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***UCF hosting second weekend of official visits***

UCF is welcoming another group of official visitors to campus this weekend. This will be a smaller contingent compared to the first weekend, but still important targets as the Knights look to continue to build their 2023 recruiting class.

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UCF has had their eye on Hollywood (Fla.) Chaminade Madonna offensive tackle Elvin Harris since last season and a recent spring recruiting visit from offensive line coach Herb Hand elevated the 6-foot-6, 320-pound tackle into a top target. He was offered in early May and a few days later he booked his official visit for this weekend. He is a teammate of UCF's 2022 signee Jamaal Johnson. Harris' other offers include Syracuse, FAU, Bowling Green, UCF, Akron and Tulane.

I caught up with Elvin in this recent interview.

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Like Elvin Harris, Phenix City (Ala.) offensive tackle Keyon Cox also picked up his UCF offer in May. The Knights were the ninth school to do so, joining a group that includes Mississippi State, UAB, Troy Liberty, Arkansas State, Syracuse and Southern Miss. Cox recently camped at Florida State and visited MSU, UAB and Troy earlier this spring.

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Lakeland wide receiver Daidren Zipperer had hoped to visit last Saturday for Bounce House Weekend, but due to other plans he had to move up his unofficial visit to the day before on Friday, June 3. It was during that trip plans were set to have him come back this weekend for his official visit. He also plans to take officials to Pittsburgh (June 16) and BYU (June 24) later this month.

Check out this recent interview I had with Daidren.

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DeeJay Holmes visited UCF in January for "Hometown Hero" and that's when the Pahokee defensive end was offered. As a junior, Holmes was named the Sun-Sentinel's Defensive Player of the Year and Palm Beach County Defensive Player of the Year, finishing with 92 tackles, 25.5 tackles for loss and a whopping 19.5 sacks.

He is building a lengthy offer sheet from schools such as Indiana, FAU, Boston College, Pitt, Purdue, South Florida, Louisville, Wake Forest, Syracuse, Marshall, West Virginia, Penn State, Kentucky, Maryland, Georgia Tech, ECU and Ole Miss.

Holmes visited Pittsburgh last weekend and is scheduled to see Syracuse later in the month.

***Coaching Search Update ⚾

I actually didn't realize this when I posted on Tuesday night, but earlier this week Greg Lovelady's name was mentioned in conjunction with the Ohio State job on the paywall side of D1Baseball.com:

"The OSU search continues with UCF’s Greg Lovelady, Campbell’s Justin Haire, Cincinnati’s Scott Googins, Central Michigan’s Jordan Bischel and Louisville’s Eric Snider still in the mix. Don’t be surprised, too, if some new candidates emerge at OSU. Two more names to file away at Ohio State include TCU assistant Bill Mosiello and Texas Tech assistant J-Bob Thomas."

Is there a reason Lovelady was listed first? Interesting.

Thanks to @ucferic8 for the heads up on this.

I received a copy of Greg Lovelady's most recent contract, which was updated in 2020 and runs through the 2025 season. His annual salary is set at $250,000 per year.

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The most interesting thing though pertains to the buyout:

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Read that final line:

"In the event Employee terminates this agreement to return to the state of Ohio, then UCFAA shall waive the amount owed by Employee to UCFAA for terminating the agreement."

We knew Lovelady had ties to Ohio from his decade-plus at Wright State, and I believe his wife is also from the area. So it's interesting that he had it written into his contract that he could return to Ohio without any buyout on his part. And what college baseball job in the state of Ohio could be viewed as on par or "better" than UCF? There's only one, IMO: Ohio State. Maybe he had other reasons, but I wonder if Lovelady has always had his eye on the Buckeye job.

Interesting there wasn't such a clause about leaving for Miami, but I'm guessing maybe Danny White wouldn't have agreed to that given the optics of UM being an in-state school. The contract is relatively small though, compared to what we see with football contracts, so that wouldn't have been much of an issue if Miami were interested at some point of hiring him away.

And here's the bonus structure, if interested:

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OT: Scanners

I have thousands of pictures, negatives, slides and even APS cartridges. When I say thousands I mean thousands! Closets full! I want to scan them. One at a time is not an option I need a scanner that I can put a stack of slides and let it go, or a strip of negatives etc. Anybody have any recommendations? The APS might be the hardest to find. I might have to send those some where or just scan the pictures.

One of the challenging home games - SMU


Definitely will have our hands full against this offense. With a good defensive rush and a more potent offense
we can put this game in the win category for us.

This will be our last game regularly scheduled in AAC against them.

What do you think our win/loss record is?

***Video: UCF AD Terry Mohajir talks 2023 Big 12 transition (full presser + clips) 📹

Full 30-minute press conference:

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CLIPS

UCF, Cincinnati and Houston negotiated an $18M buyout from the American to be paid over 14 years. The first $10M must be paid by 2025 with the additional $8M owed over the following 12-year period. In 2019, UConn paid a $17M buyout with a much shorter notification. Is the $18 AAC buyout fair?

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With UCF joining the Big 12 in 2023, when will fans know who is on the first schedule?

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It appears Texas and Oklahoma will remain in the Big 12 for 2023 and possibly through 2024. If that's the case, what are the chances UCF plays Texas or Oklahoma those years, or will the legacy Big 12 schools want to maintain those matchups?

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UCF AD Terry Mohajir, who is from the Kansas City area and grew up a fan of the Big Eight (the conference that merged with the Southwest to form the original Big 12), spoke about his appreciation for the Big 12, particularly the basketball tourney. He said he was asked about playing the basketball tourney in Orlando, but would have a hard time voting to take it out of KC.

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How you can help UCF athletes succeed in NIL (Free edition)

I’ve gotten quite a few questions on this topic. “Besides contributing to Mission Control, how can I make sure these kids succeed over other schools?”

it’s simple, we are bringing corporate deals to these kids, and corporations are looking for interaction on social media. “Like” posts, comment on tweets or posts, click affiliate links, etc. brands are gauging activity and measuring engagement between athletes. Clients are rebooking the most successful athlete influencers in the space. Make sure to show love to these kids and the brands backing them.

Big 12 for the 23-24 academic year?

Still hope that we join next year.

"A source close to the AAC told FanDuel that conversations are ongoing with the exit fees for Houston, Cincinnati, and UCF....A separate source told FanDuel that the Big 12 is already having preliminary scheduling discussions regarding that possibility."

We could play Texas and Oklahoma for 2 years until they join the SEC in 2025.


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Attire

For the last 2 weeks I have warn a UCF shirt everyday. Collared shirts at work T-Shirts at home. I vow to ware only UCF shirts for the rest of the season. This morning my wife had to go to the Airport to fly up to Toronto to visit family and friends, I notice she is wearing a UCF shirt as well and she never went to UCF (she does not own a Barry shirt; where she got both her BS and MS from).

So I know everybody on this board probably has enough UCF swag to wear a different UCF shirt everyday of the week. My challenge to the board is who else can make it happen. I will say my co-workers have asked how many UCF shirts I have; and I have honestly had to answer I don't know I lost count.

OT: NCAA Hoops adds Technical Foul for Flopping plus Extra Media T.O. per half

Don't mind an automatic Technical (no warning) for flopping.

Still dont understand the logic of adding a 5th media timeout per half...thats horrible.

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