Anyone have really good senior years? Anyone other than DayDay on flip watch? Anyone the staff is really excited about?
Who’s enrolling early?

Trying to get any convo outside of transfer QBs and NIL going.

I haven't been to a Boston Market in years. Anyway, they're all gone now. Seems like the last remaining locations closed. Apparently the quality had taken a nosedive based on a quick search of the Google Reviews of the Altamonte location.

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Had a busy weekend with holiday festivities. Can someone catch me up on everything that happened? Good or bad, doesn't seem like much...

Today is the final day allowed for visits prior to the dead period. It is believed Toledo QB Dequan Finn flew to Orlando last night immediately following his Baylor visit and was on campus today.

Finn also visited Wisconsin, but they've since added Miami QB Tyler Van Dyke.

Also, is Finn a definite take for Baylor or UCF? Baylor seems to be trying to get into the Maalik Murphy sweepstakes too. Could Arkansas QB KJ Jefferson be an option for UCF? Any other QBs not in the portal yet?

So, we'll see if anything happens with Finn in the next few days. He could potentially take additional visits in early January, but you'd think he'd want to make a decision before then.

Here's the Thursday night update on Finn:

Cliff's, because it's kind of confusing until you read the details:

New Mexico and New Mexico State have an intense rivalry.

NMSU won at a game at New Mexico in September. Following the game, somebody "leaked" video to an Albuquerque TV station of NMSU's QB Diego Pavia taking a leak on the UNM logo inside their indoor practice facility. Apparently, the video was old, maybe from last summer.

NMSU punished their QB.

NMSU was playing in the New Mexico Bowl, which is hosted inside UNM's stadium. Lost to Fresno State.

In the days leading up to the game, there was snow in ABQ and Fresno State was allowed to use UNM's IPF, but the UNM AD initially refused to let NMSU use their indoor. He eventually relented, but they hired four ABQ cops to watch the practice to make sure nobody else peed on the logo.

NMSU coach Jerry Kill was very upset and wants the UNM AD disciplined.

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Georgia Tech has had eight players available to talk since the bowl announcement. UCF has had zero. Maybe we'll get notification of something soon, but it doesn't look good considering tomorrow is the Cure Bowl on campus and I doubt they'll schedule something for Sunday. If so, UCF would probably be the only school in the country not to have interviews prior to leaving for the trip.

Anyway, I decided to watch GT's player interviews and edited this clip. Nothing all that significant in terms of comments though.

Let's take a look at the current state of the projected 2024 UCF roster in terms of scholarship numbers and biggest needs.

Schools can have 85 players on scholarship. There are no longer any sort of yearly signee or portal numbers to keep track of. Schools can drop half the roster and replace them with portal players if they want to (like Colorado last year). The only number that matters is the 85.

It's frankly been a very light day in terms of UCF portal entries (just three so far: Fred Davis, Drake Metcalf and Jordan McDonald). There will be more, especially from the players that have seen limited playing time. It's also possible some players wait until after the bowl game to go into the portal.

Update: WRs Jaylon Griffin and Tyler Griffin also entered the portal.

QB (4)

Timmy McClain
Xavier Williams
Dylan Rizk
Riley Trujillo*

UCF is definitely targeting a portal QB, possibly two if the right one enters. Top transfer target is Tyler Shough, though he's also considering Louisville. There are the Malachi Singleton (Arkansas) rumors, though he's not in the portal (yet). Could we see attrition from this current list to make room?

RB (6)

RJ Harvey
Johnny Richardson
Mark-Antony Richards
Demarkcus Bowman
Stacy Gage*
Frankie Arthur*

We await the decision of RJ and possibly JR and MAR. If RJ returns, does Johnny? Does MAR want to return for another season?

WR (12)

Javon Baker
Kobe Hudson
Xavier Townsend
Trent Whittemore
Chauncey Magwood
Jarrad Baker
Dionte Marks
Tyree Patterson
Jordyn Bridgewater*
Bredell Richardson*
Ric'Darious Farmer*
Kason Stokes*

With four WR commits, this returner list will certainly shrink. Only 3 WRs on this list saw significant playing time. Will Javon and/or Kobe return? UCF is recruiting portal WRs - they told one of them he could be a Javon Baker replacement but also acknowledged Javon hadn't made a decision yet.

Chauncey Magwood opted out to redshirt, but already used his free transfer and he's not yet a graduate. Is he staying at UCF? Everybody else didn't really make an impact though it's still early for a player like Tyree Patterson.

I kind of think guys like Jarrad Baker, Jaylon Griffin and Dionte Marks would move on. I've never heard anything about Tyler Griffin.

TE (3)

Randy Pittman Jr.
Grant Stevens
Kylan Fox*

There is a big need for an experienced portal TE. UCF was also recruiting Lane Wadle (HS). I hadn't heard much about Grant Stevens in his two years at UCF. I know he had some injury issues (shoulder). Kylan Fox seems to be entertaining a late offer from Mississippi State. That could be a concern.

