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The Oracle

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U N I V E R S I T Y O F S O U T H F L O R I DA

Possible budget bill blowback: SAFE Team An annual budget bill proposed by the Activity and Service Fee Recommendation Committee would result in significant cuts to the budgets of Activity and Sevice Fee-funded departments

n This story is a part of a continuing series that touches on the effects certain departments will face as a result of the proposed budget bill that will cut 15 percent overall to programming and student payroll.

By Alyssa Stewart S T A F F

W R I T E R

According to the Student Government (SG) website, SAFE Team is a service that patrols sectors of campus in order to deter crime, offers safe escorts to USF students and works in conjunction with local figures to provide the Alert Cab service to USF students.

The new budget for the 201819 school year will decrease the SAFE Team budget from $415,268 to $292,523 — which is a $122,745 cut.

Dakota Wiersma, the director of SAFE Team, expressed his concerns to Senate last Tuesday about cutting the department’s budget to fund an endowment, which was proposed by Activity and Service Recommendation Committee (ASRC). Senators have denied that the endowment is the reason for the cuts.

“ASRC is proposing to cut (over) $122,000 from SAFE Team’s payroll and I do not believe this is the right thing to do for our students as SAFE Team is the face of SG in the streets,” Wiersma said in an interview with The Oracle. “We provide safety to all the students and you will be cutting 10 employees for the next year; we would have to limit our hours from 6:30 p.m. to 12 a.m. (midnight), get rid of summer altogether and get rid

The SAFE Team’s budget went from $415,268 to $292,523, a $122,745 cut, in this year’s Activity & Service Recommendation Committee budget. ORACLE PHOTO/CHAVELI GUZMAN of our programs like our drunk driving assistance.”

In the last data collected from the SAFE team, about 100 people use SAFE team services every weekday. On average, 110 people use SAFE Team on Mondays, 102 on Tuesdays, 101 on Wednesdays and 97 on Thursdays. On the weekends, it averages out to about 64 people due to a minimized staff and less students on campus.

There are currently 44 staff members, but with the budget cut and other factors, Wiersma said there will be 30 staff members next year. New payroll requirements would have to be discussed with the new budget.

In an interview with The Oracle, ASRC Chair Aladdin

Hiba said that approximately three-quarters of the funds allocated to SAFE Team were spent on payroll. However, last year only $190,150 was spent from the originally allocated $315,712 for payroll purposes.

According to Hiba, the difference of the funds spent and allocated “were not spent on anything, it was just sitting in their account and it did not end up getting spent on anything.”

Hiba also clarified that leftover funds do not rollover to subsequent years and will instead return to ASRC for reallocation.

A question that was raised at the Senate meeting was how SG decides how much a department gets cut since SAFE Team received one of the largest reductions.

Sen. Najib Albadrasawi said during the Senate meeting on April 10 that SG takes cuts less from budgets that are more tight and more from places that are overspending.

“In the last expenditure from ASRC, they (SAFE Team) spent (approximately) $190,000 dollars on payroll,” Albadrasawi said.

“They requested (over) $315,000 dollars so you can see there, they are requesting a lot more than they spend.”

Wiersma disagrees with ASRC and Albadrasawi because he does not believe they are presenting all the available information.

“What they are not accounting for, and I am not sure if they were aware of it because they left it out of their argument, but

historically SAFE Team has been understaffed until I took over in the fall of 2016,” Wiersma said.

“So, we started with 17 staff and by the end of that semester we shot up to 40 total.”

The hiring process requires a background check and drug testing — about a two-month time period — which meant for a slow hiring process when culminating staff members.

“We were running for the first third of that fiscal year at only 17 staff and didn’t make it to 40 until half of the year,” Wiersma said. “The payroll is not going to instantly be eaten up.”

Wiersma said he tried working with ASRC to suggest a reasonable cut because he

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Facilitated workshops to teach students to be active bystanders

By Jessenia Rivera S T A F F

W R I T E R

The Center for Student WellBeing will soon be selecting Violence Prevention Trainers, who will serve to prevent sexual violence within the USF community through facilitated workshops.

Trainers will be voluntarily focusing on relationship/dating violence prevention while also delivering the message of the Got Consent campaign.

Danielle Smith, the Health Promotion Specialist, said the goal for the trainer implementation is to make USF a safer campus with

educational interactions that will show students what’s wrong with sexual violence.

