They are the last lines of defense — literally. They are fueled by enough swagger and mental toughness to withstand the weekly assault from modern college football's pass-happy attacks.
In USF's secondary rooms, there are 23 of them in all — a fleet of cornerbacks, safeties and nickel backs, a cavalcade of varying sizes, speeds, experience levels and temperaments.
There's an obvious common characteristic.
All 24 of them are from Florida high schools.
And that's not a coincidence.
"It brings a bunch of high-school pride because those guys are always talking about their high-school days, when they played against each other,'' said cornerbacks coach DeMarcus Van Dyke, a six-year NFL player and product of Miami's Monsignor Pace High School, who played at the University of Miami.