Caden Piening is UCF's latest Hometown Hero.
While Piening has resided in Cincinnati since 2015, his roots are in Orlando. He was born in The City Beautiful and still has numerous ties to the area. The Anderson High School tight end joined the Knights' 2025 recruiting class this past weekend, committing to the coaching staff prior to the spring game and announcing his decision on Saturday.
Piening was offered in February and made arrangements to visit in March. He and his family were there on March 11 for UCF's first spring practice, which set the wheels in motion for his eventual commitment.
"I had an unbelievable time from start to finish," Piening said. "The relationships I made with everyone, including the players. They all said hello to me and my family. That spring practice really opened my eyes about the whole school. I was like, wow. They were talking about the spring game and we knew we had to make it back down for that.
"I kept on visiting other schools this spring, but I just kept on thinking about UCF. They always stood out to me. Then my (high school) coach (Evan Dreyer) was able to visit UCF a couple weeks ago for a spring practice. He loved it. It wasn't the deciding factor, but it opened my eyes even more. He's going to shoot it to me straight. He loved UCF too. He was trying to find a negative, but couldn't. That really set it off for me and my parents, knowing that he had a great time."
Piening made things official with head coach Gus Malzahn and tight ends coach Brian Blackmon during a Friday afternoon meeting just prior to the spring game.
"We were talking about timeline and I told them if I feel right I'm gonna jump on it," Piening said. "If not, I'll wait until OVs. Then they asked where UCF sits with me. I looked at my mom and she smiled at me and nodded her head. That's when I knew I wanted to go ahead and commit. I said, 'I'm going to go ahead and commit, Coach.' They shot up out of their seats. They were surprised. They were like, 'Man, you had the poker face!' I didn't give it anyway or anything."
While he didn't publicly announce the decision until Saturday, Piening's perspective changed while watching the spring game because as an early enrollee he'll be on that same field this time a year from now.
"I don't know if it hit me right away, wow, this is gonna be me next year," Piening said. "I was able to talk with a bunch of players afterward, they all congratulated me. All the coaches too. It's definitely a family. I got to talk to some of the commits like EJ Colson, who I actually met at the first spring practice. We've been staying in touch."
In the past few weeks, Piening visited Florida, Louisville, Pittsburgh and Michigan State. His top 10 included those schools as well as Arkansas, Virginia Tech, Virginia, Stanford and Illinois.
Piening said it was the relationships that made UCF stand out in front of the others.
"The moment we got there for the first visit, as soon as I walked on to the practice field Coach Malzahn came straight over to us," Piening said. "He knew who I was. Coach (Andrew) Blaylock was out there greeting us when we parked. I got to meet Coach Blackmon's wife and Coach Malzahn's wife. It's a family. I saw it from the players. They're out there grinding every day and competing against each other, but they're hanging out with each other after practice. There's no bad blood. Just how much of a family UCF is, I'd say that's really what sparked my interest."
Piening wanted to thank his family for supporting him throughout this process and their willingness to travel so he could visit schools. He also appreciated his head coach for everything he's done for him.
"I'm excited to have found a home," Piening said. "A place where I'm comfortable with my decision. Obviously my dad is super pumped because a UCF alum. We have a lot of family friends in Orlando and a lot of them went to UCF. They were crazy pumped when I told them I was committing."
Piening will return to UCF late next month for his official visit. He'll be there for Bounce House Weekend which starts Friday, May 31.