With student trainers directing workshops and events instead of staff members, Smith said she’s confident the communication between trainers and students will prove to be more effective.

“We know that peer-to-peer interactions are usually more beneficial for students, than staff members getting up in front of a group of students,” Smith said. “So, that’s why we implemented this kind of model.”

As an added expansion to the

Violence Prevention program under The Center for Student Well-Being, the 10-20 trainers picked by the fall semester will have set responsibilities such as having to facilitate at least two trainings a semester, attending certain outreaches and being present during continued education meetings.

While the position includes a structured job criteria, Smith said trainers also have the option of picking specific tasks if they want to work on mastering certain skills. As done with past prevention trainers last fall, Smith said she wants to help

n See VIOLENCE on PAGE 7

Violence Prevention Trainers will be focusing on dating violence prevention and are being trained by the Center for Student Well-Being. ORACLE PHOTO/CHAVELI GUZMAN

ASRC budget still has a while to go before becoming official

By Miki Shine E D I T O R

ORACLE GRAPHIC/MIKI SHINE

I N

C H I E F

While the Student Government (SG) Senate passed a controversial budget bill on Tuesday, it is far from concrete. The bill can still be vetoed in its entirety or line-item vetoed.

At least one item is expected to get vetoed. Administration has said that the $1.375 million endowment, one of the sources of controversy, will be vetoed because it violates USF statutes. However, a bigger point of contention is the 15 percent cuts to departments’ student payroll and programming budgets.

A lot is still unknown about whether these cuts will go through or how departments will need to adjust if they do, but there is a number of places where things may still change with the budget.

Now that the Senate has passed the bill, the budget goes to Student Body President Moneer Kheireddine. Kheireddine has 10 business days to sign or veto the

budget. While Kheireddine sat on the recommendation committee and voted against the budget when it passed the committee, he said he doesn’t plan to veto the budget now.

As of Friday, he hadn’t taken action on the budget, but he has until April 24 to make a decision otherwise the budget will move on.

After Kheireddine, the budget goes to the President of Student Affairs Paul Dosal. He then also has 10 business days to sign, veto or line-item veto the budget. It would then go to System President Judy Genshaft who has 15 business days to take action on the budget.

Anything that is line-item vetoed throughout this process would go into unallocated cash and can be reallocated by Senate. University administration doesn’t have the power to reallocate funds.

A budget needs to be agreed upon by July 1, when the fiscal year ends.

OPINION

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Pharmaceutical companies Become Facebook’s consumer instead must be held responsible of its product for price-gouging

By Samantha Moffett O P I N I O N

By Paige Wisniewski S T A F F

W R I T E R

Prescription medication is crucial to the lives of many Americans.

When pharmaceutical companies increase drug prices, they risk the lives of many Americans who require certain medications to survive. Price gouging life-saving medication is an extreme act motivated by greed.

Pharmaceutical companies need to be held accountable for exploiting consumers and the drugs they need to live.

There are too many examples of pharmaceutical manufacturers raising the cost for essential medication.

According to CBS News, the price of insulin – a drug that 6 million of the 29 million Americans living with diabetes needs – more than tripled to $700 per patient between 20022013. Fox Business reports that EpiPens, a life-saving treatment for severe allergy reactions, only costs $2 to produce, but were sold for $700 by Mylan in 2016.

In 2017, NextSource increased its life-extending cancer drug Lomustine by 1,400 percent.

Lomustine was originally $50 per pill. NextSource now charges $768 per pill.

Diseases are not optional.

This fact means the prescriptions a person needs to sustain their health is not optional

either. When affordability and accessibility to medication could mean the difference between life or death, the act of hiking such prices is a wrongful act.

Pharmaceutical companies are able to price gouge because there is a considerable lack of generic drugs available to compete in the marketplace.

According to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, there are “unprecedented levels of deflation in the generic sector.”

The law could be used to curb price gouging. The FDA aims to implement measures to speed up the availability of generic drugs. In his 2016 presidential campaign, now President Donald Trump raised the issue of high drug prices, but little action has been taken since he came into office.

Meanwhile, The Hill reports that Democrats are gearing to use price gouging as a platform during midterm elections this November.

Instead of using the issue to capitalize on votes, both Republicans and Democrats could use the subject to implement bipartisan legislation.

It does not seem likely that lawmakers will act to reduce pharmaceutical price gouging.

