Statistics to show our youth

[ucf_71127]

UCF is the only school in the country which does not have a senior at the offensive skill positions (QB, RB, WR, TE). Last year it had five.
• The offensive seniors this year are:
-HB Joseph Puopolo
-HB Cedric Thompson
-OL Tarik Cook
-OL Joey Grant

UCF ranks tied for third in the FBS with just nine seniors overall (scholarship and non-scholarship):
School - Seniors
1) Wake Forest - 6
2) Wyoming - 8
T3) UCF - 9
T3) Vanderbilt - 9
(all combine to be 4-16 so far this year)

SO MANY NEW KNIGHTS
• A look at how many Knights have played in 2015 by class:
-Seniors - 8
-Juniors - 27
-Sophomores - 12
-Freshmen - 22 (including 13 true freshmen)
• Among the group are five juniors who are in their first full-year on the field with UCF after transferring.
• A total of 14 of the 27 juniors are seeing their first significant playing time of their careers in 2015.

NEW STARTERS
• Only two active Knights on either offense or defense have more than 20 career starts (senior DE Thomas Nilesand junior DE Luke Adams).
• Of the 22 Knights who started at Tulane, only five of them have more than seven career starts including this year.
• Meanwhile, 14 of the 22 had never started a collegiate game until 2015.
• Overall, 26 of the 40 Knights who have started at least one game this year never started before (13 on offense and 13 on defense).
• Most first-time starters this year in the FBS (Courtesy of research by Kansas):
School - First-Time Starters in 2015
1) UCF - 26
2) Kansas - 25
3) TCU - 19

FRESH LEGS
• A total of 69 Knights have seen playing time this season.
• Of that group, 32 of those student-athletes (46 percent) had never played for UCF before 2015.
• The 32 first-year players are tied for the fifth-most in the country.

Offense Notes
ONE OF TWO
• UCF and Wake Forest are the only two programs in the country which have recently featured true freshmen starters at quarterback, running back and wide receiver.

HE UNDERCLASSMEN
• UCF’s offense has featured 8-9 underclassmen on the field at times.
• Underclassmen who have seen significant playing time the last three games:
-Freshmen QB Bo Schneider, QB Tyler Harris, WR Tre’Quan Smith, WR Tristan Payton, WR D’erren Wilson, WRCam Stewart, LG Tyler Hudanick, RT Wyatt Miller, G/T Luke Palmer, RB Taj McGowan, RB C.J. Jones.
-Sophomores WR Chris Johnson, LT Aaron Evans, WR Jordan Franks, RT Chavis Dickey, C Tate Hernly.

THE INJURY UPDATE
• UCF leads the nation in most amount of games missed due to injuries on the offensive side of the ball.
• Combined, the Knights have had 28 games missed through five overall contests by the following players: QBJustin Holman (four), WR Taylor Oldham (five), WR Jordan Franks (two), C Joey Grant (four), G/T Chavis Dickey(three), RB Dontravious Wilson (four), WR Jordan Akins (three) and HB Joseph Puopolo (three).
• The above list includes games missed among just starters or projected starters, as well as games where the player was injured at the beginning of the contest or was not able to be featured on offense.

 

[firm_bizzle]

Better start recruiting.

 

[DIDIT]

I agree, the coaching staff has shown their inability to recruit and prepare the team for the 2015 football season. I feel bad for the players.

 

[jetsaholic]

All that shows me is that the coaching staff has done a piss poor job of recruiting to create depth at all those positions you mention.
O'leary hires the staff, O'Leary manages the staff.
This is also O'Leary's fault.

 

[Poolside Knight]

why Recruiting matters. UCF didn't take advantage of a Top 10 season and BCS Bowl in recruiting, it remained at the same mediocre post David Kelly level

 

[EngAlum98]

We were already young after back to back conference championships. A "reload" year was expected. But then many of our upper classmen were injured/booted.

