During an afternoon off the field, and joined by great company, the University of South Florida football team officially kicked off its season in front of crowd filled with supporters Wednesday.

“It takes fans support," Athletic Director Michael Kelly told Spectrum Sports 360's Katya Guillaume. "People want to know who’s in support of, and who’s making an investment in athletics, and I hope to continue to expect that USF will be a leader in that regard.”

Kelly shared his excitement for what’s ahead for athletic department, and the much-anticipated, new on-campus stadium.

“We’re excited about it," he said. "We’ve got a new season coming up, we’ve got the facilities under works for all of our program, but obviously the on-campus stadium is not only transformational just for the athletic department, but it’ll be important for the university as a whole.” 

He said he still expects the Bulls will kick off their 2026 season at the new field.

Meanwhile, on campus, head coach Jeff Scott is preparing for another season, and another new quarterback.

“Doesn’t matter if it’s high school, college, NFL," he said. "If you don’t have an experienced quarterback, it’s very very difficult to win games, and so for us, that was a difficult decision.” 

Scott recently announced Baylor transfer Gerry Bohanon's promotion to the starting quarterback position.

Bohanon beat out sophomore Timmy McClain for the position.

“At the end of the day, I felt like we had enough pieces coming back that if we can find that experienced player that had the ability to really lead our team to victory, that we needed to do that,” Scott said.

Bulls fans say they are excited to see how the team will perform with an experienced player at the offense's helm. 

USF kicks off the season with a home game against Brigham Young University on Sept. 3.