UCF is hosting two official visitors this weekend for the Navy game: QB Dillon Gabriel and DE Cooper Dawson (pictured above).
As I posted earlier in the week, Gabriel is trying to keep the visit a secret because he is committed to Army. Please keep that information within here. No tweeting at him, etc. where people could find it. Frankly, I'd be surprised if it didn't leak out from the Hawaii side of things because it would be a very big story that McKenzie Milton's school is all in on recruiting another Mililani QB.
If all goes well, Gabriel is prepared to flip to UCF. Dillon and his mother are flying in on Thursday and will obviously be spending a lot of time with McKenzie and his mom. He is super excited to say the least. McKenzie is like a big brother to him. He loves what UCF is doing and would be ecstatic that he could potentially play with KZ for one year with the opportunity to be his successor. He also could be a January enrollee.
UCF had been prepared to take one quarterback in this class, but the interesting thing now is the sudden availability of Louisville transfer Jordan Travis. He really likes UCF and the feeling is mutual. Does UCF take both QBs, knowing the expectation is that Travis wouldn't be eligible until 2020? Personally, I think you need to from a numbers standpoint considering how many QBs transfer out these days.
Cooper Dawson is a big 6-5 defensive end from Hanahan, South Carolina. His recruitment has been hampered somewhat because he tore his ACL while participating in the Dabo Swinney Clemson camp over the summer. He received an offer from Clemson at that time and it's somewhat in question whether that's committable or they'd want to bring him in the following January and have him count as a 2020 recruit. Clemson has 24 commits and there is a hard cap these days, so I'm not sure where he'd fit in. They like him as an OT.
Dawson visited Army last weekend and also has a visit scheduled to Vanderbilt. Those schools are also recruiting him for defense, just like UCF is.
I communicated a little bit with Dawson earlier tonight. He's also coming down on Thursday, so he'll be here all day Friday and Saturday. It won't be his first time at UCF as he also visited during the summer.
"Geez, I wish I could say it all," Dawson said when asked what he likes about UCF. "They want me for the position I want to play (DE). I think I'd fit in well with the defense. Beautiful campus and surrounding area. The coaches are awesome. It's a great program."
I've heard Randy Shannon absolutely loves him. It's interesting to see how this one will go and whether UCF will push for a commit. Defensive line is clearly UCF's No. 1 need. There are five currently committed and it's very possible UCF takes three more for a total of eight. For those three spots, I know there's been talk of UCF taking perhaps two JUCO DL and one more HS player. I know Dal'Mont Gourdine has always been a target as well. I wouldn't be surprised if some other high-level DL materialize between now and December. UCF absolutely has to upgrade on the DL because of graduation losses and no reliable depth.
It's unfortunate that UCF had to squeeze out Charlie Dean, but with the hard cap of 25 scholarships and some serious needs, there isn't as much leeway in taking risks. Looking at Dean's Twitter since he announced he was reopening his recruitment, he's picked up follows from coaches at Middle Tennessee, Cincinnati, UConn, Colorado State, West Florida, Akron, Appalachian State, Coastal Carolina, Dartmouth, Columbia and Princeton. I also heard UNC got in touch.
