In this week's Sons of UCF EXTRA, UCF Baseball Head Coach Greg Lovelady talks about the team winning 6 of its last 7 games and this weekend's War on I-4 series in Tampa. The Knights are 27-17/10-5 AAC.

Please click here to watch.

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I’ve been alive for 12,576 days. Simply asked Siri how many days since my birthday. Got me thinking about other metrics I’m curious about. Not including how many days you got left to live, what are your top 3? Here’s mine.

How many 🥜 I’ve busted?
How many miles have I walked?
How many drinks I’ve had?

What are your inquiries?

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UCF defensive end Landon Woodson had a monster spring game with three sacks and he's looking for that sort of production this fall.

"My personal goal for this season is to get double-digit sacks," Woodson said. "That's my main goal."

As a redshirt freshman in 2019, Woodson played in 11 games as a reserve with 15 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and two sacks. In 2020, Woodson started four games with 23 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss and three sacks. That stat line was bolstered with his performance against rival South Florida.

"(My best UCF moment) was definitely the COVID year against USF," Woodson said. "I had three sacks in that game. That's the best game I've ever had."

He also had seven tackles in that game, nearly one-third of his season total.

Woodson saw action in 12 games in 2021, recording 13 tackles and one sack.



Woodson was satisfied with his progress during the spring. He said things ran a lot more smoothly as the players knew what to expect going into year two under Gus Malzahn and Travis Williams.

"We've all had a very good spring," Woodson said. "We excelled a lot from last year when (the staff) got here... My personal goal was to apply coaching more. Get my technique down rather than relying on athletic ability. Doing what you're supposed to do to make plays. You're not going to make every play, but if you apply coaching and do what you're supposed to do, you're going to make a play for another person."

How does he like playing for his position coach, Kenny Ingram?

"It's definitely really good," Woodson said. "He loves us so much. He coaches us with so much passion. You want to play for him. It's not like you just want to play - you want to play for him. His energy is very high and very active. It gets us going every day at practice."

How about T-Will?

"He's an amazing coach," Woodson said. "He's a younger coach. He relates more to us which I really like. High tempo. In the meeting rooms we're playing music. He knows the newest music coming out. He relates a lot to us and I really like that. I'm comfortable about him."

Woodson name dropped a few players that impressed him.

"The young guys that stepped up, definitely Dallaz Corbitt and the newcomer K.D. McDaniel. On the interior, Matt Alexander. Lee Hunter is doing good too. Everybody is excelling."

Now a UCF graduate, Woodson is now focusing on a post-graduate degree.

"I graduated in December 2021," he said. "I did IDS with behavioral and social science and commerce with a minor in urban and regional planning. My masters, I'm in project management and environmental sustainability."

Looking at a future career, Woodson has always been fascinated with creating communities.

"I've had this dream since I was younger," he said. "There was a Home Depot by my house and every Sunday they had workshops for kids ages 8 to 12. I'd go there and build stuff. I'd beg my mom to go. Ever since then I fell in love with that."

Damn, he looked promising...

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Looks more like their own Longhorn Network vs the docuseries we had on ESPN+

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In light of this news, the only scholarship number programs will have to worry about is the 85 cap. Here's a look at where UCF should stand in terms of that number going into this season. I'm just going off the roster, names are in no particular order. Scroll down for the breakdown...

Quarterbacks (3)

John Rhys Plumlee
Thomas Castellanos
Mikey Keene

Running Backs (7)

Johnny Richardson
Isaiah Bowser
Mark-Antony Richards
Jordan McDonald
Anthony Williams
R.J. Harvey
Trillion Coles

Wide Receivers (10)

Kobe Hudson
Ryan O'Keefe
Joey Gatewood
Jordan Johnson
Amari Johnson
Jaylon Griffin
Dionte Marks
Xavier Townsend*
Quan Lee*
Tyler Griffin*

Offensive Line (12)

Patrick Barnett
Matt Lee
Paul Rubelt
Edward Collins
Tylan Grable
Ryan Swoboda
Samuel Jackson
Ethan Mort
Adrian Medley
Lokahi Pauole
John Harris?*
Caden Kitler*

Tight Ends (5)

Kemore Gamble
Alec Holler
Zach Marsh-Wojan
Jordan Davis
Grant Stevens

Defensive Line (15)

Lee Hunter
Ricky Barber
Landon Woodson
Tre'Mon Morris-Brash
Keenan Cupit
Kervins Choute
K.D. McDaniel
Malachi Lawrence
Keenan Hester
Matthew Alexander
Dallaz Corbitt
Josh Celiscar
Anthony Montalvo
Austin Camden
Keahnist Thompson*
Jamaal Johnson*

