James Rowe's first love was always football — even though he played baseball at USF as a left-handed pitcher from 2005-07.
One of his roommates was Bulls defensive back Danny Verpaele and sometimes Rowe tagged along to hang out with USF defensive coordinator Wally Burnham, who drew up plays and talked defensive philosophy with the young baseball player interested in learning more about football.
"We got to sit down and learn football from an old-school coach like that,'' Rowe said. "That's big-time, letting a baseball player come in and talk football. It was pretty cool.