Senior safety on Southern Miss's 2026 roster.
6′0″ · 205 lb · Hoschton, GA
CFB Index
A single number blending on-field production (an EPA-based value lane) with box-score output for this player's position.
0-100, scaled within each position's own cohort — not directly comparable across positions.
The story
4 safety on Southern Miss's 2025 roster.
Josh Battle
Moves between deep coverage and the slot. He got to Southern Miss by way of Chattanooga. The receipt: 7 tackles, 0.5 TFL against App State — Week 3, 2025.
Low coverage — composed from the verified record.
His career
Career arc
Season context · Team result + system
Where this defender ranks vs the field
Box-score production percentiles vs the position cohort
Concern: passes defended (18th percentile).
Percentiles are versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score production. There are no play-by-play efficiency bars here: CFBD's play-value model credits offensive players only, so no defensive EPA exists to rank.
Splits · Per-game
2025 season · 8 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home6g | 4.7 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
| Road2g | 3.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-76g | 5.0 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
| Weeks 8+2g | 2.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Blake Anderson
Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.
Player standing · 2025
Tackle volume for the position in rotation-piece range.
Recognition
Production · CFB Index Score
2026 outlook
Outside shot for All-Sun Belt
Based on 2025: #30 of 42 Sun Belt Ss
15% estimated, 95% confidence interval 13–17%. Base rate measured from players who finished at a comparable rank in their conference and came back the next season. It is an estimate from a small sample, not a forecast of this player.
| Season | Team | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Southern Miss | 34 | 18 | 1.5 | 1.0 | -- | -- | -- |
| Career | 34 | 18 | 1.5 | 1.0 | -- | -- | -- |
SIGNATURE GAME · Week 2 · 2025
W 38–20
1 TFL · 1 SACKS · 4 SOLO
With B. Braxton — 214 yds · 3 TD · 0 INT · QBR 43.5 · 20 rush yds (10 car) · J. Murley — 39 AVG · 2 IN 20 · 42 LONG
Game log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 8 games
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | L 17-34vs Mississippi State | 7 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 7 tackles |
| Wk 2 | W 38-20vs Jackson State | 6 | 4 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | W 38-22vs App State | 7 | 2 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | L 20-30@ Louisiana Tech | 5 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | W 42-25vs Jacksonville State | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 13 | L 35-42@ South Alabama | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 14 | L 18-28vs Troy | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Bowl | L 16-27vs Western Kentucky | 4 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 34 | 18 | 1.5 | 1.0 | — | 0 |
Play style
Moves between deep coverage and the slot — the modern positionless DB.
CFB Index positional classification
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
34 tackles. 0 passes defended. 0 interceptions. 1.5 TFL.
Counts only, never a rate — splash-event sample sizes this small (interceptions, pass breakups, TFL) are noise as a rate and signal only as a tally.
2026 Outlook
Southern Miss
2026 Depth chart
Projected starter
Safety · Southern Miss
Returning around him
2026 Award watch
No preseason watch lists yet (most drop June 15 – July 15)
Southern Miss · Last season: 7-6 · Talent rank #94 · 2026 recruiting class #108
Player DNA
Moves between deep coverage and the slot — the modern positionless DB.
His 2025 production profile sits closest to Houston Griffith’s 2022 season.
Matches Houston on
Differs from Houston on
Not enough data yet for this comparison.
As a senior, his production profile tracks closest to Wayne Jones's senior season at Charlotte (2023).
Matches Wayne on
24 more on the roster · Southern Miss team page