB: Darrelle Revis, Pittsburgh

CB: Mike Mickens, Cincinnati

S: Eric Wicks, West Virginia

S: Courtney Greene, Rutgers

Specialists

K: Art Carmody, Louisville

P: Kevin Huber, Cincinnati

The official and final list of NFL scouting combine invitees isn't quite complete, but the Sporting News has put together an early list of who's going. This list does not include juniors who have declared or will declare for the draft, and some seniors will be added later.

The combine runs from Feb. 24 to March 2 in Indianapolis. Here are the Big East players who've been invited so far:

Cincinnati: WR Mardy Gilyard, QB Tony Pike

Connecticut: RB Andre Dixon, WR Marcus Easley, DE Lindsey Witten

Louisville: WR Scott Long

Pittsburgh: TE Nate Byham, TE Dorin Dickerson

Rutgers: CB Devin McCourty

South Florida: S Nate Allen, CB Jerome Murphy, DE George Selvie, LB Kion Wilson

Syracuse: DT Arthur Jones

West Virginia: WR Alric Arnett, QB Jarrett Brown, OT Selvish Capers

South Florida has called a 12:30 p.m. news conference in which the school will officially announce that Jim Leavitt has been fired. The results of the investigation into allegations of abuse by Leavitt against walk-on player Joel Miller will be made public just before the news conference.

While we wait for that, let's take a quick look at where the Bulls might turn next.

South Florida has a few challenges in hiring its next coach.

As a young program with little history, it doesn't have much of a coaching tree to call upon. There aren't a ton of former Bulls assistants or players out there in the coaching field. It's also already Jan. 8, giving South Florida a late entry into the coaching market. With signing day fast approaching, the school needs to act fast if it wants to hold this year's class together.

And as we've mentioned, this isn't an athletic department with unlimited resources, so throwing $2 million at a proven coach isn't going to happen. The perfect guy for this job might have been Charlie Strong, who was Florida's defensive coordinator before taking the Louisville job. But the Bulls were obviously too late to make that move.

So who are some realistic candidates? Here's a quick look at three names that will be prominently mentioned early in the process:

• Calvin Magee: The Michigan offensive coordinator/associate head coach has some connections that other candidates can't match. He has a graduate degree from South Florida and was a Bulls assistant from 1996-2000. He also spent seven seasons at West Virginia as an assistant, so he knows the Big East intimately well. As Rich Rodriguez's offensive coordinator, he has a strong background and should bring an exciting style of play.
• Dan McCarney: McCarney has an impressive résumé that includes head coaching experience -- he was the Iowa State coach from 1995-2006 -- and time in Tampa. He spent 2007 as USF's defensive line coach and has been credited with turning George Selvie into a star. He is now the assistant head coach/defensive line coach at Florida, so he knows the Bulls' recruiting ground well.
• Tommy Tuberville: The former Auburn coach has been mentioned with just about every opening the past few weeks and has made no secret of his desire to get back into the game. He obviously knows how to recruit Florida from his time in the SEC, where he was incredibly successful. And the affable Tuberville would bring a completely different personality to USF than the sometimes standoffish Leavitt.