List of unexpected Upperclassmen losses this season (Note: about half of the offense):
Taylor Oldham WR
Jordan Akins WR
William Stanback RB
Joey Grant OL
Justin Holman QB
Demetris Anderson DL

Not to mention all of the gametime injuries we've had. This has turned into a rebuild year. Last time we had a rebuild year, that group won the division the next year and the conference two years after that. This year sucks, next year can only get better. Unfortunately, we have had to burn a lot of redshirts which will hurt some down the road.

 

[KnightsofGroveland]

Barf. We are done.

 

[KnightsofGroveland]

We were already young after back to back conference championships. A "reload" year was expected. But then many of our upper classmen were injured/booted.

List of unexpected Upperclassmen losses this season (Note: about half of the offense):
Taylor Oldham WR
Jordan Akins WR
William Stanback RB
Joey Grant OL
Justin Holman QB
Demetris Anderson DL

Not to mention all of the gametime injuries we've had. This has turned into a rebuild year. Last time we had a rebuild year, that group won the division the next year and the conference two years after that. This year sucks, next year can only get better. Unfortunately, we have had to burn a lot of redshirts which will hurt some down the road.

I just went back and looked at our 2012, 2013, and 2014 recruiting classes. Barf. This is on the coaches. No excuses.

 

[Victorywayucf]

We were already young after back to back conference championships. A "reload" year was expected. But then many of our upper classmen were injured/booted.

List of unexpected Upperclassmen losses this season (Note: about half of the offense):
Taylor Oldham WR
Jordan Akins WR
William Stanback RB
Joey Grant OL
Justin Holman QB
Demetris Anderson DL

Not to mention all of the gametime injuries we've had. This has turned into a rebuild year. Last time we had a rebuild year, that group won the division the next year and the conference two years after that. This year sucks, next year can only get better. Unfortunately, we have had to burn a lot of redshirts which will hurt some down the road.

If you weren't expecting this year to be a rebuild year lol. It was clear we were rebuilding not reloading. But I didn't expect the rebuild to be this bad

 

[jetsaholic]

We were already young after back to back conference championships. A "reload" year was expected. But then many of our upper classmen were injured/booted.

List of unexpected Upperclassmen losses this season (Note: about half of the offense):
Taylor Oldham WR
Jordan Akins WR
William Stanback RB
Joey Grant OL
Justin Holman QB
Demetris Anderson DL

Not to mention all of the gametime injuries we've had. This has turned into a rebuild year. Last time we had a rebuild year, that group won the division the next year and the conference two years after that. This year sucks, next year can only get better. Unfortunately, we have had to burn a lot of redshirts which will hurt some down the road.

We've only had 3 underclassmen leave since 2013: Blake, Storm and Glenn. This is more evidence that recruiting took a back seat in our coaching staff's priorities.

O'Leary controls the coaching staff. This is O'Leary's fault.

 

[jetsaholic]

There should never be rebuilding years in college football. There is no salary cap to deal with, no restricted or unrestricted free agents, no draft picks. Your program is as good as your recruiting and your coaching staff.

O'Leary is in charge of both. This is O'Leary's fault.

 

[firm_bizzle]

We've only had 3 underclassmen leave since 2013: Blake, Storm and Glenn. This is more evidence that recruiting took a back seat in our coaching staff's priorities.

O'Leary controls the coaching staff. This is O'Leary's fault.

This is what I've been saying for years. We haven't recruited enough players. Coaches are spending their time going to PA, VA, LA, TX, NY for recruits when they need to have their @sses in FL, GA and Alabama.

This rebuild will take 4-5 years and GOL doesn't need to be a part of it. It'll be a long road back.

 

[cnsaguy]

Coaches have to take ownership of both the good and the bad. Huggers always bring up the 2 * guys that thrived: Bortles, Smith, et al. Now it's time to take the credit for the ones that didn't pan out. And right now, that's a bunch of them.

 

[Poolside Knight]

Coaches have to take ownership of both the good and the bad. Huggers always bring up the 2 * guys that thrived: Bortles, Smith, et al. Now it's time to take the credit for the ones that didn't pan out. And right now, that's a bunch of them.