Linebackers (7)

Terrence Lewis
Jeremiah Jean-Baptiste
Quade Mosier
Jason Johnson*
Kris Moll*
Kam Moore*
T.J. Bullard*

Secondary (17)

Marco Domio
Koby Perry
Davonte Brown
Divaad Wilson
Justin Hodges
Corey Thornton
Trevion Shadrick-Harris
Dyllon Lester
Nikai Martinez
Jaiden Francois
Jarvis Ware
Jarrad Baker
William Wells
Brandon Adams
Quadric Bullard
Ja'Cari Henderson*
Demari Henderson*

Specialists (3)

Alex Ward
Andrew Osteen
Daniel Obarski

Walk-Ons (24)

DB Ah'Mare Lee
DB Daniel McCullon
RB Chris Bowerfind
WR Andrew Dickson
WR JaJaun Forte
PK Garin Boniol
PK Colton Boomer
LB Tre'Von Moore
DB Zach Rodriguez
PK Ryker Casey
DB Philjae Bien-Aime
WR Stephen Martin
TE Max Holler
DE Karlis Bailey-Vice
LB Derek Burns
OL Josh Cox
OL Chidoziri Maghiro
OL Nate Brady
TE Garrett French
WR Cullen Smith
DT Austin Camden
LS Joe Rahal
LS Tyler Paul
DE Trace O'Hara

I came up with 80 players slated to be on scholarship for the 2022 season. I moved Mercer OL transfer John Harris to the scholarship list, though that is not set in stone. He said he was originally going to come in as a walk-on and be put on scholarship later so I'm thinking maybe now that the 25 number no longer matters, he'll be on scholarship immediately. Not sure on that though.

I also think longtime walk-ons, such as Derek Burns and Chidoziri Maghiro, could be candidates to be put on scholarship. Stephen Martin outplayed several scholarship WRs.

I'm assuming UCF has the three specialist starters on scholarship and nobody else. Colton Boomer was initially coming in as a walk-on - does that change?

Players with an asterisk* are signees/transfer commits that have not yet enrolled.

So barring no other defections, UCF has five (or six) available scholarships.

Some of those could go to walk-ons within the program. I hope this new policy doesn't harm walk-ons from being rewarded. That's been the perk for putting in the time. Players who have been with a program for one year can be put on scholarship and it doesn't count against the 25 initial counters, just the 85 number. Now schools may be looking for outside transfers instead of giving scholarships to players already in the program.

Also, does UCF now give an offer to Cocoa QB Davin Wydner (PWO commit) who is rumored to be flipping to Ole Miss? Or does he get offers from other schools now?

link

WTF is wrong with people? God forbid people take comedy with a grain of salt

Got to respect that he came and played for his teammates. But wasn't impressed with his performance last night. Is he a guy Gus should go after?

So with UCF joining the Big 12 for the 2023 season, and playing a 9-game conference schedule, it should help make filling out the non-conference schedule a bit easier. Here's the next 5 years

2023
Kent State
@ Boise

2024
Liberty
@ Florida

2025
@ Maryland
FAU
North Carolina

2026
None

2027
@ North Carolina

Much of this will depend on if we decide to continue playing uwcf on Black Friday. On the one hand, we don't have any geographical rivals in the Big 12. On the other hand, they didn't want to help us very much when they were in the Big East.

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Class of 2024 four-star wide receiver Debron Gatlin attends Milton High School in Alpharetta, Ga., which is the alma mater of UCF freshman running back Jordan McDonald.

Rivals.com's Jed May just caught up with him.

Gatling visited Alabama, Clemson, Ole Miss, Miami, UCF and USC this spring. He also said Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas are heavily recruiting him.

He was asked about UCF, but said the visit wasn't like the others because it was a quick trip with his 7-on-7 team (coached by Cam Newton).

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@Brandon if you posted this already, I apologize. But now that we are done recruiting him (unless he enters the portal) how close were we to landing Malachi? Seemed like we had sealed the deal and then Arkansas kind of came out of nowhere. I know it had been mentioned that it had to do with NIL, but I was just wondering if you had an inside scoop on what happened. If not or you don’t wish to share, totally fine but I was just curious.

Since we have been Nix-ed, it is time to see what is out there. For anyone who doesn't think we need a serious update at the most important position on the field, not the thread for you.

