Immortal Bulls: Football Players And Coaches In The USF Athletic Hall Of Fame

It's hard for college sports Hall of Fame committees to add as many football players, coaches, and benefactors as pigskin fans would like. Recall that sports and "activities" are conflated by many universities. Champion bird watchers have been known to beat Charlie Ward in the HOF department, at least when it comes to each college's sports HOF and not a media creation.

USF inducts four candidates across all sports into its Hall of Fame each year. Just the seven football players and coaches listed below have made it into South Florida's college sports Hall of Fame.

A seminal name in the development of South Florida football, defensive back Anthony Henry still ranks fourth in USF history with 10 interceptions. In 1997, Henry was named to the I-AA All-Independent Team and received an All-Independent award.

Henry was the second-ever USF player to be selected in the NFL draft, taken 97th overall by the Cleveland Browns. Henry ranked first in the AFC as an NFL rookie and tied for the NFL lead with 10 interceptions. He spent four seasons with the Browns before signing as a free agent with Dallas in 2005. Playing four more seasons in Dallas, he spent his final season in the NFL in Detroit. Henry was the first football player to be inducted into the USF Athletic Hall of Fame in 2011.

USF's standout quarterback from 1999 to 2002, Marquel Blackwell carved out his place in the Hall of Fame and still holds several of the school's passing records. His passing yards-per-game average of 262.0 in 2001 remains unbeaten by any campus QB. Blackwell lands behind only Quinton Flowers with 67 career passing touchdowns. In 2002, Blackwell led the USF Bulls to their first nine-win season.

Blackwell went on to spend time with the New York Jets, then with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2004 following a brief stint with the Arena Football League's Tampa Bay Storm. Blackwell was named USF football's director of player development in 2013.

A prototype of the modern era's long, quick defensive end who can man a zone at linebacker, Selvie is the only two-time first-team All-American selection in program history (2007 and 2008). His 2007 honor was the first consensus selection ever for USF. Selvie was the third football player in Bulls history to be inducted into the USF Athletic Hall of Fame in 2019.

Named Big East Defensive Player of the Year in 2007, Selvie was also the Bill Willis Trophy winner and a finalist for the Ted Hendricks Award and Bronko Nagurski Trophy that same year.

Selvie helped lead USF to four bowl games. He netted 143 tackles in six seasons in the NFL.

Hailed as one of USF's most electrifying quarterbacks in their program's history, Quinton Flowers' highlight reels are still used as training tools for freshman signal-callers at South Florida. Flowers was named the American Athletic Conference Player of the Year in 2016. He earned two AAC All-Conference honors and led USF to a pair of bowl wins over Power-5 opponents.

Flowers went on to sign with the Cincinnati Bengals as an undrafted rookie in 2018, and also spent time with the Indianapolis Colts in 2019.

A truly beloved player in USF Bulls history, Matt Grothe was most recognized on campus by his mohawk, affectionately called the “GroHawk." Before suffering a career-ending injury in Game 3 of his senior season (2009), the QB was the all-time Big East conference leader in total offense with 10,875 yards. The record stood until Quinton Flowers broke it in 2017. Grothe was the Big East Rookie of the Year and Sporting News Freshman All-American honorable mention in 2006.

Grothe led USF to its first-ever bowl win in 2006. His induction in 2024 makes the signal-caller South Florida's most recent pigskin inductee into the school's Athletic Hall of Fame.

Being one of the first standout stars in USF's program history has its advantages. Mitchell set a bar for hard-nosed Bulls defenses from the LB position, setting a program career-tackles mark (367) that stood strong for 15 years, until Auggie Sanchez passed him in 2017. Mitchell helped the Bulls successfully transition from FCS to FBS football.

Chosen two times as a candidate for the Butkus Award for his NCAA career, Mitchell went on to play for the New York Giants, including in their win in Super Bowl XLII.

Hired in 1996, Jim Leavitt was the first head football coach in USF history. Leavitt did a masterful job of guiding South Florida football through its debut in 1997 and its transition to FBS after Y2K, building a winner so swiftly that he finished 13 campaigns with a 95-57 record. The South Florida Bulls appeared in a remarkable five straight bowl games with Leavitt's steady hand at the helm.

Leavitt's negotiations to bring South Florida into the Big East were a major achievement in getting USF into the big time. Leavitt was hired by the San Francisco 49ers as linebackers coach in 2011.

With two out of five of 2025's inductees coming from the football program, it may be a while before candidacies like Marquez Valdes-Scantling's have a chance to score with the USF faculty on a campus-wide sports Hall of Fame bid. However, take note that the migration of college football to the East is going to help all of Florida's programs, not just the teams in power conferences.

At some point, the Sunshine State will just be swarming with too many five-star recruits to go around. Be optimistic that in future decades, the athletes of USF football will get more chances to make history on the biggest stages, giving university officials no choice but to keep welcoming football alumni into their school's Hall of Fame.