Hartline’s tenure begins as USF opens season for final time at Raymond James Stadium against FIU
Let’s take a look at key players and storylines for both team’s season opener on Saturday night.
In October 1998, the South Florida football team was itching to take their play from the trailers at Sycamore Fields to the bright lights of Raymond James Stadium.
Twenty-eight years and a $22 million practice facility later, the sentiment from the guys in the green and gold remains the same, but the outside expectations are far different.
“They are eager to see another color and play ball,” first-year head coach Brian Hartline said about his team Tuesday. “I feel they’re prepared, and I look forward to these guys unleashing that on Saturday.”
On Saturday, USF opens its 30th football season against the Florida International Panthers at 7 p.m. It will be the Bulls’ final season opener at Raymond James Stadium, with the university’s new on-campus stadium set to open for the 2027 season.
Saturday will be Brian Hartline’s first career game as a head coach. Hartline was hired as USF’s head coach this offseason. He spent the first nine years of his coaching career as an assistant coach at Ohio State, the place where he played his collegiate career. Hartline spent last season as the Buckeyes’ offensive coordinator.
With Hartline coming in and former USF head coach Alex Golesh leaving to take the head coaching position at Auburn, it’s been an offseason of change for the Bulls.
Setting the stage for USF
The Bulls welcomed 58 new players to their roster this offseason. Twenty of the 24 USF starters are gone from last season.
One of the Bulls’ key returning players is defensive end Mike Williams II. He’s played in 33 games and made five starts over the course of his four seasons with the program. Williams II has been hampered by injuries throughout his career, and he only played in six games last season.
Williams II heads into this season highly motivated. This week, it was announced that Williams II was the Lee Roy Selmon Award winner. He will wear a special jersey patch to honor Selmon’s legacy at USF and in the Tampa Bay area.
“He’s one of the ones who truly built that foundation for us to go even higher than where they were last year. He bleeds the green and gold. He is this program. That’s exactly why he got that No. 63,” USF guard Caleb Cook said about Williams on Tuesday after practice.
USF brought in 41 transfers this offseason. Their transfer portal class was ranked as the best in the Group of Six. The Bulls brought in 24 players who played at a Power Four program last season.
One of those transfers is junior Michael Van Buren, who will be starting under center for USF on Saturday night.
Van Buren was named the Bulls’ starting quarterback last week. He will make his USF debut against FIU after spending his last two seasons elsewhere, 2024 at Mississippi State and 2025 at LSU. Van Buren comes into Saturday’s game with 12 starts under his belt. He has 2,896 passing yards and 25 total touchdowns in his career.
Starting off strong has been something that USF has done well in the past. The Bulls are 22-6 all-time in season openers, including a 20-2 record at Raymond James Stadium. Last season, the Bulls started the season with a dominating win over No. 25 Boise State, 34-7.
Saturday night will be an opportunity for USF to continue its dominance at home. The Bulls have won seven straight games at Raymond James Stadium. They outscored their opponents by 27 or more points in each of their six home wins last season.
On defense, the Bulls are looking to begin what could be a dominating season for the unit. USF brought in former East Carolina defensive coordinator Josh Aldridge over this offseason to lead the defense. His Pirates defense led the American Conference in seven categories last season.
Aldridge summed up his defense’s mentality at a press conference in the middle of August.
“We’re going to swing first and ask questions later.”
One of the players who will do the “swinging” on the Bulls’ defense is Ohio State transfer C.J. Hicks. The former five-star prospect saw limited time during his four seasons at Ohio State, but he is looking to make the most of his role in USF’s defense.
“I think that he’s a great player,” Hartline said about Hicks. “He is really trying to evolve as a man and grow up off the field, just thinking about things differently and thinking more like a pro. He understands the opportunity he has and he’s trying to maximize his current role.”
Hicks is part of what is projected to be a prolific defense. 247Sports’ composite ranking rated USF’s roster talent as the best in the G6 and 54th-best in the country.
Setting the stage for FIU
The Panthers are coming off their own strong season in 2025.
