By Scouting FIU: What USF Bulls Fans Need to Know About the Panthers
By Ken Filler | Tampa Bay Sports Journal
TAMPA — The Brian Hartline era at South Florida is about to become real.
After an offseason filled with changes, expectations, and plenty of talk about what the Bulls could become under Hartline, USF finally gets to line up against somebody wearing a different uniform Saturday night at Raymond James Stadium.
And the first opponent shouldn’t be dismissed.
Florida International comes to Tampa for the Sept. 5 season opener as a team that could be more dangerous than the FIU program Bulls fans remember.
The Panthers went 7-6 last season in Willie Simmons’ first year as head coach, reached their first bowl game since 2019, and finished the regular season with four consecutive victories. FIU averaged 28.5 points and 397 yards of offense per game.
So while USF should enter this game expecting to win, this isn’t a Saturday night where the Bulls can show up at Raymond James Stadium and expect FIU to cooperate.
Here is what Bulls fans should be watching.
FIU Has a New — and Very Big — Quarterback
The first thing that jumps out about FIU quarterback JJ Kohl is obvious. His size. He’s 6-foot-7 and 250 pounds.
Kohl transferred to FIU after playing at Appalachian State, where he threw for 1,465 yards and 12 touchdowns while completing 61.6 percent of his passes last season.
FIU brought him to Conference USA Kickoff as its offensive player representative, which says a lot about how the Panthers view their new quarterback.
For Josh Aldridge’s USF defense, Kohl presents an interesting first test.
At his size, bringing him down isn’t necessarily going to be a one-person job. USF has talked throughout the offseason about becoming faster and more physical defensively.
Saturday night we start finding out whether that has actually happened.
The Bulls need to get Kohl uncomfortable early.
Pressure him. Make him move. Change the picture after the snap.
Most importantly, don’t allow a new quarterback playing his first game in FIU’s offense to settle into an easy rhythm.
Don’t Sleep on FIU’s Running Game
This may be USF’s biggest concern.
FIU ran the football extremely well last season.
The Panthers averaged 181.6 rushing yards per game and 4.9 yards per carry while scoring 26 rushing touchdowns.
The 2,361 rushing yards were the second-most in program history, while the 4.9 yards per carry established a school record.
One of the biggest questions surrounding USF entering the season is whether the Bulls’ defense can become physical enough and fast enough.
FIU will give us an immediate answer.
If South Florida controls the line of scrimmage and forces the Panthers into second-and-long and third-and-long situations, Aldridge can turn loose his pressure packages.
If FIU is consistently getting four, five, or six yards on first down?
Now the Bulls have a problem.
This game could tell us quite a bit about USF’s defensive front before we even reach halftime.
FIU Has Players on Defense
This isn’t a faceless Conference USA defense.
Defensive lineman Kenton Simmons is one player Bulls fans should know before Saturday night.
Simmons finished last season with six sacks and eight tackles for loss and recorded at least one sack in four of FIU’s final five games.
He was named a preseason first-team All-Conference USA selection by both Athlon Sports and Phil Steele.
That makes him an immediate test for USF’s bigger offensive line.
We have spent much of August talking about Tim Beck’s desire to build a more physical Bulls offense.
Here’s the first opportunity to prove it.
FIU also has one of the better defensive backs USF will see early in the season.
Safety Shamir Sterlin finished 2025 with 65 tackles, two interceptions, and six pass breakups. He’s on the Jim Thorpe Award preseason watch list and has received multiple preseason All-CUSA honors.
Sterlin is exactly the type of defensive back Michael Van Buren can’t get careless against.
If Van Buren forces a throw over the middle or stares down a receiver, Sterlin can make him pay for it.
FIU Can Create Pressure
Here’s another number worth remembering.
31 sacks. That’s how many FIU recorded last season. The Panthers allowed only 24 themselves.
That makes the matchup between FIU’s defensive front and USF’s revamped offensive line one of the more interesting battles of the night.
South Florida has gotten substantially bigger up front, and Beck wants this offense to play with a physical edge.
USF needs to establish the running game, keep Van Buren clean, and make FIU’s defensive front defend the entire field.
If the Bulls can do that, their athletic advantage at the skill positions should begin to show.
The Biggest Thing USF Cannot Do
Let FIU hang around. That’s it.
Season openers can get strange.
A turnover. A busted coverage. A special-teams mistake. Suddenly you’re in the third quarter of a game everyone expected you to control, and the opponent starts believing it can win.
FIU already proved last season it knows how to finish games and seasons. The Panthers closed the regular season with four straight victories to reach seven wins and their first bowl appearance in six years.
What I Want to See From USF
Forget style points for a moment. I want to see South Florida control the line of scrimmage.
I want to see the Bulls tackle. I want to see Van Buren protect the football. I want to see USF run the ball when FIU knows the run is coming.
And when the Bulls get an opportunity to put the Panthers away, I want to see them do it.
This is the beginning of something new at USF.
New head coach. New quarterback. New offensive philosophy. New expectations.
We’ve spent months talking about Hartline’s vision for this program and the physical, tough, and fast football team he wants to build.
Saturday night, the talking stops.
FIU is better than its name might suggest, and the Panthers have enough returning talent to make South Florida uncomfortable if the Bulls aren’t ready to play.
That’s exactly why this is a good opener. USF shouldn’t be afraid of FIU. But the Bulls better respect them.
Because at 7 p.m. Saturday at Raymond James Stadium, the Brian Hartline era officially begins.