According to Fox Business, 97 senators and 299 House Representatives received

contributions from the pharmaceutical sector during the 2016 election cycle. On April 13, the U.S. appeallate court struck down a Maryland law aimed to deter price gouging by regulating costs for generic drugs. The court stated that the law was unconstitutional because it would have impacted sales outside of Maryland.

If drug pricing cannot be regulated on a state level, then federal legislation should be put in place. Pharmaceutical companies have a responsibility to improve and save lives. They should not have the power to determine whether a consumer lives or dies by reducing drug affordability and accessibility.

While the FDA hopes the competition of an increased availability in generic drugs will ease price gouging, consumers cannot solely rely on marketplace solutions to limit corporate greed.

It is irresponsible and unethical to let people die because a company wants to profit from selling a medication for much more than it costs to produce.

More regulations are required to ensure people’s health will not be severely compromised because they are unable to afford exorbitant drug prices.

Paige Wisniewski is a junior majoring in interdisciplinary social science.

E D I T O R

With Facebook under the microscope, Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder and CEO of Facebook did not seem keen to the idea of changing the social media site’s business model. The hearing of Zuckerberg’s testimony exemplified that the proposed ideas from Congress on how to regulate Facebook were not efficient options for the company.

If we are going to continue to use Facebook, as users we must also learn how to crackdown on the site and protect ourselves.

We must stop being Facebook’s product and become Facebook’s consumer.

During the hearing, Congress showed that it is not equipped to decide Facebook’s user policy.

Hypothetical situations proposed

by Congress were shut down by Zuckerberg, stating that there is a “core misunderstanding” of how Facebook works in regard to user information.

If Congress does not understand how Facebook works, they cannot effectively or efficiently fix it.

However, as users of Facebook, we understand our right to privacy.

If we want to regulate Facebook’s privacy policy, it can begin with us while we wait for Congress and Facebook to make necessary changes.

When Facebook was alerted in 2015 that 87 million profiles were collected by Cambridge Analytica,

a data consulting firm, those users were not notified and the process of notifying these users is still underway. This fact should raise questions about other mediums that have access to our information that we are unsuspecting of, like Facebook applications.

The applications that are run through Facebook may seem like harmless fun, but tens of thousands of apps are being investigated for data misuse, as reported by New Scientist. These apps are likely to be selling our personal information to outside companies for their own benefit.

Posting on Facebook for public view can also be problematic, as we cannot be sure who is viewing our page. Having the private, “friends only” setting on each of your posts can help to eliminate unwanted, outside viewership.

If Congress wants to regulate Facebook, following the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation model, which states that every user has the right to be informed of where their information is going and that data has the right to be erased upon request of a user, could be a step in the right direction.

As users of Facebook, we should be concerned about the status of our privacy. We should make our own strides to protect ourselves and stay informed on new regulations that could be in Facebook’s future.

Samantha Moffett is a sophomore majoring in mass communications.

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Matthew Zeppieri: The story of love, loss and learning to live

By Ashley Jablonski C O R R E S P O N D E N T

Matthew Zeppieri will never forget the day last year when he met someone who showed him the world.

It was the day he met someone who taught him to look at the sky as a way to see the ever changing world around him. Her name was Fellize Arsenal.

“She was a hidden gem,” Zeppieri said.

Following their meeting, their fondness would grow and blossom into the start of their romantic relationship.

However, just before their oneyear anniversary, their budding romance came to an abrupt end.

Arsenal suffered from mental illness that eventually led her to take her own life on Jan. 25.

On the morning of her passing, unaware of what occurred, Zeppieri awoke to a spiritual presence next to him.

“My body moved to its side without any control,” Zeppieri said. “My world just went black, but I could feel and hear still. There was a weight that mimicked my girlfriend come across my back, come across my shoulder as if her head was on my shoulder, talking into my ear. It was a very pure voice.”

Zeppieri said the experience lasted around nine minutes. He said he believes she gave him a message that he carries with Matthew Zeppieri decided to start a foundation dedicated to the understanding and education of mental illness after his girlfriend took him still as a driving force to keep him going. her own life. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE/MATTHEW ZEPPIERI

“This was the most peaceful, genuine voice of hers,” Zeppieri said. “The voice said two short sentences to me but it felt like a lifetime. It was: ‘I’m always with you. I’m here with you.’”

