Four offensive players and one defender honored by conference coaches
TAMPA, FLA. NOV. 30, 2022– The USF football team saw five players honored on Wednesday for their performance during the 2022 season, with four Bulls’ offensive players and one defender earning all-conference honors from the American Athletic Conference coaches.
Sophomore kick returner Jimmy Horn Jr. (Sanford) earned first-team All-AAC honors after averaging 29.9 yards on seven returns and posting an 89-yard touchdown return in the Bulls’ season opener vs. BYU. Horn added 37 catches for 551 yards and three touchdowns receiving on the year and 95 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Sophomore running back Brian Battie (Sarasota) and junior wide receiver Xavier Weaver (Orlando) earned second-team All-AAC honors.
Battie ranked second in the AAC in rushing (98.8 ypg) and finished with 1,186 yards and eight touchdowns on the year, the sixth-best rushing season in program history. He tied a USF record with five-straight 100-yard games in the final five games of the season, part of seven 100-yard games on the year, and set a USF season record with 1,936 all-purpose yards, including 659 on kick returns and 91 receiving.
Weaver logged career-bests of 53 catches for 718 yards and six touchdowns on the year, marking the fifth-best season reception total and receiving yardage total in program history. He finished the year with 1,735 career yards, good for fourth all-time at USF, and 116 career receptions, good for sixth all-time. Weaver led the Bulls in receiving in seven games and logged three 100-yard receiving games on the year.
Senior center Brad Cecil (Jacksonville) and senior linebacker Dwayne Boyles (Miami) earned honorable-mention All-AAC honors
Cecil was named the first-ever recipient of USF’s Steve Walz Perseverance Award on Tuesday. He finished his career with 53 games played and 50 starts to rank tied for second all-time at USF in both categories. He started all 12 games on the season for the second-straight year and helped plow the way for Battie to become just the sixth USF player to post a 1,000-yard rushing season and USF to post seven games of 200 or more yards rushing and rank third in The American running for 197.92 yards per game.
Boyles posted a career-best 108 tackles, just the 13th player to log 100 tackles in a season at USF, and led the Bulls with 10 tackles for loss, three forced fumbles and two recovered fumbles to go with an interception and a sack. Boyles led USF in tackles in seven games and his 108 tackles rank ninth all-time in a season at USF. He increased his career tackle total to 315, placing him seventh all-time and just the eighth player in USF history to log 300 career tackles.
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 32 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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– #GoBulls –
