Sarasota native is the Bulls’ fourth FBS First Team All-American, first since 2009
Leads the nation with three kickoff returns for touchdowns
TAMPA, DEC. 9, 2021 – USF sophomore Brian Battie (Sarasota) has been named to the 2021 Walter Camp All-America First Team as a kick returner following a record-setting season that saw the Bay area native lead the nation with three kickoff returns for touchdowns, tie an NCAA game record and break the Bulls’ season return average record.
Battie was also earlier named a first-team All-American by the Action Network and was a second-team selection on the CBS Sports/247 Sports team.
Battie becomes just the fourth USF player to earn FBS first-team All-America honors and the first since defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul earned first-team honors from Pro Football Weekly in 2009. Battie joins defensive end George Selvie, the Bulls’ first consensus first-team selection in 2007 and an AFCA first-team pick in 2008, cornerback Mike Jenkins, a 2007 AFCA first-team selection, and Pierre-Paul among the Bulls’ FBS first-team All-Americans.
The Walter Camp All-America team is the nation’s oldest, with 2021 marking the 132nd edition, and is voted on by collegiate football head coaches and communications directors. Battie joins Selvie – first team in 2007 and second team in 2008 – as just the second Bull recognized on the Walter Camp All-America team. The team is the first announced among five All-America teams used to formulate the NCAA’s annual consensus All-America team. Since 2002, the Walter Camp team and teams selected by the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) (announced Friday), Associated Press (Monday), The Sporting News (Tuesday) and American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) (Wednesday) have been the five designated selectors by the NCAA.
USF now has a total of six first-team All-Americans, as punter Tony Umholtz (1999) and kicker Bill Gramatica (1998) earned FCS All-America selections from the Associated Press and AFCA, respectively. A total of 13 Bulls have earned All-America recognition of some kind, with Battie becoming the first since kicker Marvin Kloss earned second-team honors from Athlon Sports and honorable mention from SI.com in 2013.
Battie is the second kick returner to earn All-America honors for USF. He broke the Bulls’ 18-year-old season kick return average record set by J.R. Reed in 2003 as Reed led the nation with a 31.7 average on 18 returns and earned honorable mention All-America honors from SI.com. Going into bowl season, Battie currently stands fourth nationally with a 33.9 yards per return average on 19 returns and could end the season higher as the three players ahead of him will all compete in bowl games.
Named the American Athletic Conference Special Teams Player of the Week twice on the 2021 season and second-team all-conference by Pro Football Focus, Battie had an NCAA record-tying performance vs. Houston with two 100-yard kickoff returns in the game. Battie dazzled the Raymond James Stadium crowd on homecoming as he joined Utah’s Reggie Dunn (vs. Cal in 2012) as the only two players in NCAA history to post two 100-yard kickoff returns in the same game, part of three touchdowns and 236 all-purpose yards for the 5-8 running back/kick returner in the game. Battie also scored on a 29-yard touchdown run and his 208 kickoff return yards in the game are second all-time at USF behind Terrence Horne’s 264 vs. Georgia Tech in 2018.
Battie posted a 100-yard return vs. Tulsa in Week 7 and finished the season with three, one behind Dunn’s NCAA record of four posted in the 2012 season. He joined Alabama’s Jameson Williams as the only players to post two touchdown returns in the same game this season. Williams doing so vs. Southern Mississippi.
Battie is the first USF player to post more than one 100-yard return on their career and he set USF season and career records by posting three touchdown returns on kickoffs. He joined fellow Bull Terrence Horne among just 27 players in NCAA history to post two returns for touchdowns in one game, Horne doing so in 2018 vs. Georgia Tech (98 & 97).
He also ran for 324 yards and one touchdown on the season while averaging 5.6 yards per carry and caught seven passes for 67 yards as he led the Bulls with 1,035 all-purpose yards (86.3 ypg).
USF’s special teams play under special teams coordinator Daniel Da Prato was strong in 2021.
Sophomore kicker Spencer Shrader, a Tampa native, was named a semifinalist for the 2021 Lou Groza Place-Kicker Award. Shrader, who earned first-team all-conference honors from Pro Football Focus, was the only representative from the American Athletic Conference among Groza semifinalists. Shrader went 11-of-13 on field goals and 35-of-35 on PAT on the year. His string of nine consecutive made field goals to start the year ranks fourth on the USF season charts, four behind 2013 Groza Award finalist Marvin Kloss and 2017 first-team All-AAC selection Emilio Nadelman. Shrader had five makes over 40 yards and a career-best 52 yarder, with misses coming from 51 and 48 yards. He also recorded 35 touchbacks on 57 kickoffs.
Sophomore punt returner Xavier Weaver (Orlando) averaged 12.9 yards on nine returns on the year to help the Bulls rank 18th nationally averaging 12.0 yards per return. Weaver, who was named a first-team all-conference wide receiver and second team punt returner by Pro Football Focus, would rank sixth nationally if he had more returns to qualify for the rankings.
ABOUT USF FOOTBALL
The USF football program first took the field in 1997 and celebrated its 25th season (22nd at the FBS level) in 2021. The Bulls have posted 15 winning seasons, earned 15 All-America selections and 31 first-team all-conference selections, and have seen 30 players selected in the NFL Draft. USF has made 10 bowl games appearances (going 6-4 in those games) and posted a program-record six straight appearances from 2005-2010. The Bulls most recently made four straight bowl appearances from 2015-18 and 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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