Photo Gallery: https://photos.app.goo.gl/N3g2vuKGZyDC7f3a9
After events earlier this week in Fort Lauderdale and the Space Coast, the tour converged on the hometown - Downtown Orlando's Wall Street Plaza - on Thursday.
Last year's event was also on Wall Street (video link here), but due to some scheduling issues (UCF initially focused on out-of-town baseball venues) it was pushed back all the way to mid-August during the middle of the football preseason. It was incredibly well attended last year.
I had concerns about this year's event, at least attendance wise. It seemed there was minimal buzz and I wasn't wild about an outdoor venue given the heat/weather concerns. The heat turned out to be a non-issue as there was a sporadic rain from about 4:30-5:30.
The event wasn't supposed to officially begin until 6 and the formal program not until after 7, but it was an incredibly paltry crowd. From about 6-6:30, it seemed UCFAA staff and media outnumbered fans. From the event "selfie" posted by the official UCF twitter account, I counted less than 100 non-staff faces. Even if it rained an hour and a half earlier, that's really bad.
The first hour included some mingling opportunities and autographs with Josh Heupel, Coach Abe and Johnny Dawkins. There weren't a ton of takers there because it was such a small crowd.
Media wise, we got some brief interviews with those three - plus Danny White - prior to the start so I'll have some content from that coming soon.
The on-stage presentation was pretty much the typical routine we've seen for the last few years. Marc Daniels welcomes the coaches on stage, he asks some brief overview type questions and then asks for questions from the crowd.
Abe's personality is really great for these events. She goes out of her way to exude her charm and sense of humor.
In this video above, the first portion includes some quick B-Roll type shots of the scene and then the full program itself. I'm not sure how many people will watch the entire 49 minutes, but it's available to you.
Some highlights:
Johnny Dawkins mentioned that B.J. Taylor has NBA workouts this week. He didn't mention team names, but he was asked off camera/stage and it was the Cavs today and Pistons tomorrow. He also spoke a little about the two incoming grad transfers, Dazon Ingram and Matt Milon. I also asked about those two during the media interview.
Josh Heupel remarked that the RB group has seen incredible improvement this spring and they're actually faster than they were last season. "That position group took a huge step forward. They've all added size and strength. As hard as it is to believe, they're all quicker and more explosive in the hole because of that. I think their durability will be better because of that. They have a deeper understanding of our run game, how to take the right track, have patience, deliver the blockers to the second level. I think there's an opportunity for those guys to be explosive and improve from the ground game from a year ago."
He was asked about leadership on the team. He said Richie Grant has been "phenomenal" since they got back in January and he's embraced the leadership role. Brendon Hayes was also mentioned on defense. Offensively, Jordan Johnson is "starting to find his voice."
At the 32:40 mark of the video, Kevin Reis asks Heupel about the DL and Heupel asks Kevin if he has any eligibility left. He mentioned how they have a bunch of newcomers coming in and mentioned one of the JUCO players moving in this weekend - he was referring to DT Noah Hancock.
Danny White said less than 1,000 football season tickets remain. He went through his usual talking points of touting the program's successes.
Again, the link to the photo gallery as well:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/N3g2vuKGZyDC7f3a9