+1

 

[jetsaholic]

Coaches have to take ownership of both the good and the bad. Huggers always bring up the 2 * guys that thrived: Bortles, Smith, et al. Now it's time to take the credit for the ones that didn't pan out. And right now, that's a bunch of them.

DING DING DING

$$$$$$$$$

#bannutthuggers

 

[HoseEmDown]

Can someone give me a list of all the 4 and 5 star recruits we missed because we preferred 2 and 3 star ones? All I hear is how recruiting sucks, does anybody personally know who wanted to come here but we refused them? Only one I can remember is Lynch but we had Holman and DiNovo already who were both more highly regarded at the time. No offense but we can't just walk into any recruits house and get a commitment, we aren't at that level, we still have to wait for the big boys to get there's then we scoop up what's left.

 

[firm_bizzle]

Can someone give me a list of all the 4 and 5 star recruits we missed because we preferred 2 and 3 star ones? All I hear is how recruiting sucks, does anybody personally know who wanted to come here but we refused them? Only one I can remember is Lynch but we had Holman and DiNovo already who were both more highly regarded at the time. No offense but we can't just walk into any recruits house and get a commitment, we aren't at that level, we still have to wait for the big boys to get there's then we scoop up what's left.

False dichotomy.

 

[jetsaholic]

Can someone give me a list of all the 4 and 5 star recruits we missed because we preferred 2 and 3 star ones? All I hear is how recruiting sucks, does anybody personally know who wanted to come here but we refused them? Only one I can remember is Lynch but we had Holman and DiNovo already who were both more highly regarded at the time. No offense but we can't just walk into any recruits house and get a commitment, we aren't at that level, we still have to wait for the big boys to get there's then we scoop up what's left.

*theirs*

 

[ucfversusbcs]

I just read tried to read that long post of an excuse for why we suck. Im not sure why posts are that long. No need for excuses, GOL is going to stay until the end of the decade and we can possibly lose for consecutive years in a row. If i was the AD i wouldn't even read that long excuse for mediocrity. I've given him 12 years. I've seen enough.

 

[HoseEmDown]

I just read tried to read that long post of an excuse for why we suck. Im not sure why posts are that long. No need for excuses, GOL is going to stay until the end of the decade and we can possibly lose for consecutive years in a row. If i was the AD i wouldn't even read that long excuse for mediocrity. I've given him 12 years. I've seen enough.

Those 12 years have been the best UCF football has ever had. But let's kick him to the curb because we aren't winning national titles.

 

[jetsaholic]

Those 12 years have been the best UCF football has ever had. But let's kick him to the curb because we aren't winning national titles.

Those 13 years are about to include 6 losing seasons in between. Possibly 2 windless seasons. So the best UCF football we've ever had is barely above .500.

But, sure, Fiesta Bowl, Liberty Bowl, rah rah rah.*

 

[SCKnight]

Those 12 years have been the best UCF football has ever had. But let's kick him to the curb because we aren't winning national titles.

This is the mentality of college sports at the moment. Bad year? Fire the coach.

#whathaveyoudonformelately

 

[jetsaholic]

This is the mentality of college sports at the moment. Bad year? Fire the coach.

#whathaveyoudonformelately

College sports is organized sports and it is a "what have you done for me lately" business. Get with the times.

 

[ucf_71127]

Look at the team that we "should" be fielding. These are the players that got hurt or left early:
QB- Justin Holman (broken finger)
RB- William Stanback (kicked off of team)
HB- Dontravious Wilson (banged up)
WR- Breshad Perryman (NFL)
WR- Jordan Akins (knee?)
WR- Taylor Oldham
WR- Tristan Payton (hurt in game 5)
OL- Joey Grant (career ending injury)
OL- Micah Anderson (hasn't played since game 1)

DL- Demetris Anderson (out before season)
DL- didn't someone leave after spring or get injured?
DB- Chris Williams (gun shot)
DB- Jacoby Glenn (NFL)
DB- DJ Killings (hasn't played since he started game 1)

