College football notes: Immokalee's Jaymon Thomas has a huge week for USF Bulls

Immokalee's Jaymon Thomas, a starting senior safety for South Florida, led the Bulls in tackles last Saturday and also had his name added to the NFF William V. Campbell Trophy watch list.

South Florida senior starting safety Jaymon Thomas had quite a big week.

An Immokalee grad, Thomas had a team-high 10 tackles — seven solo — to help lead USF (4-0) to a 20-13 home win against East Carolina on Sept. 22 in the Bulls' American Athletic Conference opener.

Thomas, whose 25 tackles are fourth on the team, also was named a semifinalist to the National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame William V. Campbell Trophy watch list. One of 179 semifinalists, Thomas will graduate in December with a 3.5 grade-point average in health sciences.

Some 12-14 finalists will be named on Oct. 31 and each of those will receive $18,000 in post-graduate scholarship money.

Thomas already was on the Wuerffel Trophy watch list, which recognizes the football player who best combines academic, athletics and community service accomplishments. Among many other things, Thomas is very active in the Boys and Girls Club of Tampa.

Football: Immokalee's Jaymon Thomas should be even bigger for USF

USF -- which also has Southwest Florida players Ryshene Bronson (Dunbar), Marlon Gonzalez (North Fort Myers), Brock Nichols (Barron Collier), Andrew Polk (South Fort Myers) and Jake Vivonetto (Gulf Coast) on its roster -- had a tough tussle with stubborn ECU before finally becoming the fastest FBS in-state team to notch 150 wins.

Florida's Gators did that in 258 games. The Bulls did it in 255.

It took a Jordan Cronkrite career-long 80-yard touchdown run with 10:13 remaining to get the Bulls past the Pirates.

But Thomas and the rest weren't too concerned with style points.

"Four-and-oh. That's all we ask for," Thomas said as he bumped knuckles with fans while leaving the field of Tampa Bay's Raymond James Stadium.

USF will play at UMass on Saturday.

Cole and rest of Knights on quite a roll

Riverdale's Cole Schneider, a starting offensive lineman for Central Florida, is smack-dab in the middle of one of college football's most interesting stories.

You probably remember that the Knights sailed to 13-0 last season and did a bit of tongue-in-cheek claiming of a national title.

Well, they're at it again.

UCF made it 4-0 with Saturday's 45-14 home beatdown of Pitt. That means UCF has won 17 straight which is the best streak in the nation. This is just the second time for UCF to start 4-0. Last season, the Knights got all of four votes in the Associated Press poll after such a beginning.

This season, the Knights are ranked 12th.

Ladies and gentleman, your 2016-17 Southwest Florida Sports Awards winners

UCF had its way with Pitt, dominating all aspects. Schneider and company shoved the Knights to a 31-7 halftime lead and cruised from there.

“From them defensively, they are going to make it tough to run the football," UCF first-year coach Josh Heupel said. "You got to win some one-on-ones on the outside. You got to be willing to stretch the field vertically. We did that. Hit some shots, missed a couple too.

"And certainly on the offensive side of the ball, I thought we handled the physicality of the run game very well.”

The massive Schneider (6-4, 312) has started three games, including against Pitt. He was a member of the UCF scout team last season and is a former All-Class 7A and News-Press first-teamer. He also was named the 2016-17 News-Press Male Athlete of the Year. 

UCF opens American Athletic Conference play at home against SMU in Spectrum Stadium this Saturday night.

Martin still startin'

Illinois is having a rough go of it, but true freshman defensive back Jartavius Martin of Lehigh Acres has made some big first impressions.

The 6-foot, 120-pounder who goes by Quan has 14 tackles -- 10 of them solo -- and is tied for sixth on the team lead for Illinois (2-2).

Martin is the second true freshman cornerback to start his first two games for the Fighting Illini since 1980 and the first since Vontae Davis did it in 2006. He also is one of only two true freshmen in the nation with multiple interceptions in the first three weeks of the season. He has two, and got his first in his first game, a home win against Kent State.

Martin had one tackle in last Friday night's 63-24 home loss against Penn State. 

Fort Myers' Dawson DeGroot also is a freshman defensive back for Illinois, and has four tackles in four games. He also blocked a punt that was returned for a touchdown on Sept. 9.

Illinois will play at Rutgers on Saturday.

Lehigh DB Martin happy with Illinois commitment