USF Football: Who steps up at quarterback in 2018?

One of the gems of Charlie Strong’s 2018 recruiting class, Octavious Battle has fans and analysts alike expecting big things from him. Just not this season, probably.

Battle’s recruitment was a curious one. The Carver High (Atlanta) product was flying under the radar when USF extended a scholarship to him, as he’d only received offers from FCS schools and was unrated by most recruiting services. Once his commitment to USF got him on the radar of national scouts, he began to receive a bit of hype as a “sleeper” prospect. Though he ended up rated as a mid-three star recruit — and the highest-ranked quarterback prospect the Bulls have pulled in since Flowers — he never wound up receiving any major offers down the stretch.

Nonetheless, it’s easy to see why pundits like him. He’s got good size (6-foot-3, 180 pounds), a cannon for an arm, and is athletic enough to make plays on the ground. Given that he won’t be on campus until the fall, it would be a long shot for Battle to factor into the race for the starting job, and there are probably enough bodies in front of him that he’s destined for a redshirt season, even if the Bulls struggle at quarterback.

Still, Battle is considered by many to be the Bulls’ signal-caller of the future, and if things go sideways it wouldn’t be unprecedented for him to see snaps. Stranger things have happened.

Chances of being named the starter: <1 percent