Zeppieri said after the two sentences all of the weight he felt during that moment transferred to his heart. After this moment, his senses returned and he could see again. The experience confirmed to him the reality he would later face.

“That was the confirmation for me that she had made it to a better place,” Zeppieri said.

He heard the official news around six hours later.

Zeppieri’s experiences in life led him to want to pursue a career in social work. He spends his time interacting with people and learning about them. He looks to find ways to help them and he hopes to use his experiences and memories with Arsenal as a way to reach others.

“I just want to help people,” Zeppieri said. “I am looking forward to doing that through an initiative that I hope to start here on campus before I graduate.”

The next step for Zeppieri is keeping a promise to Arsenal that he made to her as she was being lowered into the ground.

“I want to make sure that your biggest fear doesn’t come true,” Zeppieri said.

“Your legacy will live on. Your story and your spirit, Fellize Arsenal, will make an impact on millions. I am determined to make that a reality.”

He is ready to take the next step in creating an initiative called Sora’s Pinky Promise.

The philanthropic endeavor was founded by Zeppieri with the help of Arsenal’s former roommate and aims to advocate, authenticate and validate.

According to Zeppieri, the initiative is named Sora’s Pinky Promise because Arsenal did not like her first name.

Her birth name translated to “happiness” and that was something she struggled with.

She preferred that her friends call her Sora, instead.

“The greatest event of my life, with the love of my life passing away to suicide, I want to intertwine my own vision with her story,” Zeppieri said.

Zeppieri said he has a history with suicide himself.

“I attempted twice in 2014 and, luckily, I failed,” Zeppieri said. “It’s the only thing you want to fail at in life. That’s a good failure to have.”

Three years later to the day would start his relationship with Arsenal. He said the commonality of these dates is an example of his life going full circle.

“It’s taught me that there is good and bad in life; there’s a balancing act,” Zeppieri said.

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VIOLENCE

Continued from PAGE 3

the selected individuals accomplish their desired goals during their volunteer experience.

“I kind of work with them on putting together a plan for the semester with their goals,” Smith said. “If they may want some more public speaking skills, I might have them work on some other presentations with me. As much as they want out of it (the training), they can get out of it.”

Though Violence Prevention trainers do their part in educating and informing, their primary aim is to push students to be active bystanders. Leading students to be the kind of people who take some form of action if they witness a scene that does not look right is the outcome that The Center for Student Well-Being is anticipating.

According to Smith, there are aspects within ourselves and within our culture that have caused us to say silent in situations where sexual

assault or harassment is occurring.

“A lot of it is fear. People are afraid to step in and intervene, and a lot of people have personal barriers and that’s actually one of the main points we go over in our bystander intervention training — your own personal barriers,” Smith said. “(We talk about) why you have those barriers and how you can overcome them.”

As said by Smith, inaction toward sexual violence is something that has been normalized in our culture and it will take time to change that. However, Smith is confident that having trainers create active bystanders in the USF community will be prove to be successful in taking a step in the right direction.

“I think that the more students we reach the more normalized it is to step in and intervene and prevent violence on campus,” Smith said.

“So, I think this is a culture shift.

Normalizing these behaviors will definitely be effective in preventing violence on a larger scale.”

SAFE

Continued from PAGE 1

knew they wanted to fund the endowment, though senators deny that this is the purpose of the budget cuts. A payroll transfer is done at the end of the year which Wiersma said is always spent on new carts or buying new furniture for the office. This year, Wiersma did not want the payroll transfer because it would be the middle of summer and he believed it would be better waiting for the new budget.

“When I went to ASRC, I tried to say to cut $50,000 and put it back into new initiatives, and they said it was a great plan and that they would take it into consideration when they were planning for their new initiatives to my face while I was there,” Wiersma said. “Then, I find out the day of the fiscal bill that they took that $50,000 and doubled it to fund the endowment.”

SAFE Team’s current hours of operation are 6:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. According to Wiersma, summer hours may have to be

cut. Wiersma said he would rather discontinue summer than shorten current hours of operation because he feels it would be unfair to students.

“The plan is to use as much payroll as possible until we make it to summer then see what kind of hours we can do, if we can do them at all,” Wiersma said.

Currently, there are three teams from 6:30 p.m. to midnight and three teams from 9:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. With the budget cuts, Wiersma said SAFE Team would probably have to cut down to two teams a night which will severely impact the wait times for students as the demand goes up.