Did you notice all the "talent" that we have missing. We are starting a "2nd team" offense because these guys are out. Any other team in the AAC would have the same problems. 90% of the teams in the country would struggle tremendously. We don't have talent? Well we are in this situations because our offensive and defensive MVP's went to the NFL early because they were TOO TALENTED. I am sorry if you don't think a 1st round pick has "talent". One left after their junior year and the other after their sophomore year!! In case you didn't know...THAT WASN"T PLANNED! We have never had 2 guys leave early for the draft

Our team is not stacked 2-deep. We are a solid team when everyone is healthy. The players leaving early for the draft have always hurts us. Take a look at history.
Kevin Smith left after 2007; 2008 was down
Blake Bortles left after 2013; 2014 was another year full of close calls
Breshad Perryman AND Jacoby Glenn after 2014; the struggles should have been obvious but (most of us) we were positive going in because of all the pieces we did have. Injuries really hurt us though.

You think recruiting is down? Hah, we have had the most success in the past few years. They are just young. Yes you are tired of hearing about being "young", but you play better as a redshirt junior/senior than a true freshman/sophomore. Experience and age helps!

If we had all of the players above, we would have had a pretty good shot at being 5-0 right now. We have stayed with each team into the 2nd half despite our losses and injuries. Firing the coach doesn't solve the problem. It makes it worse. Are there better coaches out there? Yes. But they aren't coming here until our conference affiliation changes.

 

[spacecoastknight]

Look at the team that we "should" be fielding. These are the players that got hurt or left early:
QB- Justin Holman (broken finger)
RB- William Stanback (kicked off of team)
HB- Dontravious Wilson (banged up)
WR- Breshad Perryman (NFL)
WR- Jordan Akins (knee?)
WR- Taylor Oldham
WR- Tristan Payton (hurt in game 5)
OL- Joey Grant (career ending injury)
OL- Micah Anderson (hasn't played since game 1)

DL- Demetris Anderson (out before season)
DL- didn't someone leave after spring or get injured?
DB- Chris Williams (gun shot)
DB- Jacoby Glenn (NFL)
DB- DJ Killings (hasn't played since he started game 1)

Did you notice all the "talent" that we have missing. We are starting a "2nd team" offense because these guys are out. Any other team in the AAC would have the same problems. 90% of the teams in the country would struggle tremendously. We don't have talent? Well we are in this situations because our offensive and defensive MVP's went to the NFL early because they were TOO TALENTED. I am sorry if you don't think a 1st round pick has "talent". One left after their junior year and the other after their sophomore year!! In case you didn't know...THAT WASN"T PLANNED! We have never had 2 guys leave early for the draft

Our team is not stacked 2-deep. We are a solid team when everyone is healthy. The players leaving early for the draft have always hurts us. Take a look at history.
Kevin Smith left after 2007; 2008 was down
Blake Bortles left after 2013; 2014 was another year full of close calls
Breshad Perryman AND Jacoby Glenn after 2014; the struggles should have been obvious but (most of us) we were positive going in because of all the pieces we did have. Injuries really hurt us though.

You think recruiting is down? Hah, we have had the most success in the past few years. They are just young. Yes you are tired of hearing about being "young", but you play better as a redshirt junior/senior than a true freshman/sophomore. Experience and age helps!

If we had all of the players above, we would have had a pretty good shot at being 5-0 right now. We have stayed with each team into the 2nd half despite our losses and injuries. Firing the coach doesn't solve the problem. It makes it worse. Are there better coaches out there? Yes. But they aren't coming here until our conference affiliation changes.

Miles Pace....unfortunately attrition happens at every school, especially successful programs. That's where recruiting comes in

 

[firm_bizzle]

This is the mentality of college sports at the moment. Bad year? Fire the coach.

#whathaveyoudonformelately

5-7 is a bad year. This is a PR disaster.

 

[firm_bizzle]

Those 12 years have been the best UCF football has ever had. But let's kick him to the curb because we aren't winning national titles.

Let's kick him to the curb because of all the baggage.

 

[bignow]

Recruiting has been very average even for American Conf standard and we crapped the bed after the Fiesta Bowl. We could have run rough shot over the state of FL with UF and Miami down but failed miserably.
You CAN'T go winless when you have the eyes of conference realignment. +$200M at stake over the next 10-12 years.

