Stampede Bonus: 2025 USF Defensive Line Breakdown
The Bulls hit the portal hard in an attempt to improve an inconsistent and depleted defensive line. Will it work?
When we’ve finished profiling an entire unit, we’ll run through a final breakdown of that position group at large. We’ll touch on a quick overview of the group, then I’ll break it down by tiers as far as how I see playing time shaking out. Finally, I’ll pose one Big Question that I have about the unit approaching the season, and my general level of confidence.
If you missed any unit breakdowns, you can find them here:
The Overview:
Note: from left to right, the columns are player number, player name, specific position, eligibility, On3 consensus recruit rating out of high school (asterisk if the player transferred to USF), defensive FBS snaps in 2024, career FBS games (with 2024 games in parentheses), career FBS starts (with 2024 starts in parentheses), tackles, tackles for loss, sacks, and the school they played at in 2024, if different from USF.
The word that comes to mind here is “volume.” The Bulls lost three of their best defensive linemen last season in Doug Blue-Eli (Rutgers), Bernard Gooden (LSU), and Decarius Hawthorne (NFL). The only full-time starter who returns from last season is Rico Watson III at B-backer. Alex Golesh’s solution? Hit the transfer portal, hard. Before the spring, USF brought in three senior defensive line transfers (Josh Celiscar, Dre Butler, and Jacob Merrifield). Not quite satisfied yet, they added three more senior transfers to the mix after the spring (Devin Lee, Traevon Mitchell, and Dennard Flowers). It’s a huge infusion of experience to a depleted group that candidly was not exactly lighting the world on fire in 2024.
I wouldn’t say it’s at the level of the sheer numbers on the offensive line this season, but this unit isn’t lacking for dudes. Eight players here have started at the FBS level before, and seven have appeared in 20+ career FBS games (and that doesn’t count Traevon Mitchell, who has played extensively in DII). You get the impression that the Bulls are planning to rotate quite a bit and play two or three deep at each position.
Having lots of dudes is definitely a plus, but you also need some of those dudes to be difference makers. The jury is still out, there.
The Prospectus:
I see this absolute smorgasbord of dudes breaking down into roughly five tiers, as follows:
Tier 1: Josh Celiscar, Rico Watson III, Devin Lee, and Michael Williams II
This is my presumed group of starters - Celiscar at defensive tackle, Watson at B-backer, Lee at nose tackle, and Williams at defensive end - but I should add that I expect heavy rotation to the point that the term “starters” can be used loosely here. Nonetheless, this is a group that I feel strongly will be seeing a lot of playing time this season.
Watson is the sole returning starter from last year’s defensive line, and unless a young player like Ira Singleton makes a big leap, he’ll likely reprise that role. He was productive - six TFLs and 2.5 sacks - but I’d like to see a bit more havoc from USF’s main edge rusher position this year. Perhaps Watson can be the man to bring it.
Celiscar is the player I feel most confident about as far as playing time goes. He’s got loads of experience from his UCF days, and while his 2024 season at Texas A&M didn’t really pan out, he hit the ground running in Tampa in the spring and has impressed to the point where he was awarded Lee Roy Selmon’s #63 in a new tradition. He’s one of two players here that USF will be counting on to regain their 2023 form, as Devin Lee was a starter at Vanderbilt before redshirting last season. I suspect Celiscar and Lee will get the first crack at anchoring the interior of the line. Williams, on the other hand, has seen his playing time slowly tick up in his three years with the Bulls and has been mentioned as a leader and potential starter throughout the offseason.
Tier 2: D.J. Harris, Dre Butler, and Jacob Merrifield
I don’t expect the players in this tier to be day-one starters, but they’re all very experienced rotational players. Harris has been part of the rotation at B-backer for two seasons now. Butler and Merrifield are potential plug-and-play guys in the interior; they both were reasonably productive at the AAC level at Charlotte and FAU, respectively.
Tier 3: Dinnellson Exume, Jahari Grant, Traevon Mitchell, Dennard Flowers, Ira Singleton IV, and Ryan Jenkins
This tier is a combination of young players who I’m pretty excited about (Exume, Grant, Singleton, and Jenkins), and transfers whose 2025 role is a bit more of a mystery (Mitchell and Flowers). I suspect that we’ll see at least one of the sophomores here take a big leap and end up playing starter-level snaps; as it stands, the four of them form a promising future unit with Exume at DT, Grant at NT, Singleton at BB, and Jenkins at DE.
Mitchell (Division II West Florida) and Flowers (FCS Murray State) were both productive at lower levels of play, but it’s difficult to project huge roles for them when there’s a wave of more proven transfers in front of them. I think both will see playing time, though.
Tier 4: Levi Smiley, Ashton Mosley, Eli Jones, and Brooks Williams
The players here may still be a ways away from seeing significant playing time. Smiley and Mosley played sparingly as true freshmen last season. Jones and Williams are incoming freshmen at defensive end, but I’ve elevated them a tier since they enrolled early and earned some shoutouts from Alex Golesh during the spring.
Tier 5: Richard Scott III and Marcus Williams
Both Scott and Williams are exciting prospects, but as true freshmen and fall enrollees, I don’t expect them to see too much of the field this season.
The Big Question: Does throwing dudes at a problem solve the problem?
“Problem” might be a strong word here - USF’s defense was decent against the run last season, and their havoc numbers weren’t awful, though a lot of that pass rush came from the linebackers and defensive backs. But the defensive line couldn’t get a lot of pressure against good teams, and that contributed to the Bulls getting absolutely gashed through the air in big games. To wit: against Miami, Tulane, and Memphis, the Bulls put up a combined one sack and two quarterback hurries. Yeesh!
Combine that underwhelming performance with the departures of Blue-Eli, Gooden, and Hawthorne, and you have some reason to be nervous. I appreciate that USF hit the portal hard here, and I like that they’ve brought in a ton of experience, but the unit does feel very short on all-conference level talent. Perhaps Celiscar or Lee could fill that void, but it’s a bet on both players rediscovering their level in the American, which is certainly not a sure thing. Butler and Merrifield are proven rotational players in this conference, which is excellent, but neither has been a high-level starter. The major returners from last season - Watson, Williams, and Harris - combined for 6.5 sacks. Perhaps they, or some of the promising sophomores - Exume, Grant, Singleton, or Jenkins - can take a big leap.
There’s no shortage of potential options, clearly. And I suspect that this group is going to be able to get the job done against the lower tiers of the conference. But I would argue that the path to this being a good mid-major unit - rather than merely a fair or serviceable one - will involve a few players hitting a level they haven’t hit to date in their careers. That’s doable, but not something you can necessarily bank on.