Josh Huepel as an evaluator of talent

[AuburnLegacy_1]

He may look like he reprised Tracy Goode's role as Assistant Coach Brady Owens in Facing the Giants... He may not understand the concept of defense...He may have sucked it up at recruiting and boosting recruiting rankings, but Josh Heupel did hit on a lot of kids who will be playing significant roles for the Knights this fall. Heupel recruited high character student-athletes, who handled their business on and off the field. He recruited winners, who were driven and could be developed into playing at a high level. Despite all his faults, in retrospect, Heupel did take care of the program based on his ability to identify and evaluate talent. Kudos to him for that.

I was glad to see UCF sign 3 star offensive tackle Miguel Maldonado yesterday even if only as a PWO. He was the first commit of the Gus Malzahn's era. Grade concerns had prompted UCF to back off prior to early signing day, but apparently Maldonado got his academic affairs in order. Good for him and good for UCF.


I am fascinated by the number and quality of PWOs that UCF has taken this fall. The fact that UCF is out of scholarships echoes my initial point about Huepel's ability as an evaluator of talent. Program defections and attrition have been minimal, aside from the NFL declarations and a few transfer portal entrants. UCF probably has between 75-80 scholarship athletes participating in spring football. That is an incredible number for a Group of Five program.

Lastly, regarding Cam Goode, there is a distinct difference between being hurt and being injured. Playing through pain is what football players did for a century. I can't recall a single athlete ever dying from a torn meniscus or a sprained MCL. Most of the ailments he mentioned don't even require surgery. I am certain that other players played through equal or more pain at UCF--and every other major college football program for that matter last season. Forgive me if I don't join in on his pity party. Goode riddance.

 

[knight_01]

I don’t have the list in front of me. But We were in a really bad personnel position because Heupel’s recruits didn’t pan out. It’s something like 2-3 of them were starters. It was really eye opening.

 

[U C to the F]

This is a weird post and I couldn’t disagree more. The Hippo did a very poor job in recruiting and developing talent. Each year Frost’s recruits and developed talent graduated or left for the draft our team performance did worse and worse. The Hippo also seemed to lose control of the team as well, fights on the sideline, mass amounts of penalties including a ton of undisciplined penalties, kicking a whole group of Def starters off the team, etc.

We have seen good recruiting in Gus already, the difference is staggering even before the Big 12 logo. Jury is still out on if he can develop that talent but he has a long track record of doing that. He at least seems well liked and respected, penalties were way down last year. I’m very optimistic to see big leaps in the next few years, if we can only figure out the QB position to be a strength and not a weakness.

 

[AuburnLegacy_1]

This is a weird post and I couldn’t disagree more. The Hippo did a very poor job in recruiting and developing talent. Each year Frost’s recruits and developed talent graduated or left for the draft our team performance did worse and worse. The Hippo also seemed to lose control of the team as well, fights on the sideline, mass amounts of penalties including a ton of undisciplined penalties, kicking a whole group of Def starters off the team, etc.

We have seen good recruiting in Gus already, the difference is staggering even before the Big 12 logo. Jury is still out on if he can develop that talent but he has a long track record of doing that. He at least seems well liked and respected, penalties were way down last year. I’m very optimistic to see big leaps in the next few years, if we can only figure out the QB position to be a strength and not a weakness.

IIRC, Sam Jackson is the only Scott Frost recruit left on the team if you credit Josh Heupel with the Class of 2018. By their own admission in press conferences, Gus's coaches consistently praise the character of players in the program. Gus Malzahn himself said he was pleasantly surprised at the quality of athletes at UCF upon his arrival. Virtually every starter is a Josh Heupel product. Hard not to credit him.

Also, I never said anything about Heupel's ability to coach, or to develop players, or to run (ruin) a program for that matter. I said he did a good job of identifying and evaluating players, who "could be developed" (i.e., by another staff that *can* coach, develop prospects, and run a program). UCF doesn't win nine games last season with a bare cupboard.

