TAMPA, Fla. – The demanding schedule of a two-sport college athlete?
USF’s Bryce Archie can tell you all about it. After all, the quarterback/pitcher spent last Friday morning scrimmaging on the gridiron before flying to Charlotte to meet up with the baseball team, which arrived a day earlier. Archie then started last Saturday’s game against the 49ers.
“I am pretty sure I have it down pat and organized,” he said of a schedule offering precious little wiggle room. “Right now, it is about trying to find ways that I can help my body with (proper diet) so that I can produce with not only football, but baseball.”
There have been many long days since spring football drills commenced March 5. Archie has often began his day practicing on the football field before walking across Elm Drive to USF Baseball Stadium for yet another practice. Then it is back to football mode with a 5 p.m. meeting before finally heading home to get some school work done and “try to get to sleep as early as possible for recovery.”
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The native of Powder Springs, Ga., about 20 miles northwest of Atlanta, arrived in Tampa last winter after transferring from Coastal Carolina. His connection at USF was football coach Alex Golesh, who recruited Archie when he was the co-offensive coordinator under Josh Heupel at UCF in 2020. Heupel left for Tennessee and brought Golesh with him to run the Volunteers’ offense, which he did for two years before taking the job at USF.
Archie, who had committed to UCF, looked elsewhere after Golesh left Orlando. He wound up at Coastal Carolina and spent his freshman year of 2022 with the Chanticleers before joining Golesh and the Bulls.
“That kind of made it easier,” he said of knowing Golesh and adjusting to his second college campus in as many years.
In his lone year at Coastal Carolina, Archie played in two football games under now-Liberty coach Jamey Chadwell, but did not play baseball. He did not play baseball at USF last year, either, as he spent his winter and spring assimilating to his new environs while focusing on football.
“Not playing baseball last year was kind of tough because I knew I could help the team,” he said. “After not playing baseball last year, it is kind of pushing me right now to show everybody what I can do playing both football and baseball.”
On the football field, Archie got into seven games (53 yards passing) as the primary back up to Bryum Brown last season. He then got ready for his first baseball season since his senior year at McEachern High School in Powder Springs. The desire to play both sports had the blessing of his coaches.
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“When he made the decision to come here, baseball was part of the conversation,” said Golesh. “We kind of made an agreement that his first spring would be football (only) and we would figure out the rest later. If he can help the baseball team win games, it certainly is a huge deal. I think (playing two sports) can only help his confidence and help him continue to grow.”
Baseball coach Billy Mohl admires the talent and determination of his righthanded pitcher, whose fastball has topped out at 96 mph.
“Work ethic is off the chart,” said Mohl, who recalls Tommy Eveld, a former USF quarterback/pitcher who was drafted in the ninth round by the Diamondbacks in 2016 and was in the Reds’ system as recently as last season before being released. “Playing two sports tells you a lot about him. With what he gives to football and then coming out here and giving us everything he’s got takes a special talent, a special individual.”
It was a special moment when Archie first took the mound for the Bulls against visiting Marist on February 25. He took over for Jack Cebert in the sixth inning and got the first batter he faced to ground out before fanning the next batter. He threw a scoreless inning in a 12-2 win over the Red Foxes.
“It was amazing,” recalled Archie, who studies the arm angles of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and admired Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray for his two-sport exploits while at Oklahoma. “Getting my first batter and my first strikeout of my college career was amazing. I have been trying to build from there.”
Archie, whose parents will be in town to celebrate his birthday April 27 while taking in the FAU series that weekend, has been building a wealth of knowledge when it comes to taking care of himself. The health sciences major may at some point become a trainer or a nurse. As such, he spends a lot of time hanging with the USF athletics training staff.
“I probably live in the training room and I am talking with them all of the time, picking their minds,” he said. “It’s been fun learning from them.”
It has been fun watching Archie develop as a two-sport athlete at USF.
“I was always told to go until somebody tells you to stop,” he said of his seemingly endless schedule. “That’s kind of what I am doing right now.”
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