Danielle McDonald, dean of students, organized a list of potential consequences with the cut to 15 percent of department programming funds. SAFE Team was said to reduce by nine members, a change in hours of operations and longer wait times because of the deduction of $122,745 to their current budget.

Multiple Senate members responded to the list by inferring that the numbers were false and

that the information given was incorrect.

Wiersma said though the numbers are not false, there are discrepancies as to what exactly is being cut.

SAFE Team is receiving an approximate 30 percent cut to the department as a whole, according to Hiba.

“It’s not fair that they (Senate) are assuming it is not factual when they haven’t ran the numbers themselves; it is a very spur of a moment decision to blindly say there is no way that can be right,” Wiersma said.

Wiersma said SAFE Team is always going to be around, since it has been present at USF since 1976, but he said he believes the budget cut will make it difficult to cater to the growing number of on-campus students.

“With the budget cut, wait times will increase, staff will have to be reduced and student demand will keep getting higher with new dorms being built,” Wiersma said.

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T H E O R AC L E

USF spring football game brings fans to campus

By Chaveli Guzman M U L T I M E D I A

E D I T O R

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On Saturday afternoon, USF football fans gathered in Corbett Stadium in anticipation of the fall football season. Along Elm Drive, in front of the stadium, food trucks, activities and performances lined the street for fans to enjoy. During the game, USF football scrimmaged offense against defense, with the offense winning 56-55.

Tight end Mitchell Wilcox going out for a pass Saturday.

ORACLE PHOTO/CHAVELI GUZMAN

Teammates huddle together before the game begins.

ORACLE PHOTO/CHAVELI GUZMAN

The USF Sundolls perform on Elm Drive in front of USF HOT band for the Pre-Game Show. ORACLE PHOTO/CHAVELI GUZMAN

USF fans of all ages cheer on USF Football from the stands and lawn of Corbett Stadium. ORACLE PHOTO/CHAVELI GUZMAN

Rocky the Bull helps bring out the energy of the crowd.

ORACLE PHOTO/CHAVELI GUZMAN

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Football

Spring Game highlights how close quarterback battle is

USF’s Spring Game on Saturday had an attendance of 3,542 and surrounded the field at Corbett Stadium. ORACLE PHOTO/CHAVELI GUZMAN

By Sam Newlon A S S T .

S P O R T S

E D I T O R

Fans who were hoping to gain insight into who USF’s 2018 starting quarterback would be after Saturday’s Spring Game may be disappointed.

The position battle for the starting job seemed to get more competitive.

In identical performances, Brett Kean and Chris Oladokun each threw for 127 yards and two touchdowns in front of 3,452 fans at Corbett Stadium.

“I think we both want the best for the team,” Kean said. “I think we’re both pushing each other and helping each other out. If I’m in and Chris sees something I didn’t, he’ll let me know and vice versa.”

After a full game, like the stat sheet read, neither quarterback stood out over the other.

Kean lost 18 yards and was brought down for four sacks. Oladokun lost

only three yards, but was sacked five times and threw the games only interception.

Neither showed the shiftiness of former quarterback Quinton Flowers and both are clearly still adjusting to take on a bigger role on the team as fall approaches.

“He (Flowers) takes some of (the pressure) off of us,” Kean said. “He’s constantly letting us know to be you guys. Coaches tell us, ‘Don’t try to be Quinton; don’t try to do anything too special.’”

None of the coaches offered any indication of who was leading in the position battle, but wide receiver Darnell Salomon knows that regardless of who the quarterback is in the fall, he has his own job to do.

“Our job is to catch the ball no matter who’s the quarterback,” Salomon said. “Both of them are good and both of them are competing.”

Wide receivers St. Felix and Roland are young, but ready Randall St. Felix is a 6-foot-5, 205pound wide receiver from Miami. He enters his first year of eligibility as a redshirt freshman this season.

On Saturday, he performed like a seasoned veteran.

He led all offensive players with four catches for 65 yards and a touchdown.

“St. Felix is a freshman we redshirted last year we knew that he had ability and for him to come out and make some plays,” coach Charlie Strong said. “He’s got some really strong hands and speed where he can get on top of the defenders and he can go up and catch the ball.”