 

[U C to the F]

Fair enough. Though it’s a night and day difference from my perspective on CGM’s recruiting and assistant coaches developing players as opposed to Hippo and staff. I’m not a fan of him, glad he’s gone and we upgraded.

 

[AuburnLegacy_1]

Fair enough. Though it’s a night and day difference from my perspective on CGM’s recruiting and assistant coaches developing players as opposed to Hippo and staff. I’m not a fan of him, glad he’s gone and we upgraded.

Totally agree. UCF cannot survive and achieve long-term success in the Big 12 by signing diamonds in the rough. It will need to conduct business like a college football superpower.

For this same reason, I am hopeful USF will come off the schedule for good. Severing this rivalry will benefit UCF moving forward. When UCF was a child (Group of 5 program), it spake as a child, it understood as a child, it thought as a child, but when UCF becomes a man (Power 5), it will put away childish things.

I envision UCF being a leader in the Big 12, and South Florida needs to be a memory.

 

[BlakNGoldAllDay]

I still blame the downfalls on Randy Shannon. Heupel didn’t want him and the divisive locker room was because of DW forcing Shannon on him.

 

[Gwoz]

When a coach starts he is praised, Heupel got a lot of praise after the first year. When a coach leaves he is trashed, both Scott and Heupel. If Malzahn leaves early, there will be plenty said about it him as well.

As for Goode. By most accounts he was praised by teammates and fans when he was on the team. Seems in poor taste to trash him.

It may come to a shock but there is players that have unpleasant experiences with the program and its not their fault.

 

[U C to the F]

I still blame the downfalls on Randy Shannon. Heupel didn’t want him and the divisive locker room was because of DW forcing Shannon on him.

Huepel’s defenses have been bad everywhere he goes with that offense. Missouri, UCF, and now TN. I never was the biggest Shannon fan but I put more blame on The Hippos style of play calling.

 

[beelit47]

Huepel’s defenses have been bad everywhere he goes with that offense. Missouri, UCF, and now TN. I never was the biggest Shannon fan but I put more blame on The Hippos style of play calling.

You mean 3 60 yd fly routes in a row that go incomplete is bad for a defense?

 

[U C to the F]

You mean 3 60 yd fly routes in a row that go incomplete is bad for a defense?

Yes, that and getting stopped on 4th and 4 with a run up the middle, very much so lol

 

[lawknight]

Sloth was horrible... totally killed the momentum UCF had...thankfully GM has got the momentum back

 

[U C to the F]

Huepel’s defenses have been bad everywhere he goes with that offense. Missouri, UCF, and now TN. I never was the biggest Shannon fan but I put more blame on The Hippos style of play calling.

Granted his offenses have all been great, but to the detriment of his defenses and to the team overall against good teams/defenses. Give me some more balance, that’s why I like Gus and his philosophy, he gets it. He seems like a great leader.

 

[AuburnLegacy_1]

Granted his offenses have all been great, but to the detriment of his defenses and to the team overall against good teams/defenses. Give me some more balance, that’s why I like Gus and his philosophy, he gets it. He seems like a great leader.

Facts.

Huepel is an offensive coordinator, who calls a game the way he sees fit regardless of the collateral consequences. He sees only a part of the puzzle. His part.

Gus is a head coach, who achieved fame as an offensive coordinator, but who has always been a strategiest and game manager at heart. He sees big picture with all its individual pieces and how they fit together.

 

[BlakNGoldAllDay]

How about we have Gus prove himself before we talk about how great he’s doing? His perception is great, so was Heupels the first year.

 

[U C to the F]

Hasn’t he been a proven winner, leader, recruiter, etc. for many years? Just seeing what he’s done here in a short time with bringing balance to the offense/defense, bringing in high level recruits visiting/interest, building FL high school relationships and keeping those GA/AL ties…it’s night and day from what the sloth brought. I called Heupel a bad fit in the very beginning, I was never impressed with him in any facet, his personality and coach speak made me cringe.

 

[Knight Strength]

... bringing balance to the offense/defense, bringing in high level recruits visiting/interest, building FL high school relationships and keeping those GA/AL ties…

Agree. These are some basic/foundational things that was sorely missing the previous few years. I understand success on the field is the end goal of it all but these things will help.

