Dorsey memorial

Plenty of somber feelings at Keely Dorsey's on-campus memorial at The Corral today. Dorsey, the 19-year-old running back who collapsed and died Jan. 17, will be laid to rest Saturday in Tallahassee at 1 p.m.

A few people spoke, most notably coach Jim Leavitt, defensive coordinator Wally Burnham and running backs coach Carl Franks. His father, Claude Terrell, also spoke, but out of all them, the most emotional was Burnham.

Burnham, probably the most known defensive coordinator in the state of Florida, was the USF coach that recruited Dorsey out of Lincoln High School in Tallahassee.

Burnham spoke about how they weren't even looking at Dorsey — didn't even know who he was until Burnham made a stop by Lincoln and Dorsey's coach showed him game tape of Dorsey.

The story goes they all fell in love with Dorsey, and that Dorsey, still a senior in high school, basically wanted to start at USF the day they offered him a chance to join the team.

Franks talked about how dedicated Dorsey was at his position, and how much he helped other players at other positions, such as the receivers.

It was a nice way to help people who can't go to Tallahassee on Saturday find a little closure. Surely the results of his autospy will do a little of that, but those are still a few weeks away.

The Corral had, in my opinion, more than 800 people in attendance, including every team from athletics and many people who made the trip down from Tallahassee.

I'll leave with one last thought, and it's the one senior linebacker Pat St. Louis put out there.

St. Louis said he never spent much time with Dorsey, that they just ran in different circles on the football team. He admitted that bothered him a little, but he still cared for him as a brother as the team has been referring to him. But he said to the crowd that think about the ones you love, tell them you love them, that way they know and will feel better that they know about that love.

It was touching. Especially when he demanded the whole football team rise from their seats. He told them to embrace each other, to tell each player how they felt, that way everyone knew.

I almost did the same thing.

— Mike Camunas

Dorsey updates

Yeah, I know, it's been some time since we've posted on here, but we'll try to get as much info that becomes available throughout the day on the death of freshman running back Keeley Dorsey.

First off, coach Jim Leavitt, who along with team chaplain David Lane flew to Tallahassee this morning to meet with Dorsey's family, has canceled the team's annual banquet Saturday as well as canceling all on-campus visits from potential recruits.

Secondly, Leavitt and Vice President of Student Affairs Jennifer Meningall are scheduled for a press conference at 4 today in front of the John and Grace Allen Adminstration Building.

I talked to Leavitt last night around 8 p.m. before he headed into a team meeting. Obviously, he sounded very distraught, but declined to add to his original statement he gave Wednesday night, which can be found in today's story on Dorsey at the Oracle's homepage (www.usforacle.com).

I'll have a few more details once I can talk to some more players, some of whom I reached last night, but were so emotional upset that they asked to wait to today to be interviewed on the record.

— Mike Camunas