“Love the Direction the Program is Going”: Inside Liberty Christian RB Chase Garnett’s Commitment to USF
2025 Argyle Liberty Christian RB Chase Garnett committed to the University of South Florida on July 12, after an offseason packed full of all things recruiting. He had offers to play college football at 20 different schools, ranging from the Ivy League to the Big 12 to the Mountain West, eventually finding his home in the American Athletic Conference.
In addition to USF, Garnett took visits to Tulsa and Boise State, but ultimately decided he wanted to attend USF for the college years of his football career. When asked what drew him there, he said, “I really loved the area and the big market that Tampa is, and the direction the program is going…I can see they are building it up and investing [in the program]”. He also stated that head coach Alex Golesh and his coaching staff at USF played a huge part in him choosing their school. He said, “I like the experience our head coach has coming from Tennessee and winning at a high level; he knows what it takes to win…[he brought] a 1 win team the prior season all the way to 7-6 and a bowl game win in just year 1.” Garnett also stated that he became close with RB coach Micah James and GA coach Kumehnnu Gwilly. USF was also the third school to offer him, and it was clear that them being one of the schools that had recruited him for the longest meant a lot to him when deciding his commitment.
Garnett’s decision to commit before his senior season was so that he will be able to concentrate on the task ahead of his team: defending their state title. He said, “[I] decided to commit before the season to secure my spot at the next level so that during the season I can be focused on helping my team be successful and just getting better every day”. His team, Liberty Christian, won the TAPPS Division II state title last season, but moved up to Division I in this offseason’s realignment. Winning a second state title in a row will be a tall order for Liberty, as they have Parish Episcopal, winner of the past 5 TAPPS Division I state championships, standing in their way. But, Garnett thinks it is a task Liberty is well equipped for. He stated, “[My] mindset going into this season is just doing whatever we need to do to be successful…we have a great team but also lost a lot of talent, so I think just improving each day and taking it one game & one day at a time will get us to where we want to go.”
Liberty Christian will be a team to watch this year in TAPPS Division I, especially with newly committed USF RB Chase Garnett on their side.
