ORLANDO — Now is the time of year in college football where everything is going according to plan.
Spirits are high, energy is great in practice, even on muggy summer mornings, and teams are itching to get to the end of August to stack wins and bring home championships. That’s the story from sea to shining sea, including at UCF.
Gus Malzahn insists that lessons were learned and changes were made following the Knights’ often-dismal 6-7 debut campaign as Big 12 members. It was the first losing season he experienced as a college coach, including prior stops at Arkansas State and Auburn.
UCF football opens fall camp: 5 position battles to monitor before New Hampshire opener
“Excited, obviously, about this season. Three practices in, we’re off to a good start,” Malzahn told reporters during Thursday’s media day event. “Our motto is TNT — Tough and Together. It’s just that mental and physical tough edge that we’re trying to establish. And then together, we’ve got 40-some new players. Coming together with other guys and team bonding.
“So far, so good, but we’re just right in the early stages of developing those things.”
Perhaps the improvements made on the roster and changes within the coaching staff pay off for UCF over the next four months. The expanded College Football Playoff will award an automatic bid to the winner of the Big 12, and there’s no reason why UCF cannot be the team that rises to the occasion and grabs it.
In fact, here are three reasons to be optimistic about the Knights entering the 2024 season.
1. KJ Jefferson, RJ Harvey and the rest of UCF’s running game
Might as well cross the easiest reason off the list first.
UCF should be able to grind defenses down, control the clock and put plenty of points on the board thanks to possessing one of the deepest backfields in college football. The Knights ranked fourth in the Football Bowl Subdivision in rushing last season (228.2 yards per game) and have two of the eight leading individual rushers in the sport on the roster: fifth-year senior RJ Harvey and Peny Boone, who earned MAC Offensive Player of the Year honors at Toledo.
“It’s really a 1A/1B type of thing,” Boone said last week. “RJ is a real good guy, down-to-earth guy. He’s definitely helped me coming in and getting used to the team. He was one of the first guys that I got connected with and built a relationship with.
“With the state of this game, it’s not just one running back. You have like three or four running backs (per team) in the (NFL), and two of them are always ready to go. He gets me better, and I get him better. We’re two different backs, and run two different ways … RJ can sit and get lost in the hole, and you won’t find him. He’s got real good patience, and his cutting ability is right there. Me, it’s just coming off him downhill. Bigger back but still nimble enough to get up the field as well.”
And it’s not just that opposing defenders will have to contend with Harvey and Boone. Johnny Richardson and Myles Montgomery have home-run speed, Xavier Townsend thrived when called upon on end arounds and reverses last year and quarterback KJ Jefferson is a load to bring down at 6-foot-3 and 248 pounds.
Jefferson rushed for 1,876 yards and 21 touchdowns across five seasons at Arkansas.
2. Less travel, with 3 Pac-12 newcomers visiting Bounce House
No Power Five program traveled further in 2023 than UCF, logging 14,914 miles across its six road games. The Knights booked a non-conference trip to Boise State and drew three of their first four Big 12 games away from home — including visits to defending league champion Kansas State and nationally ranked Oklahoma.
While UCF gutted out a win over Boise at the buzzer, it sputtered to an 0-5 start in its new conference, salvaging bowl eligibility on the final day of the season. In Malzahn’s three seasons at the helm, UCF sports a 7-9 record on the road, including ugly performances at Navy and East Carolina near the end of its American Athletic Conference tenure.
The road opponents are not easier in 2024, per se, but the overall travel is far more forgiving. UCF’s five trips this upcoming season — to TCU, Florida, Iowa State, Arizona State and West Virginia — total 5,713 miles. None of the Knights’ conference foes checked in higher than sixth in the Big 12’s preseason media poll.
UCF instead gets the benefit of seven home games. Big 12 title contenders Utah and Arizona, as well as Colorado and BYU, will have to fly across multiple time zones to reach Orlando, and the Knights do not have to face Kansas State, Oklahoma State or Kansas — ranked second, third and fourth in the aforementioned poll.
If the Knights can take full advantage of home cooking, they could make a compelling charge — maybe even toward Arlington and the conference championship game.
3. A deeper, bigger, more experienced roster fortified through the portal
Depth was certain to be an issue for the Knights in their first year of the Big 12’s meat-grinder of a nine-game schedule. Quarterback John Rhys Plumlee missed most of UCF’s first three conference games, and it can be argued they might have fared better against Kansas State, Baylor and Kansas with him behind center.
Injuries told only part of the truth. The Knights were often smaller, less experienced and less disciplined than their opposition. Malzahn went so far as to say his team was “soft as butter” at times in 2023, pointing the finger at himself.
“We’re getting better, but we’re not there yet,” Malzahn said following Sunday’s first fall scrimmage. “It’s a process every single day, and we’ll keep doing that until we get there.”
On paper, UCF appears to have made significant acquisitions in the transfer portal to fix a defense ranked 122nd nationally against the run (194.3 ypg allowed) and 70th in third-down conversion rate (39.5%). Defensive captain Ethan Barr and Deshawn Pace are instant starters at the second level, while Ladarius Tennison, Bryon Threats and Sheldon Arnold are in the mix to start at safety. Mac McWilliams and Antione Jackson offer a blend of experience and youth at the outside cornerback spot, and Daylan Dotson and Nyjalik Kelly could bring extra heat off the edge.
Jefferson and Boone are the major additions on offense, but Jabari Brooks might be a plug-and-play interior starter on the line. Ja’Varrius Johnson and Jacoby Jones, who caught two TDs in Sunday’s scrimmage, will compete for reps at wide receiver.
Add to that a record-setting high school recruiting class, and UCF boasts a higher level of talent across the board than this time a year ago.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: UCF Knights football: 3 reasons for optimism entering 2024 season