St. Petersburg native Zion Roland, who was still enrolled in high school in December, complemented St. Felix’s offensive effort by catching

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Football

Atmosphere before Spring Game resembles game day at Ray Jay

By Josh Fiallo S P O R T S

E D I T O R

Though the number of fans, 3,452, who attended USF football’s Spring Game on Saturday were nearly a thousand less than last season’s game, 4,432, it didn’t feel like it.

The atmosphere, which began to really pick up two hours before kickoff in the streets surrounding Corbett Stadium, had the feel of a real game day, despite the mid-80degree weather and sun beating down.

Before the 2 p.m. kickoff, live music, food stands and family games were a part of a pre-game festival. In the Sun Dome’s parking lot, USF flags flew high above cars as fans tailgated and grilled food as if it were fall, not spring. Minutes

before kickoff, paratroopers trailed red smoke as they flew onto the field.

The ensuing national anthem was played by USF HOT Band.

“We got out at about 12:30, enjoyed some lunch and pregame corn hole,” said Will Davis, a 1999 alumnus who majored in elementary education and attended the game with his wife and four kids.

“We came out here because it’s at the stadium on campus. We love being here.”

Among the crowd were USF alumni, who graduated from USF as far back as 1963. Also in attendance were more recent graduates, such as former USF quarterback Quinton Flowers, who graduated in December.

“It feels good to be back just

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Baseball

USF takes series over No. 7 ECU with Saturday and Sunday wins

By Brian Hattab S T A F F

W R I T E R

USF avenged a Friday night rout and took two games of three against No. 7 ECU over the weekend after it won 5-4 Sunday in Greenville, North Carolina.

The Bulls struck first Sunday thanks to a first inning double by junior Chris Chatfield that drove in juniors Coco Montes and David Villar.

ECU (26-9, 5-4) came back to score three runs in the bottom of the third to take a 3-2 lead. The Pirates immediately surrendered the lead back to USF (21-13, 7-5) in the top of

the fourth thanks to runs by juniors J.D. Dutka and Garrett Zech.

A solo homer by Villar in the seventh inning gave the Bulls a tworun lead.

Junior Andrew Perez pitched the final two innings, allowing one run on three hits en route to his fifth save of the season.

Junior Alec Wisely picked up the win, allowing no runs in 2.2 innings in relief of starter Collin Sullivan.

Sullivan allowed four runs in 3.1 innings before being pulled for Wisely.

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FANS

Commentary

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knowing the legacy you left here,” Flowers said. “I talked to (quarterbacks) Chris Oladokun and (Brett) Kean before the game and just told them guys to strive for greatness.”

For Flowers, who wore a towel over his head on the sidelines to limit his exposure to fans, Saturday was his first USF football game he attended in street clothes.

“It’s kind of nice to just sit and watch as a fan with this atmosphere,” he said.

Like Flowers, Saturday was former USF men’s basketball forward Payton Banks’ first USF football game as a fan. Banks, who averaged 11.4 points per game in 2017-18, is still studying to earn his master’s in global sustainability and entrepreneurship from USF. “I’d love to play in this kind of environment,” Banks said.

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four passes for 41 yards.

“I thought he (Roland) looked really good,” Oladokun said. “It was really good to see him and his development over spring. You see him day one not knowing what to do, not knowing the plays, and then he comes out and makes catches, made some big plays.”

Defense shows it’s still steady for 2018 The Bulls lost defensive leaders

BASEBALL

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“I’m really proud of our guys this weekend and how they responded after Friday’s loss,” coach Billy Mohl said. “They did a great job of not letting the outside noise take away from the ultimate goal of winning a series. They were determined and brought real energy all weekend. It was a total team effort.”

USF won the second game of

For Larkin and other players, risking CTE isn’t worth it without play time

By Brian Hattab

Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Kwon Alexander watching the Spring Game from the sideline Saturday. ORACLE PHOTO/CHAVELI GUZMAN Current USF football players were happy with the atmosphere inside of Corbett Stadium, too.

“I loved it; the crowd was awesome,” Kean said. “It was good getting the band out here playing the whole time. The paratroopers coming in the beginning, it really pumped us up.”

Potentially adding extra motivation to USF linebackers was the presence of not only former USF linebacker Auggie Sanchez on the sideline, but the presence of Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ linebacker Kwon Alexander, too.

The game faced USF’s offense against its defense, with a specialized point system that awarded the offense points for things such as consecutive first downs and points to the defense for forcing an interception. USF’s offense edged out the defense for a 56-55 win. To the crowd, however, the result didn’t matter.

