Stampeding Through the 2025 USF Football Roster: #63 DL Josh Celiscar

I would like to get this out of the way for any confused readers: you have NOT gone back in time. There are not 63 days until USF plays football. There are only nine. USF recently started a new, wonderful tradition where one defensive lineman every year will wear Lee Roy Selmon’s #63 as a tribute to the former USF AD. Celiscar, who originally wore #8, is the first recipient of Selmon’s number. This is a great honor for Celiscar - who was chosen for his “integrity, leadership, athletic achievement, academic excellence and service to others” - and a great idea for a program tradition. It is NOT great, however, for your very tired Stampeding Through the Roster correspondent, who has to frantically change Celiscar’s entry and schedule it for a different day. I’m sending it out today, because we have a free afternoon slot today. Won’t somebody think of the Stampeding Through the Roster correspondents???

PLAYER: Josh Celiscar

POSITION: Defensive lineman

YEAR: Redshirt senior

HEIGHT/WEIGHT: 6'3", 292 lbs.

HOW DID HE GET HERE? Originally an attendee of Winter Park High School, Celiscar was a low-to-mid three star prospect and chose to play his college ball at UCF over offers from Virginia Tech and a handful of mid-major programs. Like a happy child at Disney World, he hit the ground running in Orlando and earned playing time out of the gate. In his first ever college game, against Georgia Tech in 2020, he forced a fumble, recovered a fumble, and grabbed an interception. Highlights are below (0:53 and 1:36), but fair warning that they will involve UCF doing good things.

His sophomore season was even better. He started 13 games, starting ten of them, and finished with 39 tackles, 7.5 TFLs and three sacks. From there on out, he become an absolutely critical member of the Knights’ defense, starting each of UCF’s 27 games in 2022 (in the AAC) and 2023 (in the Big 12) and serving as a team captain in both seasons. His most productive season was probably his last season in the AAC in 2022, when he set career highs in tackles (54) and TFLs (9), but he was a key part of the Knights’ defense for four years running.

Here, as a palette cleanser: at 1:36 below, you can see Celiscar make a nice play to force a fumble in the last AAC game he played in, which UCF decidedly did not do good things in.

Celiscar had an extra year of eligibility due to the COVID season in 2020, so he took advantage and entered the transfer portal after the season, eventually picking Texas A&M over Georgia Tech and Louisville. After a quiet season there, he was able to redshirt and preserve that last year of eligibility. He entered the portal again after the season and committed to USF in December, enrolling in time for the spring.

HOW WAS HIS 2024 SEASON? Stuck behind an absolute buzzsaw of a defensive line at Texas A&M, Celiscar didn’t see much playing time in 2024. He appeared in one game - a blowout vs. eternal USF enemy McNeese State - and racked up one tackle.

WHAT SHOULD WE EXPECT IN 2025? Celiscar is one of the easiest incoming transfers to get excited about. I expect him to play a huge role this season: he’s a proven AAC-level contributor who’s already being discussed as a leader on this defense. We got a glimpse of what he can do in the spring game - where he racked up 6 tackles, 2.5 TFLs, and two sacks - and he’s been mentioned as an impact player in fall camp as well. He already seemed like a great bet to be the Bulls’ day-one starter at defensive tackle before he received Lee Roy Selmon’s number. Now it seems like a lock.

That brings up another point: where exactly on the defensive line will Celiscar be playing this season? He played mostly defensive end at UCF and A&M, but he’s bulked up from 262 pounds to 292 this offseason, and early indications suggest he’ll see most of his time on the interior. That said, USF rotates pretty generously through different players and fronts on the defensive line, so I suspect we’ll be seeing Celiscar play on both the inside and outside, much like Decarius Hawthorne did last season. He should be a crucial piece for this defense.