 

[knight_tracker]

Interesting twist for JH. Tennessee has announced they will not have a Spring football game, but instead will have an "All Vol Weekend" from April 7-10.
Appears they are doing renovations on the stadium.

 

[knight_01]

Heupel was a drop off from Frost.

Frost:
2016: Snelson, Milton, R Grant, A Killins. 2017: M Williams, S Jackson, K Davis, G Davis, O Anderson

Heupel:
2018 (*shortened recruiting cycle): D Lester, Gilyard. 2019: D Gabriel, M Lee, Okeefe.

We won't know how Gus has done on recruiting until a couple of years. There is a lot of promise there. We have also done well in the transfer portal.

I think it is clear Frost was head and shoulders above Heupel. Any time a Heupel recruit replaced a Frost recruit, there was an 80% chance we were getting less productivity out of them.

 

[firm_bizzle]

Sloth was horrible... totally killed the momentum UCF had...thankfully GM has got the momentum back

UCF, momentum. *laughs in GOL*

 

[goodknightfl]

.

I think it is clear Frost was head and shoulders above Heupel. Any time a Heupel recruit replaced a Frost recruit, there was an 80% chance we were getting less productivity out of them.

Nebraska shows otherwise. Frost caught lightning in a bottle. And hasn't seen it since it he left the lightning capital of the world.

 

[sk8knight]

Nebraska shows otherwise. Frost caught lightning in a bottle. And hasn't seen it since it he left the lightning capital of the world.

Frost’s magical season here reminded me of GRUDEN’s tenure in Tampa. He came in and took a team that knew how to work hard and renewed their fun for the game while installing an offense that was perfect for MM’s skill set. But he was too lax and didn’t develop the kind of discipline needed for enduring success. We’d have seen the drop off whether it was Frost or Heupel and it didn’t help that Shannon was causing an artificial division. The best thing that could’ve happened was Heup leaving and replacing him with a proven head coach that could rebuild the culture of the team. In almost all cases that means personnel changes.

 

[knightraveler]

Huepel’s defenses have been bad everywhere he goes with that offense. Missouri, UCF, and now TN. I never was the biggest Shannon fan but I put more blame on The Hippos style of play calling.

The last season Hyoe was at UCF he lost control of the team. The freakin' penalties were insane and he looked totally disinterested...like he knew he was going somewhere else. I don't wish him ill but I am glad we got Malzahn instead.

 

[BlakNGoldAllDay]

The last season Hyoe was at UCF he lost control of the team. The freakin' penalties were insane and he looked totally disinterested...like he knew he was going somewhere else. I don't wish him ill but I am glad we got Malzahn instead.

It was mostly 2 different teams. Offense and Defense. 2 guys who wanted to be HC but only 1 is. Heupel shouldn’t have been made to take a DC. If the results were same with his own DC I’d blame him more.

 

[hemightbejeremy]

Heupel is an above average coach. Not great. But he can blow out bad teams. Something that more conservative coaches can struggle with. He took care of the cows which is an important criteria for judging a coach here. I think malzahn will turn out better for us moving to the Big 12. More coaching and recruiting connections than Heupel had.

 

[BlakNGoldAllDay]

Gus does have Big 12 label helping him in 23. Heupel has some good recruits at Tennessee.

 

[SCKnight]

Totally agree. UCF cannot survive and achieve long-term success in the Big 12 by signing diamonds in the rough. It will need to conduct business like a college football superpower.

For this same reason, I am hopeful USF will come off the schedule for good. Severing this rivalry will benefit UCF moving forward. When UCF was a child (Group of 5 program), it spake as a child, it understood as a child, it thought as a child, but when UCF becomes a man (Power 5), it will put away childish things.

I envision UCF being a leader in the Big 12, and South Florida needs to be a memory.

The NIL is going to relegate UCF back to diamond in the rough status. We cannot keep up with the older programs when it comes to finances so we will have to continue to be creative and innovative with kids who are not high star

 

[SCKnight]

How about we have Gus prove himself before we talk about how great he’s doing? His perception is great, so was Heupels the first year.

