Tim Harris Jr.'s offensive coordinator title no longer has an asterisk attached.
As of this week, Harris assumes full control of UCF's offense which includes calling plays in games. Gus Malzahn ceded those responsibilities (in addition to firing defensive coordinator Ted Roof) on Monday in response to UCF's five-game losing streak.
We caught up with Harris on Sunday night, right before Malzahn made the decision to hand over play-calling duties. While it was too early to talk about his new role, he did discuss the plan for quarterbacks moving forward.
The hope was Jacurri Brown would blossom into a capable starter when given the opportunity. He showed flashes against Cincinnati, but struggled mightily passing the ball at Iowa State as he mustered just 62 yards through the air.
Last week leading up to BYU was his first week practicing exclusively with the first team. With the Cougars focusing on eliminating Brown as a running threat, the onus was on him to improve throwing the ball. It didn't happen. Brown went 8 of 17 for 96 yards and two interceptions. He was replaced in the fourth quarter by Dylan Rizk.
"You know, just coming into the game, it felt like (Brown) had a pretty good week of practice," Harris said. "I think what you take back from the game, he's just got to settle himself down, play within the offense, and just take advantage of the opportunities that he got. He had some third-down opportunities on some balls that we missed that we can't miss.
"But overall his mindset, he tried to stay locked into the game, played through the mistakes. But we definitely look back at that. There were some plays out there."
Though it was a smaller sample size being two drives at the end of the game, Dylan Rizk showed promise. He connected on 6 of 10 passes for 102 yards and a touchdown.
"I think Dylan did a really good job just taking advantage of the opportunity that he got," Harris said. "He came in, he moved the offense, he gave us some energy. And he did that in a lot of different ways. He hit some passes, he scrambled, picked up some first downs, some really key downs.
"So I was really proud to see that of him. And Dylan, he stayed very steady throughout the whole process. He's a guy that when you look at how the quarterback room has gone, he could be frustrated and just completely mentally take himself out. He hasn't done that. He's been locked in every single day when the opportunities come for him to get reps.
And he's shown some of those things that we saw yesterday... We're really proud of how he performed when he got out there."
Harris said they entered the BYU game with the intention of rolling with Brown. They weren't planning for Rizk - or presumed backup EJ Colson - to necessarily play.
"We went through the week with Jacurri as our guy," Harris said. "Jacurri was our quarterback. And, again, like I said, he had a really good week of practice. He felt comfortable in the game plan. And when we got out there, there were just some plays that he didn't make. I think there were some things that don't show up on tape that he did do a good job of. Sometimes, you know, getting us in the right calls in certain situations. But just overall, hitting some third down balls was a really important thing that we'd want to have back.
"But, no, that was our plan going in. And I think when things started to go a different direction, we felt like we wanted to give another guy a chance to kind of get our offense going. And Dylan got his opportunity and did that."
Although Gus Malzahn has indicated it was too early to name a starting quarterback for Arizona, Harris said Rizk will be squarely in the mix.
"Yeah, absolutely. The way that Dylan finished that game, the way that he moved the offense, I definitely think... I know that those conversations are being had by us right now just of how we're looking at things moving forward. And Coach (Malzhan) will be able to get more in-depth about that. But it's pretty obvious that Dylan did a good job of putting himself in a position to show that he can move this offense."
Kobe Hudson was injured on UCF's first offensive play of the game with an apparent leg injury and did not return. Jacoby Jones emerged as the go-to receiver with six catches for 116 yards, including a 29-yard touchdown reception from Rizk.
"I think it was really good," Harris said. "We needed to see that. Jacoby's an experienced guy. He's dealt with a lot throughout his career. His season last year ended in a bad injury. He's really used all of the rest of last season after it happened through the time that he's been here to kind of get back comfortable playing. So, to see him get the opportunity that he got yesterday and run with it, it really was a testament to the hard work that he's put in."
Chauncey Magwood was the recipient of three catches for 57 yards.
"Magwood was another one that got an opportunity to get balls thrown his way. And, you know, he did a really good job, too. So, it just shows us as an offense that we have weapons. We've just got to do a good job of spreading the ball around. And if we can do that when all of our guys are healthy, it'll make us that much more dangerous of an offense."
RJ Harvey eclipsed the 1,000 season rushing yards mark with 127 yards against BYU.
"I think that's really great for RJ," Harris said. "I'm really proud of him and just the development he showed over the course of his career. But I think more than anything, if you ask him right now, us getting a win, that's probably more important than any of that in his eyes because you watch him after these last couple of performances, although his numbers have looked good, but he's probably hurt more than anybody. These guys are about winning."