We only have 4 scholarship QBs (including TC, who I hope gets a redshirt to learn the game and put on some muscle), and one of them (Gatewood) would benefit from a change in position.

We lost 3 guys from the QB room and only gained 1 back, so we have open chairs

Here are what is left of the top 20 guys (by transfer rating - except one) who are not committed, or has a 100% crystal ball prediction (eliminates Thompson who appears he wants to go to TCU...but that can change):

Top 10
Ward Incarnate Word 0.93
Slovis USC 0.90
Calzada Texas A&M 0.88

These guys have experience, and 2 of them have plenty of upside left (sorry Slovis)

This next group is shy on experience but have alot of potential

Top 11-20
Bailey Tenn 0.86
Plummer Purdue 0.86
Miller OSU 0.86
Purdy FSU 0.85

Costelli Utah 0.90 (High School)
Including this guy because I ran accross a conversation that makes him very interesting for our offense

If you don't care for the rating system 24/7 uses fine....but so far it seems accurate enough with top guys getting spots, and the 3 usf guys just sitting unloved in the corner.

Buddy just moved from Longwood up to Fernandina Beach. We are trying to come up with a place in the middle to meet for an Old Farts, Fishing, Eathing, Drinking blowing off steam weekend. Thinking Mosquito Lagoon is sort of the middle. Anybody got a good suggestion of where to stay and where to fish. There were a couple of ideas in another thread I had started a couple of months ago about a weekend getaway. But that was with Mrs. Z so very different type of weekend. We would love to actually catch some fish. FYI I have an 18' Sea Hunt, but it is a deep V not a shallow water skiff, so I am not going super skinny.

The Wichita Eagle has published a couple stories about Wichita State and NIL, or lack thereof (those links below).

WICHITA, Kan. -- Wichita State fired athletic director Darron Boatright on Wednesday amid growing criticism over the university's inability to compete in the new market of name, image and likeness payments to athletes.

University president Rick Muma said in a news release that Boatright had achievements and successes during his tenure, but "there were significant, ongoing concerns that became acute in recent weeks, ones that I did not believe could be addressed." Muma did not elaborate.

Sarah Adams, the school's senior associate athletic director and senior women's administrator, will become interim athletic director while a search is conducted for Boatright's replacement.

Critics targeted Boatright in recent weeks because Wichita State had not raised funds after the Supreme Court lifted a ban on college athletes being compensated for their names, images and likenesses, The Wichita Eagle reported. They said it was Boatright's responsibility to ensure the school's donors were aware of the new rules and be prepared with incentives to retain current players and attract new ones.

The men's basketball program had eight scholarship players enter the NCAA transfer portal this spring.

"Where we erred was focusing on educating our athletes about NIL and not just collecting cash and paying kids to come to Wichita State," Boatright said in a previous interview. "We were told all along this was not pay-for-play, but now it appears the NCAA has no problems with that, so why not?"

Boatright, who was athletic director for six years, was given a two-year contract extension through June 2024 that gave him a 37.5% raise to $275,000 a year. Fans were critical because the extension was never publicly announced and came during the coronavirus pandemic, The Eagle reported.

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Not sure how I got here, but it's interesting seeing our school newspaper from Homecoming 1984. The local real estate ads for places around campus, and the halloween drink specials are definitely amusing.


Anyone else have an interesting UCF history on similar old papers or clippings?

🚬 .......⚫🐴.

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This would be a very short-term deal considering that once Oklahoma enters the SEC, they'd fall under the SEC's media agreements and this deal would be irrelevant. Interesting timing for such a short-term deal.

Matt Lee had his own billboard on Red Bug this morning

.I think that athletes should get $15/hr (freshman) when they are playing or practicing with the team. I would then incentivize players by raising the hourly rate year after year by 10%. I also would include annual post-season bonuses assuming they stay with the program. Think of it as the athletics equivalent of the College Work Experience Program (CWEP). This hourly rate would have to be funded by donations.

This would probably be equivalent to G-league money.but they wouldn’t be paying an agent. Obviously this would be taxed and the stipend would go away.

As far as title IX goes, the hourly rate would be available to all scholarship athletes during their season. Bonuses would be sports specific.

I like the idea of a sponsor providing a leased car to a player if they do commercials. We see Marc Daniels repping Greenway Ford, why not let that be Taylor Hendricks. That is literally the idea of NIL

Finally, I would allow athletes to engage in “future star” contracts with shoe companies. This would allow players to wear the shoes they want. This would also reward the best players.