Senior center recipient of new award named for longtime USF Director of Sports Medicine
TAMPA, FLA. NOV. 29, 2022– Senior center Brad Cecil (Jacksonville) has been named the first-ever recipient of the Steve Walz Perseverance Award honoring a USF football player that has dedicated themselves to rehabilitation to return to competition after suffering a significant injury.
Cecil finished his career with 53 games played and 50 starts to rank tied for second all-time at USF in both categories. Cecil suffered a shoulder injury late in the 2021 season but continued to play, starting all 12 games before undergoing surgery following the conclusion of the season. After great work in rehabilitation to get back on the field, he went on to start all 12 games in 2022 despite suffering numerous other injuries, including a painful abdominal injury in Game 6 that forced him to leave that game. He returned to start the next week vs. Tulane and started the remaining six games on the season as he helped plow the way for Brian Battie to become just the sixth USF player to post a 1,000-yard rushing season.
Battie, who ranked second in the AAC in rushing, finished with 1,186 yards on the year, the sixth-best season in program history, while tying a USF record with five-straight 100-yard games in the final five games. Cecil also blocked for the previous Bull to accomplish both feats, Jordan Cronkrite in 2018.
The Steve Walz Perseverance Award was created and awarded by USF Sports Medicine starting in 2022 to recognize football student-athletes who attack rehabilitation with great attitude and effort after suffering a serious injury and return to compete with their team.
Walz, USF’s Associate Athletics Director/Director of Sports Medicine, was honored earlier this year with his induction into the Athletic Trainers’ Association of Florida (ATAF) Hall of Fame and was previously recognized as the 2006 ATAF Most Distinguished Athletic Trainer of the Year.
Walz has served at South Florida for over 25 years and has oversight of sports medicine for the entire athletic department for over 20 years. Walz oversees all day-to-day aspects of healthcare for nearly 450 student-athletes at USF.
In 1996, Walz became the first football athletic trainer in USF history when the program began. He continues to directly assist with coverage of the football program and the men’s golf program along with his duties as Director of Sports Medicine.
Walz, a fixture in USF Sports Medicine, has served on the executive board of the Athletic Trainers Association of Florida, president and co-founder of the Big East Sports Medicine Society, president of the American Athletic Conference Sports Medicine Society, and is currently the coordinator of the annual AAC Sports Medicine Symposium since 2012. Walz was named the USF Outstanding Employee in 2004, 2013 and 2020.
ABOUT USF FOOTBALL
The USF football program first took the field in 1997 and completed its 26th season in 2022 while completing construction on a new $22 million Indoor Performance Facility. The Bulls have posted 15 winning seasons, earned 16 All-America selections, including 2021 consensus All-American kick returner Brian Battie, and had 31 first-team all-conference selections. USF has had 30 players selected in the NFL Draft and has made 10 bowl game appearances (going 6-4 in those games), posting a program-record six straight appearances from 2005-2010 and most recently making four straight bowl appearances from 2015-18. The Bulls posted back-to-back 10-win seasons in 2016 and 2017, logging a program-record 11-2 mark in 2016 while finishing both seasons ranked in the Top 25. USF spent a program-record 20 straight weeks ranked in the Top 25 during the 2016 and 2017 seasons and reached as high as No. 2 in the national rankings during the 2007 season.
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