“I don’t even care who wins, is it like this every year?” Claire Embry, a USF volleyball player, said pregame. “I love how they closed the streets off for everything and that it’s on campus. It should always be like this.”

Auggie Sanchez, Deatrick Nichols and Deadrin Senat to graduation last season, but the new defense showed in the first half Saturday they were ready to build off last season’s success.

“Honestly, I feel like we can be better,” cornerback Mazzi Wilkins said. “I feel like we can be as good as we want to be. We have all the guys with potential.”

Leading the Bulls on defense was defensive end Josh Black who finished with two-and-a-half sacks and four total tackles.

“I think we brought tremendous pressure today,” Black said. “I think

we can be real good, we’ve just got to keep coming out here and pouring everything we’ve got into it.”

Black, a Tampa native, started playing as a linebacker when he came to USF. This season, he is listed as a defensive end. Making the switch, Black says, is easy.

“Truthfully, I just try to come out here and play the best I can if they have me at either linebacker or D-end,” Black said. “I’ve played D-end since I was in high school, so I’m more comfortable at D-end than as a linebacker.”

the series 13-1 behind a two-homer performance by Montes on Saturday.

USF’s lead remained in striking distance for ECU until the ninth inning. USF blew the game wide open, scoring six runs with two outs while only recording three hits in the inning. The scoring was capped off by Montes’ second homer of the game, scoring Zech and junior Tyler Dietrich in front of him.

Senior Peter Strzelecki pitched a

complete game, picking up his sixth win of the season while allowing one run on five hits. Strzelecki faced only five batters over the minimum.

ECU’s only win of the series was the opener, winning 15-2.

The series win is USF’s first series victory of the season against a ranked opponent.

Up next for USF is a midweek game against North Florida at home on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.

S T A F F

W R I T E R

Brooks Larkin’s retirement may go down as one of the more dramatic stories in USF athletics’ history.

The now-former USF offensive lineman announced his departure from both football and the Bulls specifically on Twitter on April 6, citing seemingly different reasons for each.

In his departure tweet, Larkin called USF offensive line coach, Matt Mattox, a “liar and a coward,” stating that Mattox “plays who he wants rather than the best player for the job.”

Larkin then called out USF football’s culture under Charlie Strong in a phone interview with The Oracle.

Larkin, however, didn’t necessarily have to quit football then and there.

But it’s hard to argue with one of the reasons he mentioned in a tweet — Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, otherwise known as CTE. Larkin’s reason might not be something most football fans like to hear, but also something most football fans should not be surprised by anymore. In Larkin’s own words, “increasing my risk of CTE is not worth it for me anymore.”

CTE is a degenerative brain disease commonly associated with repeated blows to the head. In a study released in 2017, 177 of 202 deceased football players whose brains were studied were found to have CTE. Larkin’s concerns over CTE are certainly justified. Some of the more extreme cases include suicides by NFL greats such as Junior Seau and Dave Duerson.

But perhaps the most extreme case of a CTE-related suicide involves someone who was only slightly older than Larkin, 22, is today.

Former New England Patriots

tight end Aaron Hernandez hung himself in prison last year. After Hernandez’s suicide, researchers at Boston University found that he had stage three out of a possible four stages of CTE. Hernandez, 27, had been in prison for the last five years of his life. He last played football for New England at age 23, one year older than Larkin is right now.

But even without the risk of homicidal behavior, the symptoms that come with CTE aren’t exactly fun.

Depression. Short-term memory loss.

Cognitive impairment.

Aggression.

Dementia-like symptoms are also commonly associated with CTE. And for Brooks Larkin, what’s the point of putting yourself at a higher risk for any of that — especially if your game-time playing time after three full seasons is limited to seven career games in relief?

According to Larkin, Mattox promised a split of first-team reps with redshirt sophomore Michael Wiggs in competition for the starting center job.

But that never happened according to Larkin and when Larkin tried to discuss the issue with Mattox.

Mattox never showed up.

“I actually heard Mattox’s voice in the hallway near his office,” Larkin told The Oracle. “He still never came in. I knew he was ignoring me. It just reassured me about everything I was doing.”

Maybe calling out coaches and teammates on Twitter isn’t the most professional-looking thing a player can do.

But if you’re banging your head repeatedly, day after day, and very likely crippling yourself at some point in the future, the least coaches could do is tell you your actual shot of making it semi-worth it.

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