Stampede Bonus: How did USF's new players play against... USF?
Someone's gotta ask the hard questions.
A fun thing I’ve noticed as I’ve worked on this series: in a strange quirk of the modern portal age, a number of the Bulls’ incoming transfers this year have previously played at AAC schools, or other schools that USF has played recently. That got me thinking: how did these players perform against USF when they went head to head in the past?
This brief exercise serves two purposes:
- As we struggle to project how an incoming transfer might perform against USF’s schedule, what better measuring stick than seeing how they performed against USF itself?
- idk I just think it’s neat :)
Anyway, here you go!
Gaston Moore, QB: Moore was on the UCF roster for the 2020 game against USF, but didn’t play.
Cartevious Norton, RB: Handled ten carries for Charlotte against USF last season, totaling 30 yards and two touchdowns, including the game’s opening score. He also caught one pass for nine yards.
Josh Celiscar, DT: Played against USF three (!!) times from 2020 - 2022 in the War on I-4 as a key member of the UCF defense. He had four tackles in 2020, four tackles (including a TFL) in 2021, and three tackles in 2022.
Wyatt Sullivan, TE: Saw action in each of FAU’s 2023 and 2024 games against the Bulls, but didn’t record any stats.
Jacob Merrifield, DT: Started for FAU against the Bulls in 2023 and made one tackle. He missed the 2024 game with an injury.
Dre Butler, DT: Like Norton, played in last year’s USF-Charlotte game as a member of the 49ers. He made two tackles.
Bonus: returning linemen Derek Bowman and Mike Lofton are the other two players on the Bulls’ roster who previously lined up on the other sideline. Bowman played briefly in mop-up duty and on special teams in Houston’s wins over USF in 2020 and 2022. Lofton appeared on special teams for UCF in their 2020 War on I-4 win, but didn’t appear in the 2021 game.