OL (11)

Amari Kight
Marcellus Marshall
Adrian Medley
Caden Kitler
Paul Rubelt
Cameron Kinnie
Johnathan Cline
Keyon Cox
Patrick Barnett
Chase Malamala*
Waltclaire Flynn*

An experienced portal center is a need. Not sure UCF wants to bank on just Kitler vs. Flynn going into next season. Adrian Medley finally started to see playing time towards the end of the season, I had been wondering if he could seek more PT elsewhere. Maybe he feels like he can a primary starter next year.

Does UCF feel comfortable with Marcellus at guard or tackle? I would tend to think UCF looks for at least three portal OL, if not more.

DT (7)

Ricky Barber
Lee Hunter
John Walker
Matthew Alexander
Kervins Choute
Derrick LeBlanc
Andrew Rumph

If UCF can retain the top four players on this list, that would be remarkable. There are no current DT commits, though UCF is hosting a HS DT this upcoming weekend (Marcus Downs).

DE (7)

Josh Celiscar
Malachi Lawrence
KD McDaniel
Dallaz Corbitt
Jamaal Johnson
Isaiah Nixon
Kaven Call

I was expecting some attrition from this list, though we will see. UCF needs to replace Tre'Mon Morris-Brash's production. No commits, though UCF hopes to get one soon from HS DE Booker Pickett who visited over the weekend.

Outside of Malachi Lawrence (and Celiscar if he does stay), there's not much proven experience here. UCF definitely needs some portal help here.

Is Dallaz Corbitt coming back?

LB (8)

Rian Davis
Andrew Harris
Kam Moore
TJ Bullard
Troy Ford Jr.
Keenan Cupit
Qua Birdsong*
DJ McCormick*

The biggest portal need. Need to recruit multiple starter-level players.

UCF had high hopes for UGA transfer Rian Davis which did not materialize. Is he coming back? Does Andrew Harris and/or Kam Moore have the potential to be a Big 12 starter? As for Harris, could there be traction to reunite with his twin Michael one direction or the other (here or Maryland)?

S (6)

Demari Henderson
Nikai Martinez
Quadric Bullard
William Wells
Jashad Presley*
Jakob Gude*

Is Bullard coming back for another year? I think you need a portal safety for sure.

CB (10)

Corey Thornton
Ja'Cari Henderson
Brandon Adams
Braeden Marshall
Ja'Maric Morris
Jason Duclona
Jarvis Ware
Jaylen Heyward*
Christian Peterson*
Chasen Johnson*

I wouldn't be surprised to see one of these top-listed names hit the portal. I would think you look for some portal experience. What's the potential for Ja'Maric Morris? UCF signed him out of JUCO and then we never heard much about him. Is Jarvis Ware coming back? He's been injury prone his entire career - he missed the entire 2021 and 2023 seasons.

Specialists (4)

K Colton Boomer
K Grant Reddick
P Mitch McCarthy
LS Gage King

Will UCF continue to carry two kickers on scholarship?

Final Breakdown

The listed number of returners and commits is 78, though the working number is less.

There are several more players intending to hit the portal. I mentioned the two defensive starters last night. It's possible they wait until after the bowl game. There are also some NGE types that could look for playing time elsewhere or could be shown the door to make room for new players. There's also the question of RJ/Javon/Kobe.

It's possible I missed a former walk-on that's now on scholarship. I wasn't sure if Stephen Martin was or not.

Honestly, every position could see a portal addition. RB is sort of TBD though, a lot depends on RJ. If somehow UCF can keep the DT nucleus intact, that seems to be the deepest unit. Every other position could use some experience to compete for starting jobs and/or depth.

Bear (Down!)

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I saw this live...crazy!

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Getting some play time today

Whats yalls hobbies?

One of the players UCF offered last week is currently on a visit: Kansas State DE Nate Matlack.

Other offers include Colorado State, Pitt, Arkansas, Texas Tech and Texas State.

He was a backup at K-State this year, but saw plenty of reps during games. He finished with a season PFF grade of 58.0. His best game grade against FBS competition came against UCF (68.5). Matlack finished 2023 with 15 tackles, 4.0 sacks and 7.5 TFL.

Matlack did have a few starts in 2021 and 2022. Should have two years left. Originally from the Kansas City area.


D

Solid thread to follow today.

On another X post, “sock boy” has a 1.7 million NIL value.

Anyone have a line on finals tickets or ideas other than stub hub or Ticketmaster?

Do we expect some more transfers due to this? Baker, McClain?

Embeds aren’t showing up. If you click on it, it does take you to the actual tweet on the Twitter app

Who’s true blue and who’s a sellout?

I mean this in good fun. I’m just curious who still roots for the little guy.

It’s bowl season! Hopefully the XII will finish stronger this year.

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Looks wet and messy. First camera shot somehow gave away that App state players are holographic and not actually there. Pretty cool to have a bowl game in our home stadium. Go App State!

Is what CFB is about

FBS doin it wrong, such a shame