Senior defensive tackle Josh Celiscar selected to wear No. 63 for the 2025 season
TAMPA, FLA., Aug. 11, 2025 – University of South Florida Football has announced a meaningful new tradition starting in the 2025 season in which the Bulls will honor the enduring legacy of Lee Roy Selmon by selecting a defensive lineman each season to wear his iconic No. 63. This distinction will be awarded to a student-athlete who embodies Selmon’s enduring values, including integrity, leadership, athletic achievement, academic excellence and service to others.
Senior defensive tackle Josh Celiscar has been chosen as the inaugural recipient of this honor for the 2025 season. Following Sunday’s practice, Celiscar was presented with the No. 63 jersey during a post-practice ceremony attended by Lee Roy’s widow, Claybra, and son, Lee Roy Selmon Jr., a former Bulls defensive tackle who played for USF from 1999 to 2004.
“This will be a great way to carry on the legacy of Lee Roy Selmon throughout our program,’’ USF Head Football Coach Alex Golesh said. “It’s a really neat deal for USF football. I think Josh is super fired up about it and really honored. Wearing that No. 63 will signify someone who has worked and shown a level of integrity, athletic ability and academic excellence, all the traits that I’ve heard about since I got here to USF that defined Lee Roy Selmon. The more you talk about Lee Roy Selmon, you understand all he cared about was service to others. He gave more of himself than he ever took from anybody else.”
Celiscar, who previously wore No. 8 at USF, joined the Bulls in the spring after transferring from Texas A&M. With 51 games of collegiate experience, he is expected to be an impactful presence on the defensive line this season. He arrived at USF with 156 career tackles, 24.5 tackles for loss and eight sacks on his career. Beyond his performance on the field, Celiscar quickly made a significant impact as a leader and mentor within the Bulls locker room.
“I’ve heard about Lee Roy Selmon on the field — and I know he was amazing there — but it’s more impressive to hear what he did in the community and how he helped the USF student-athletes,’’ Celiscar said. “I’m going to honor him by being myself every day, just being a leader and a solid person, and exemplifying his work ethic on the field. This is such an honor and I want to live up to Lee Roy Selmon’s name.’’
A revered figure in the Tampa Bay community, Selmon served USF Athletics for 19 years until his passing in 2011. He played a pivotal role in launching the USF football program, which debuted in 1997, and served as Director of Athletics from 2001 to 2004, helping guide the Bulls into the Big East Conference. The Lee Roy Selmon Athletics Center and Lee Roy Selmon Mentoring Institute, a program dedicated to preparing student-athletes for careers beyond sports, are named in his honor. They are lasting tributes to Selmon’s profound impact on USF student-athletes, staff, and the trajectory of Bulls athletics.
Selmon was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, College Football Hall of Fame, Academic All-America Hall of Fame and USF Athletic Hall of Fame, reflecting his extraordinary achievements both on and off the field. While at the University of Oklahoma, he was a two-time national champion, consensus All-American, GTE Academic All-American and recipient of both the Outland Trophy and Lombardi Trophy. Selected No. 1 overall in the 1976 NFL Draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Selmon went on to earn six Pro Bowl selections, was named the 1979 NFL Defensive Player of the Year, and helped transform the franchise, leading the team to three playoff appearances from 1979-82. His No. 63 jersey was retired by the franchise in 1986.
Selmon’s lasting impact on the Tampa Bay community is commemorated in part through the naming of the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway and a statue in downtown Tampa.
Up Next:
USF will hold the annual Kickoff Luncheon on Aug. 20 at Armature Works in downtown Tampa. The annual event will feature head coach Alex Golesh and the entire USF team and coaching staff. Public tickets are on sale now and can be purchased here.
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Deposits for new 2025 USF football season tickets are being accepted now and may be placed by calling 1-800-GoBulls or visiting this LINK.
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ABOUT USF FOOTBALL
The USF football program first took the field in 1997 and completed its 28th season in 2024 with its second-straight bowl victory in the Hawai’i Bowl. Head coach Alex Golesh posted a program-best six-game turnaround and a Boca Raton Bowl victory in his first season in 2023. USF completed construction on a new $22 million Indoor Performance Facility in 2023 and a $340-million on-campus stadium and football operations center broke ground in the fall of 2024 and is slated for completion by 2027. The Bulls have posted 17 winning seasons, earned 16 All-America selections (including two consensus selections, the last coming in 2021), as well as 33 first-team all-conference honorees. USF has had 30 players selected in the NFL Draft and the Bulls have made 12 bowl game appearances (going 8-4), posting a program-record six straight appearances from 2005-2010 and making four straight bowl appearances from 2015-18. USF 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 campaigns and reached as high as No. 2 in the Associated Press rankings during the 2007 season.
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