 

[firm_bizzle]

We can't let GOL destroy the program.

 

[ucfversusbcs]

Let's kick him to the curb because of all the baggage.

GOL has collected at least $15 million from the program. I hardly call it kicking him to the curb.

 

[Victorywayucf]

UCF is the only school in the country which does not have a senior at the offensive skill positions (QB, RB, WR, TE). Last year it had five.
• The offensive seniors this year are:
-HB Joseph Puopolo
-HB Cedric Thompson
-OL Tarik Cook
-OL Joey Grant

UCF ranks tied for third in the FBS with just nine seniors overall (scholarship and non-scholarship):
School - Seniors
1) Wake Forest - 6
2) Wyoming - 8
T3) UCF - 9
T3) Vanderbilt - 9
(all combine to be 4-16 so far this year)

SO MANY NEW KNIGHTS
• A look at how many Knights have played in 2015 by class:
-Seniors - 8
-Juniors - 27
-Sophomores - 12
-Freshmen - 22 (including 13 true freshmen)
• Among the group are five juniors who are in their first full-year on the field with UCF after transferring.
• A total of 14 of the 27 juniors are seeing their first significant playing time of their careers in 2015.

NEW STARTERS
• Only two active Knights on either offense or defense have more than 20 career starts (senior DE Thomas Nilesand junior DE Luke Adams).
• Of the 22 Knights who started at Tulane, only five of them have more than seven career starts including this year.
• Meanwhile, 14 of the 22 had never started a collegiate game until 2015.
• Overall, 26 of the 40 Knights who have started at least one game this year never started before (13 on offense and 13 on defense).
• Most first-time starters this year in the FBS (Courtesy of research by Kansas):
School - First-Time Starters in 2015
1) UCF - 26
2) Kansas - 25
3) TCU - 19

FRESH LEGS
• A total of 69 Knights have seen playing time this season.
• Of that group, 32 of those student-athletes (46 percent) had never played for UCF before 2015.
• The 32 first-year players are tied for the fifth-most in the country.

Offense Notes
ONE OF TWO
• UCF and Wake Forest are the only two programs in the country which have recently featured true freshmen starters at quarterback, running back and wide receiver.

HE UNDERCLASSMEN
• UCF’s offense has featured 8-9 underclassmen on the field at times.
• Underclassmen who have seen significant playing time the last three games:
-Freshmen QB Bo Schneider, QB Tyler Harris, WR Tre’Quan Smith, WR Tristan Payton, WR D’erren Wilson, WRCam Stewart, LG Tyler Hudanick, RT Wyatt Miller, G/T Luke Palmer, RB Taj McGowan, RB C.J. Jones.
-Sophomores WR Chris Johnson, LT Aaron Evans, WR Jordan Franks, RT Chavis Dickey, C Tate Hernly.

THE INJURY UPDATE
• UCF leads the nation in most amount of games missed due to injuries on the offensive side of the ball.
• Combined, the Knights have had 28 games missed through five overall contests by the following players: QBJustin Holman (four), WR Taylor Oldham (five), WR Jordan Franks (two), C Joey Grant (four), G/T Chavis Dickey(three), RB Dontravious Wilson (four), WR Jordan Akins (three) and HB Joseph Puopolo (three).
• The above list includes games missed among just starters or projected starters, as well as games where the player was injured at the beginning of the contest or was not able to be featured on offense.

And yet wake forest is younger than us, has higher academic standards, has 0 football reputation. Yet they are doing better than us and have made vast improvements, he'll they almost beat fsu. Wanna know why? Because they fired their old head coach who got passed by for Dave clawsson a young coach that re energized the team

 

[firm_bizzle]

GOL has collected at least $15 million from the program. I hardly call it kicking him to the curb.

True. Whoever gave him that deal should be fired.

