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As UCF stepped onto the field for its first practice of the spring football camp in early March, anticipation and uncertainty surrounded the team.
The Knights were undergoing a transformation and grappling with numerous unanswered questions.
With 40 new players joining the ranks and a completely revamped coaching staff, expectations were clouded by the unknown. Even coach Scott Frost was unsure.
Fast forward through five weeks and 15 rigorous practices, UCF concluded its spring camp on a sunny Saturday. It helped Frost paint a clearer picture of the team he would guide this upcoming season.
“There’s potential right now, but I see a lot of people getting better,” Frost said. “There are some guys who were here before that have surprised me. The staff did a good job evaluating many of the additions that we made, and those individuals showed up and were as good, or in some cases, even better than what we expected.
“We’ve got the makings of a really solid team, but we have a long way to go.”
Five things learned from this spring camp:
Players received a lot of information
From the very beginning, Frost and his staff have thrown a lot at the players in the classrooms and on the field — a move they believed would help them in the long run.
“It’s good and bad. We skipped over and flew over a lot of detail that we’re going to have to circle back and cover, but that was the plan,” said Frost. “Rather than to be simple and fine tune everything before we move on, we wanted to throw the majority of the playbook at them and let them at least have heard it and digested and understand what it means.
“Summer is going to be important for us. Fall camp will be really important for us to put the finishing touches on a lot of things.”
Health remains a significant concern
The Knights made it out of camp relatively healthy. However, the team will be without receiver Day Day Farmer and offensive guard Justin Roye after season-ending injuries in camp.
“As a coach, you’re happy when you don’t have a lot of season-ending injuries in spring,” said Frost.
Several players were limited, including edge rushers Malachi Lawrence and John Walker, who wore non-contact jerseys, as well as receivers Marcus Burke and Dwartney Wortham, offensive linemen Laparka Langston and Jakiah Leftwich and quarterback Cam Fancher.
No clear-cut QB has emerged
For the first time since 2020, UCF will enter a season without a No. 1 at quarterback.
Transfers Tayven Jackson and Fancher, along with returning player Jacurri Brown, have been competing for the starting position. The departure of Dylan Rizk has left the Knights somewhat short on options, but they are expected to add another quarterback.
“Throwing the whole playbook at them is probably toughest on the quarterbacks,” said Frost. “At times, we probably did them a disservice by throwing so much at them, and the detail wasn’t there. But I saw improvement by all the guys that are here, and I don’t think that is completely unveiled itself as to the order of those guys right now, but they’ve all done some good things.”
Major overhaul at linebacker once again awaits UCF
Transfer portal continues to loom
The spring transfer window opened Wednesday and it didn’t take long before several players entered it. Among those to transfer was Rizk, who started the final four games last season, offensive lineman Waltclaire Flynn Jr., linebacker DJ McCormick and defensive back Tre’Quon Fegans.
“The thing we can do to make sure that we try to retain our talent here is have an environment that they enjoy coming to, where they have people that they know care about them,” said Frost. “We’ve got some good men on this coaching staff that genuinely care about the guys and want what’s best for them and there’s a ton of opportunity here. If we have a place that kids enjoy coming, you don’t have as many that want to leave. I’m sure there’ll still be some movement, but for the most part, I think the guys are pretty happy.”
The Knights have needs at quarterback, running back, receiver and offensive line, but none so critical as special teams, which featured just three skill position players: kicker Grant Reddick and punters Michael Carter and Kevin Carrigan.
Expect leaders to emerge this summer
It was a conscious effort by Frost to avoid promoting players to leadership roles in spring camp.
“One of the big things on offense and defense that we need to identify as leadership at this point,” he said. “We’ve intentionally not elevated guys into leadership roles yet, until we were familiar with the guys. A team is powerful when leadership originates from within the locker room, rather than solely from the coaching staff.”
Frost pointed to safety Braeden Marshall, Lawrence and Walker as showing strong leadership despite being limited this spring.
“We’ll do some things coming off spring ball to help allow those guys to step into those type of roles and and then let the team decide who the best leaders are,” said Frost.
Please find me on X, Bluesky or Instagram @osmattmurschel. Email: [email protected]. Sign up for the Sentinel’s Knights Weekly newsletter for a roundup of all our UCF coverage.