So while the jury is still out on Gus you have to give him credit for an amazing coaching job last season. He and the staff adjusted to not only bringing in a new system, but all the injuries. They really did game plan for each game and to win 9 games under the circumstances was pretty good. Heup was handed a winning machine his first year

 

[Asphalt.Jungle]

The NIL is going to relegate UCF back to diamond in the rough status. We cannot keep up with the older programs when it comes to finances so we will have to continue to be creative and innovative with kids who are not high star

diamond in the rough can also leave after you polish them a bit.

 

[SCKnight]

diamond in the rough can also leave after you polish them a bit.

I was thinking this morning that programs should consider buy out provisions with players. If you sign with UCF and get an NIL deal you have to play 3 seasons. You can transfer to another team if they want to pay the buy out. Just like coaches. Seems only fair.

 

[Gwoz]

So while the jury is still out on Gus you have to give him credit for an amazing coaching job last season. He and the staff adjusted to not only bringing in a new system, but all the injuries. They really did game plan for each game and to win 9 games under the circumstances was pretty good. Heup was handed a winning machine his first year

5 of the wins were against teams that combined for 4 FBS wins. That definently helped.

 

[SCKnight]

5 of the wins were against teams that combined for 4 FBS wins. That definently helped.

And give our situation we could easily have been among them as well.

 

[hemightbejeremy]

And give our situation we could easily have been among them as well.

We needed miracles at home to pull off a few of them.

 

[SCKnight]

We needed miracles at home to pull off a few of them.

Yup, and without good coaching we would have lost them

 

[BlakNGoldAllDay]

I was thinking this morning that programs should consider buy out provisions with players. If you sign with UCF and get an NIL deal you have to play 3 seasons. You can transfer to another team if they want to pay the buy out. Just like coaches. Seems only fair.

That would be up to the company giving them the deal. The Schools aren’t paying the money.

 

[SCKnight]

That would be up to the company giving them the deal. The Schools aren’t paying the money.

Shell game...

 

[hemightbejeremy]

Yup, and without good coaching we would have lost them

Um. I think Gus will turnout to be a good coach, but we won games against Tulane and the cows last year because they were a couple of the most inept teams in all aspects last year. The cows game we literally won on a miracle last play. I’m willing to let it slide because we did end up winning and we were banged up, but I don’t think the end result had much to do with good coaching.

 

[SCKnight]

Um. I think Gus will turnout to be a good coach, but we won games against Tulane and the cows last year because they were a couple of the most inept teams in all aspects last year. The cows game we literally won on a miracle last play. I’m willing to let it slide because we did end up winning and we were banged up, but I don’t think the end result had much to do with good coaching.

I don't know, the use of Navarro, the fake punt return play, the use of Jmar. I think Gus did a good job of using the weapons we had and adjusting. We had to readjust every single game. New system, new players, new coach, injuries. We are spoiled in not seeing how easily this could have been a 4-4 win season.

 

[hemightbejeremy]

I don't know, the use of Navarro, the fake punt return play, the use of Jmar. I think Gus did a good job of using the weapons we had and adjusting. We had to readjust every single game. New system, new players, new coach, injuries. We are spoiled in not seeing how easily this could have been a 4-4 win season.

We had a significant talent advantage over the cows and they outplayed us and nearly beat us at home.

 

[sk8knight]

We had a significant talent advantage over the cows and they outplayed us and nearly beat us at home.

That’s a rivalry game. The old saying that you can throw the records out for the rivalry game is cliche because it’s true. Everyone at USF had that game circled on the calendar and a win there would’ve salvaged their season. USF is not without talent and they prepped for us a lot longer than we prepped for them. So add up all the injuries, the youth at so many integral places, and the scenario, and it’s understandable. The point is that we won.

I guess you can play half empty if it makes you feel better. But it’s telling that you seem to think the USF game says more negatively about our future than the UF game says positively. It’s ok to be excited.