TAMPA, Fla — One thing the USF football team isn't lacking is experience. There are 19 returning starters and 19 graduate students in training camp. One of those grad students is Doug Blue-Eli. He started his college career at Monroe Community College (NY) before transferring to TCU. He found his way to USF last season, and now he's considered one of the "old guys" in the locker room.
"We’re the older guys, so we try to bring our younger guys along," Blue-Eli said after practice. "Show them what it’s like, how to work. How to bring them to the highest standard that we have."
Despite Doug's less-than-direct route to Tampa, he always wanted to keep pushing forward on and off the field.
"I feel as though I always fought through everything I’ve ever did. As time went on, I just kept my head down and kept working- as far as books and on the field," he explained. "I was always taught to push through everything I’m going through, and that’s what I’ve been doing."
Jason Vaughn started his USF career in 2019. He's been through three head coaches, multiple coordinators, and a knee injury that shortened his 2023 season. But Vaughn says he still keeps a "glass-half-full" mentality.
"I think being around all those coaches and being around a bunch of different schemes, a bunch of different people, I feel like it’s more beneficial that it is a negative," Vaughn said. "You always have to fight for that spot, to be “the guy.” That’s with any staff. To have to do that more than a couple times is testing. But it shows you a lot about yourself, though, character-wise."
Vaughn, a 24-year-old grad student, could've headed to the transfer portal or moved on from football, but he feels a sense of loyalty to a program that gambled on a player who didn't have any division one offers in high school.
USF took a chance on me. I think it’s only right for me to pay that forward and stay loyal to the program," Vaughn added. "It’s paid its dues in ways that people don’t really know. I was able to be on scholarship for a few years. I was able to get my master’s degree. I just feel like this is the place I’m supposed to be at."
