UCF put the formal wraps on spring practice with a partial scrimmage inside the Bounce House Friday night.
We saw one half of football, which featured the No. 1 offense vs. the No. 2 defense and vice versa. I'm not sure it was posted publicly, but UCF did produce a stat sheet which separated the No. 1 offense/defense with the Nauts and the No. 2 offense/defense with the Knights.
Here's a look at those numbers:
There's really no need in overanalyzing what we saw. Coaches have really dumbed down spring games in recent years. They never want to show too much, plus now you have portal paranoia on top of that. That's why UCF will never stream a spring game unless a TV network requires them to do so.
KJ Jefferson's accuracy and two interceptions obviously weren't great to see, but he was a 65 percent passer during his three seasons as starter at Arkansas facing SEC defenses. I think he'll be an upgrade from JRP at the QB position, though time will tell on that.
RB depth should be solid as long as the room stays intact. That will be a pretty stout three-headed monster between
RJ Harvey, Johnny Richardson and
Myles Montgomery.
UCF OL has three returning players with high-level starting experience (
Amari Kight, Marcellus Marshall, Adrian Medley). From all appearances,
Caden Kitler is growing into the center position. Gus raved about
Paul Rubelt's progress, though we'll see if he goes on to win the starting job (UCF also has
Wes Dorsey who has starting experience at OT).
UCF loses
Alec Holler and
Zach Marsh-Wojan at TE. Everybody seems excited about
Randy Pittman going into year two.
Evan Morris is a blocker and
Grant Stevens should contribute as well.
WR is still somewhat of a question mark to me, and that's assuming
Kobe Hudson is coming back. You've really just got Kobe and
Xavier Townsend who are established. In Kobe's absence this spring (he banged up his shoulder the first week), they rolled mostly with X,
Trent Whittemore, Jarrad Baker and Chauncey Magwood as their primary receivers.
Lots of rave reviews obviously for freshman WR
Bredell Richardson. He'll help the team, though it remains to be seen at what level being that he is just a freshman.
UCF has been recruiting Auburn WR transfer
Ja'Varrius Johnson. That seems like a really good pickup if they can close the deal.
Defensively, the incoming transfers clearly are making a difference in the back seven especially. LB
Ethan Barr, LB
Deshawn Pace and SCB
Ladarius Tennison should be starters. Heard lots of buzz about Barr in particular.
All the DTs return:
Ricky Barber, Lee Hunter, Matthew Alexander, John Walker.
Malachi Lawrence is poised for a great year at DE, though UCF will need big contributions from the likes of
Kaven Call, Jamaal Johnson, Isaiah Nixon and transfer
Daylan Dotson.
Ethan Barr and
Deshawn Pace look solid as the primary two LB starters. Pace says Roof has a plan for him, he will end up moving around (he played the "star" position at Cincinnati).
UCF has a lot of options at CB and safety. From the limited stuff that we got to see during spring, Roof/Addison were mixing and matching guys on the first team almost every other day.
During spring, we saw
Brandon Adams, JaCari Henderson, Chasen Johnson and
Antione Jackson all get first-team reps at CB.
At nickel, we saw plenty of
Braeden Marshall and
Ladarius Tennison.
At safety, it was a frequent rotation between
Nikai Martinez, Demari Henderson, Quadric Bullard, William Wells and
Bryon Threats. And even
Xavier Williams, the former QB. He was practicing with the first team in the week leading up to the spring game.
It will be interesting to see who emerges in starting roles, though I think UCF feels much more comfortable in some of their depth which really hasn't been the case the past couple years.
Kicking wise, I never got to see really any of that during our limited spring observations.
Colton Boomer was dealing with an ailment last season which did limit his performance.
In regards to potential portal needs, it's been said UCF would keep an eye out for WR, potentially DE depth and OL depth.
QB though is an interesting one. With the likelihood that
Timmy McClain enters the portal, KJ's backup will likely be
Dylan Rizk. Maybe that's not a bad thing for his sake in regards to development, but it's so difficult to keep an experienced backup on your roster.
Spring portal officially opens tomorrow, April 16. As it currently stands, I really do feel UCF can be a Big 12 contender. KJ obviously needs to put it all together and UCF's OL needs to prove it too (especially at center). There's only one way to go but up for this defense, but the multitude of experienced transfers along with an experienced DC makes me a believer.
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