Continue reading...
The Knights were undergoing a transformation and grappling with numerous unanswered questions.
With 40 new players joining the ranks and a completely revamped coaching staff, expectations were clouded by the unknown. Even coach Scott Frost was unsure.
Fast forward through five weeks and 15 rigorous practices, UCF concluded its spring camp on a sunny Saturday. It helped Frost paint a clearer picture of the team he would guide this upcoming season.
“There’s potential right now, but I see a lot of people getting better,” Frost said. “There are some guys who were here before that have surprised me. The staff did a good job evaluating many of the additions that we made, and those individuals showed up and were as good, or in some cases, even better than what we expected.
“We’ve got the makings of a really solid team, but we have a long way to go.”
Five things learned from this spring camp:
Players received a lot of information
From the very beginning, Frost and his staff have thrown a lot at the players in the classrooms and on the field — a move they believed would help them in the long run.
“It’s good and bad. We skipped over and flew over a lot of detail that we’re going to have to circle back and cover, but that was the plan,” said Frost. “Rather than to be simple and fine tune everything before we move on, we wanted to throw the majority of the playbook at them and let them at least have heard it and digested and understand what it means.
“Summer is going to be important for us. Fall camp will be really important for us to put the finishing touches on a lot of things.”
Health remains a significant concern
The Knights made it out of camp relatively healthy. However, the team will be without receiver Day Day Farmer and offensive guard Justin Roye after season-ending injuries in camp.
“As a coach, you’re happy when you don’t have a lot of season-ending injuries in spring,” said Frost.
Several players were limited, including edge rushers Malachi Lawrence and John Walker, who wore non-contact jerseys, as well as receivers Marcus Burke and Dwartney Wortham, offensive linemen Laparka Langston and Jakiah Leftwich and quarterback Cam Fancher.
No clear-cut QB has emerged
For the first time since 2020, UCF will enter a season without a No. 1 at quarterback.
Transfers Tayven Jackson and Fancher, along with returning player Jacurri Brown, have been competing for the starting position. The departure of Dylan Rizk has left the Knights somewhat short on options, but they are expected to add another quarterback.
“Throwing the whole playbook at them is probably toughest on the quarterbacks,” said Frost. “At times, we probably did them a disservice by throwing so much at them, and the detail wasn’t there. But I saw improvement by all the guys that are here, and I don’t think that is completely unveiled itself as to the order of those guys right now, but they’ve all done some good things.”
Major overhaul at linebacker once again awaits UCF
Transfer portal continues to loom
The spring transfer window opened Wednesday and it didn’t take long before several players entered it. Among those to transfer was Rizk, who started the final four games last season, offensive lineman Waltclaire Flynn Jr., linebacker DJ McCormick and defensive back Tre’Quon Fegans.
“The thing we can do to make sure that we try to retain our talent here is have an environment that they enjoy coming to, where they have people that they know care about them,” said Frost. “We’ve got some good men on this coaching staff that genuinely care about the guys and want what’s best for them and there’s a ton of opportunity here. If we have a place that kids enjoy coming, you don’t have as many that want to leave. I’m sure there’ll still be some movement, but for the most part, I think the guys are pretty happy.”
The Knights have needs at quarterback, running back, receiver and offensive line, but none so critical as special teams, which featured just three skill position players: kicker Grant Reddick and punters Michael Carter and Kevin Carrigan.
Expect leaders to emerge this summer
It was a conscious effort by Frost to avoid promoting players to leadership roles in spring camp.
“One of the big things on offense and defense that we need to identify as leadership at this point,” he said. “We’ve intentionally not elevated guys into leadership roles yet, until we were familiar with the guys. A team is powerful when leadership originates from within the locker room, rather than solely from the coaching staff.”
Frost pointed to safety Braeden Marshall, Lawrence and Walker as showing strong leadership despite being limited this spring.
“We’ll do some things coming off spring ball to help allow those guys to step into those type of roles and and then let the team decide who the best leaders are,” said Frost.
Please find me on X, Bluesky or Instagram @osmattmurschel. Email: [email protected]. Sign up for the Sentinel’s Knights Weekly newsletter for a roundup of all our UCF coverage.
Continue reading...
