USF Bulls' Matt Grothe and Ben Moffitt Are Cornerstones to Bull Football Success

During the USF Bull's Cinderella-story rise to college football top ten status, two stars have emerged. Linebacker Ben Moffitt and quarterback Matt Grothe are as talented as they are different but both bring unique backgrounds and motivations that contribute to their success.

Ben Moffitt - The Workhorse Of The USF Bull Defense: Bulls linebacker Ben Moffitt is known as a work horse of the Bulls' defense, with interceptions becoming his specialty. At 6-foot-2, 230 pounds this junior is anything but typical both off and on the field. Through high school and college football, Moffitt has always excelled athletically, academically and personally, in large part to his strong work ethic. Moffitt has cultivated his muscular frame over many years - not all of it on the football field. Since the age of 7, he's worked for his father's tree service - taking down and hauling away sometimes very large old southern trees.

In high school, Moffitt broke the state weightlifting record for his weight class in the clean-and jerk category when he lifted 330 pounds. He also managed to make all-state as a high school junior even though he missed the season's initial two games as he considered a commitment to the ministry.

Although Moffitt was courted by N.C. State, South Carolina and Florida, he couldn't bring himself to move far away from his home - rural Sumter - and his beloved family. Moffitt is a married father of two who commutes 110 daily miles to campus, maintains a full course load and a 2.5 grade point average. Moffitt and his wife of three years, Shauna met when he was a freshman in high school and later married when he was a senior. They are the parents of 5 year old Trevor and 3 year old Rylan. Moffitt's schedule sometimes requires that he leave his family prior to 6 a.m.. He typically doesn't arrive home until after practice at around 7 p.m. During winter workouts, he leaves as early as 3:30 a.m. and returns home as late as 7 a.m. after a road game.

But Moffitt will tell anyone the schedule and the hard work are all worth it, as football and family are the two great loves of his life and he clearly excels at both.

Matt Grothe: The Powerhouse Of The USF Bull Offense: Matt Grothe is currently the sophomore quarterback of the USF bulls. 6 feet tall and weighing in at 200 pounds, Matt is a Florida native who grew up in Lakeland and played for Lake Gibson High School, where he was a two-time state player of the year. Playing the position of quarterback for the entirely of his football career (which started in early childhood), Grothe grew up idolizing and hoping to emulate scrambling quarterbacks like Steve Young, Troy Aikman and Brett Favre.

Grothe was the most prolific freshman in the 2006 season, earning approximately 250 yards of total offense per game and contributing to 24 touchdowns. Grothe was the Big East's third leading passer in 2006 and is a big reason that the Bulls are making a run at a national title this year.

Although Grothe had no shortage of college offers when he graduated from Lake Gibson High School (one of which was to play defensive back at Penn State), Goethe chose USF because he wanted to be part of what he knew would be USF's football history.

Grothe is admittedly superstitions - repetitively wearing sweat bands up near his biceps during every game. He used to be obsessive about an Indianapolis Colts undershirt he wore during every game from 5th grade through his senior year of high school, but his Lake Gibson coach made him burn the shirt, so now he never wears an undershirt at all.

Grothe used to tape his left fingers, but he forgot to tape them before 2006's 37-20 win over North Carolina. So he's started a new practice of not taping his fingers at all and it certainly seems to be working for him.

By all accounts, Grothe is a humble, hard working young man, repeatedly stating he's just happy to be playing for a Division I team. Undoubtedly, he's not the only one.