USF Football saw three players named to the 2025 Shrine Bowl 1000 Watchlist as the Bulls opened fall camp for the third season under head coach Alex Golesh.

Quarterback Byrum Brown, cornerback De'Shawn Rucker and linebacker Jhalyn Shuler all received recognition on the watchlist for the 2026 East-West Shrine Bowl that will be played on Jan. 27 at the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas.

The East–West Shrine Bowl is an annual postseason college football all-star game that has been played annually since 1925.

Brown returns from an injury-plagued 2024 season that saw him miss eight games. In 2023, he joined Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels as the only players in the nation to pass for more than 3,000 yards and run for more than 800. He also set 12 USF records, including the season passing yardage mark.

Rucker, a Tennessee transfer, saw his first action for the Bulls in 2024 and started 11 games. He finished with 42 tackles, 2.0 tackles for loss, seven quarterback hurries and a forced fumble.

Shuler led the Bulls in tackles in 2023 with 97 stops. After missing three games with injury in 2024, he finished third on the team with 61 tackles and added 7.0 tackles for loss, two interceptions and three forced fumbles.

The Bulls will open their third season under Golesh in a nationally televised game on ESPN on Thursday, Aug. 28, vs. Boise State. That game is set for a 5:30 p.m. kickoff at Raymond James Stadium.

USF, which is one of 15 programs to have won a bowl or playoff game in each of the last two seasons, returns 12 starters in 2025 (six on offense and six on defense). Brown, who passed for a program-record 3,292 yards and ran for 836 in 2023, returns after an injury-shortened 2024 season. The Bulls also return four starters on the offensive line and wide receiver Keshaun Singleton, who broke out mid-season in 2024, posting two 100-yard games and 408 receiving yards in the final seven games.

On defense, USF returns its top tacklers from both the 2023 and 2024 seasons in linebackers Mac Harris and Shuler. Harris led the team with 82 tackles and 12 tackles for loss in 2024, while Shuler logged a team-best 97 stops to go with 8.5 tackles for loss in 2023. Three starters also return in the secondary, led by safety Tavin Ward, who led the team with three interceptions and finished second with 62 tackles in 2024.