TAMPA, Fla. – Josh Celiscar might be the happiest man at USF this spring. A rough morning on the practice field? Well, how bad can it be when his wife, Sage-Lynae, and 11-month-old daughter, Nyellie, are waiting at home.
“I love my life right now,” said the Winter Haven native, who turns 23 in June. “I am really appreciative of my wife and my baby girl. She is the cutest thing ever. I really don’t have bad days.”
There were plenty of bad days for opposing quarterbacks and ball carriers during Celiscar’s four seasons (2020-23) at UCF, where the defensive lineman recorded 24.5 tackles for loss and seven sacks. It was his freshman season of 2020 when the seeds were planted for a transition 90 miles west in Tampa. Alex Golesh served as co-offensive coordinator and tight ends coach under Josh Heupel that year.
With the NCAA granting an extra year of eligibility to athletes who may or may not have competed during the pandemic, Celiscar sought to spend his fifth year elsewhere and entered the portal. Golesh called and lined up a meeting with defensive line coach Kevin Patrick. However, Celiscar desired to play in the SEC and transferred to Texas A&M for the 2024 season. He played in one game and maintained a final year of eligibility.
“I was happy to get the opportunity to play in the SEC,” he said, noting how becoming a father combined with the transition in College Station put him behind schedule last summer. “Once it didn’t go the way I planned, it was like, that’s how life goes. You have to take it with a grain of salt, move on and keep working as hard as you can.”
Celiscar, who checks in at 6-foot-3 and 292 pounds, 62 pounds heavier than his listed weight as a freshman at UCF, was back in the portal and received another call from Golesh. This time, he was on his way to USF.
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“He has been a breath of fresh air,” said the coach, in his third year at USF. “Among all the craziness in college football right now, he wanted to get closer to home. He is the same guy I remember as a freshman, just four years more mature.”
Celiscar, who is sixth in line among eight siblings – four brothers and three sisters — born to Haitian parents, said he does not know all of the details surrounding his father’s arrest while attempting to bring the family to the U.S. What he knows very well are the examples his parents provided.
“I know they worked so hard and that’s why I am working so hard now to get into the (NFL) because I want my parents to retire and not do anything,” said Celiscar, who is among the athletically gifted in his family. Oldest brother, Donald, was an All-MAC defensive back at Western Michigan under P.J. Fleck and is currently the defensive backs coach at UMass. A younger brother, Isaac, is a basketball player at Yale. The Bulldogs, ironically, lost to A&M in the first round of this year’s NCAA tourney.
Diligence in the classroom has long been second nature to Celiscar. He had several options while at Winter Haven High, including the Naval Academy, which was his first offer. He chose to remain close to home at UCF, got his bachelor’s degree in psychology and will begin a master’s program in the fall. Working with athletes in a sports psychology role is something he would like to do after hanging up his helmet and pads.
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“I know a lot of athletes who have been injured and they don’t know what to do after football, or whatever sport they played,” he said. “I can be the person to talk to them and advise them. That is something I feel like I can confidently do.”
As far as playing at USF after battling the Bulls in each of his first three years at UCF?
“I could not have imagined it,” he said. “When coach Golesh got here, that relationship we already had from UCF, he called me and we had a great conversation. It was easy for me. I am comfortable with him and the coaching staff.”
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