FIU went 7-6 last year. It was their first winning season since 2018, when Butch Davis was their head coach.
Willie Simmons is now the head man at FIU. He heads into his second year at the program looking to build off his strong first season. Simmons has nine seasons under his belt as a collegiate head coach, 2015-17 at Prairie View A&M, 2018-23 at Florida A&M and last year with FIU. He’s had a winning record in each of those seasons.
“I’ve always had a lot of respect for Willie wherever he’s been,” Hartline said Tuesday. Hartline even noted that he remembered when Simmons was the quarterback at Clemson, saying his combined playing and coaching experience is a “great track record.”
The Panthers had 23 players leave in the transfer portal this offseason, but they brought in 21 new players and return 57 players from their roster. More than 70% of FIU’s roster is from the state of Florida.
Last season, the Panthers had a program-record 14 all-conference player selections, but they lost a plethora of them to graduation or the transfer portal.
The biggest loss this offseason for the Panthers was running back Kejon Owens. He was the 2026 CUSA Offensive Player of the Year, posting 1,334 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns while averaging 6.3 yards per carry. The Panthers also lost their top receiver, Alex Perry, to Illinois in the spring.
The Panthers do return their second- and third-leading rushers from last season in sophomore Tampa native Anthony Carrie and sophomore Devonte Lyons. They also return their second- and third-leading receivers in junior Kyle McNeal and sophomore Jojo Stone. FIU is hoping those guys can step up their production with the departure of their top weapons.
Keyone Jenkins, who was FIU’s starter, transferred to UCF this offseason. On Saturday, the Panthers will turn to J.J. Kohl under center.
The junior transferred to FIU this offseason after playing in eight games and starting six with Appalachian State last season. He had 1,465 passing yards and 12 touchdowns last season with the Mountaineers. Kohl stands 6-foot-7 and 250 pounds, making him the biggest quarterback USF will face this season.
On defense, the Panthers ranked in the bottom half of CUSA in multiple statistical categories last season. One thing that FIU did well last season was get to the quarterback. In 2025, it recorded the most sacks in the conference, averaging 2.39 sacks per game.
FIU returns safety Shamir Sterlin as a dynamic playmaker for its defense. Sterlin made the All-CUSA freshman team last season, posting 65 tackles and two interceptions. By all accounts, Sterlin has only raised his play at fall camp this season.
The Panthers also return senior defensive end Kenton Simmons. Last season, he led FIU with six sacks and eight tackles for loss.
Keys to the game for the Bulls
The Bulls’ offense will look to establish the run game on Saturday night.
USF will lean on the transfer running back duo of senior D.J. Crowther and junior Jason Collins Jr. Both players are averaging over 4.7 yards per carry in their careers.
The Bulls will also look to wreak havoc in the FIU backfield on Saturday. Kohl is not the fleetest of foot and was sacked 11 times in eight games last season with the Mountaineers. Last season under Aldridge, the Pirates ranked fourth in the country in tackles for loss per game and 23rd in sacks.
USF is also poised to win the turnover battle consistently this season. Aldridge’s defense ranked inside the top 25 in forcing turnovers last season at East Carolina.
On top of that, Hartline and Bulls offensive coordinator Tim Beck have shown they value the ball tremendously. Ohio State’s offense had the third-fewest turnovers in the country last season with just 11. Beck’s offense at NC State had just 26 turnovers in 25 games combined in his last two seasons.
For USF, it will be the first time on the field together for this overhauled team. The Bulls’ coaching staff is looking to play a clean game on Saturday.
“You want to be clean, and hopefully we’ve done a good enough job emphasizing that, and I think we have up to this point,” Aldridge said Wednesday. He also mentioned that the staff won’t know about the team’s cohesion until they get in between the lines and go through adversity.
FIU will certainly give USF its best punch. The Panthers have a plethora of players who are taking the field in a professional stadium in their home state, and they are coming off a strong season with plenty of players returning.
However, Saturday is a chance for USF and Hartline to make a statement as his tenure begins.
Talking season is over, and it’s time for kickoff at Raymond James Stadium. This is where the fun begins.