USF lands versatile DL Andrew Hines for 2025

South Florida coach Alex Golesh got a big surprise during the Bulls' second JR Day with the commitment of defensive lineman Andrew Hines. Hines landed his offer from South Florida on his visit on Saturday and committed just a few hours later after falling in love with the campus and the vibe in Tampa. Hines detailed his commitment to Bulls Insider and the way he surprised everyone around him with his quick decision.

“Big things are coming and this is all God’s plan,” Hines said of his decision.

USF defensive line coach Kevin Patrick was showing Hines around when he told him the Bulls intended to offer him a scholarship. That started a chain of events that ultimately had Hines standing in front of Golesh committing just a few hours later.

“I showed up for the JR Day and was there for 15 minutes looking at the indoor facility and talked to Coach KP and he told me they were going to offer me and they liked me a lot and I just felt electric when I was there. I can’t really describe it. During my photoshoot I was with Coach KP I told him I was committed and I’m ready to get to work and he was excited and then let’s not tell anyone else and let's tell coach Golesh and he was excited too," he said.

Fans might get to see the moment that Hines actually committed to USF because he captured it on his phone.

"I got on Coach Golesh on video when I committed, I was expecting and he delivered. It was good," he said.

Things just lined up for Hines who had zero intention of committing heading into the trip with just hopes for an offer from an in-state school and another program to compare his top 10 against.

"There are a lot of reasons why I like USF. It is coming up right now and the coaches made me feel at home. It was a short amount of time, maybe three hours before I committed, I had the offer for maybe three hours. Good people there and players. The coaches like the players and they care about what happens after college," he said.

After the decision was made, Hines went about informing everyone around him.

"My dad, he was ecstatic too and he really wanted me to take a little more time, but once I explained it was home and how connected I was with this coaching staff he was happy for him," he said. "My coach who was with me on the visit, it was our WR coach, he had no idea I was getting an offer, he was ecstatic about the offer and then I dropped it on both of them at the same time."

The relationship with Coach Patrick is also a big part of the commitment decision for Hines.

"Coach KP is the DT coach and what we do in the interior is different than the outside, being able to play the DE and DT position, it will be hard to pick what I want to do in college, he wants me to do both and hopefully in 3-4 years, I’ll be ready to declare for the draft," he said. "I’ll be enrolling mid-year for 2025 and my goal is to get there and they will make better in six months and hopefully I can contribute right away as a freshman."

Hines had a list of very legit FBS programs that he had narrowed down to a top ten and really even narrowed things further privately, but that all went out the window when he was with the USF staff on Saturday.

"I had my top 10 made before the visit to USF, In no order, it was really Pitt, App State, Notre Dame, Indiana, BC, Syracuse, Virginia Tech, Rutgers, Cincinnati, and honestly now I’m locked in and I’m a Bull," he said.

The whole process even shook Hines himself as he had his mind set on playing out of state from the jump.

"I hadn’t even considered any Florida schools until now, I really wanted to get away from everything here and start a new life. What everyone dreams of, I was leaning toward other schools until I showed up today. I realized today how important it is to stay close to family," he said.

As far as a fit goes, Hines will be a flexible piece for the USF defense once he gets to campus.

"I’m versatile and I like playing football, I’m a dominant 3-tech and I’m benching 400 pounds now and squatting close to 500 pounds, I’m stronger than anyone I’m going against but in college, I’ll have to adjust and probably be 3-tech," he said.

The rebuild of the lines of scrimmage has been a priority for Golesh and Hines will be another long-term piece with tremendous upside to build around for 2025.