 

[ucfversusbcs]

Recruiting has been very average even for American Conf standard and we crapped the bed after the Fiesta Bowl. We could have run rough shot over the state of FL with UF and Miami down but failed miserably.
You CAN'T go winless when you have the eyes of conference realignment. +$200M at stake over the next 10-12 years.

I was told in another post that people like us are ignored for that thought process.

 

[jetsaholic]

Look at the team that we "should" be fielding. These are the players that got hurt or left early:
QB- Justin Holman (broken finger)
RB- William Stanback (kicked off of team)
HB- Dontravious Wilson (banged up)
WR- Breshad Perryman (NFL)
WR- Jordan Akins (knee?)
WR- Taylor Oldham
WR- Tristan Payton (hurt in game 5)
OL- Joey Grant (career ending injury)
OL- Micah Anderson (hasn't played since game 1)

DL- Demetris Anderson (out before season)
DL- didn't someone leave after spring or get injured?
DB- Chris Williams (gun shot)
DB- Jacoby Glenn (NFL)
DB- DJ Killings (hasn't played since he started game 1)

Did you notice all the "talent" that we have missing. We are starting a "2nd team" offense because these guys are out. Any other team in the AAC would have the same problems. 90% of the teams in the country would struggle tremendously. We don't have talent? Well we are in this situations because our offensive and defensive MVP's went to the NFL early because they were TOO TALENTED. I am sorry if you don't think a 1st round pick has "talent". One left after their junior year and the other after their sophomore year!! In case you didn't know...THAT WASN"T PLANNED! We have never had 2 guys leave early for the draft

Our team is not stacked 2-deep. We are a solid team when everyone is healthy. The players leaving early for the draft have always hurts us. Take a look at history.
Kevin Smith left after 2007; 2008 was down
Blake Bortles left after 2013; 2014 was another year full of close calls
Breshad Perryman AND Jacoby Glenn after 2014; the struggles should have been obvious but (most of us) we were positive going in because of all the pieces we did have. Injuries really hurt us though.

You think recruiting is down? Hah, we have had the most success in the past few years. They are just young. Yes you are tired of hearing about being "young", but you play better as a redshirt junior/senior than a true freshman/sophomore. Experience and age helps!

If we had all of the players above, we would have had a pretty good shot at being 5-0 right now. We have stayed with each team into the 2nd half despite our losses and injuries. Firing the coach doesn't solve the problem. It makes it worse. Are there better coaches out there? Yes. But they aren't coming here until our conference affiliation changes.

So can you agree that O'Leary and his coaches should've recruited better in order to deal with attrition?

 

[Marvelouz]

So can you agree that O'Leary and his coaches should've recruited better in order to deal with attrition?

I think UCF_71127's post shows that GOL and team has been able to recruit well. If you think they should have recruited EVEN better would be unrealistic. No one would be able to recruit much better in the AAC conference. UCF_71127's post explains it well... if we had everyone we recruited still with the team and healthy, the product on the field would be different. The reality is we are playing mainly second string guys that are also very young. This team still managed to have 3 half time leads until the wheels fell off in Tulane.

I hate it's that bad but it is what it is.

Call me crazy but next year we absolutely dominate this conference.

 

[jetsaholic]

I think UCF_71127's post shows that GOL and team has been able to recruit well. If you think they should have recruited EVEN better would be unrealistic. No one would be able to recruit much better in the AAC conference. UCF_71127's post explains it well... if we had everyone we recruited still with the team and healthy, the product on the field would be different. The reality is we are playing mainly second string guys that are also very young. This team still managed to have 3 half time leads until the wheels fell off in Tulane.

I hate it's that bad but it is what it is.

Call me crazy but next year we absolutely dominate this conference.

Then if the recruiting is on point, the failure is coaching.

See, no matter how we look at this, it all falls on O'Leary's lap. He's the boss. That's just the way it works. Recruits suck; O'Leary's fault. Coaches suck; O'Leary's fault. He gets paid millions of dollars to prevent either or both those things from happening, yet somehow he manages to get away with fukcing one of those things up every other year. We should've never had a letdown after a BCS bowl win and back to back conference championships.

Dude's lost his mojo, simple.

 

[Knight_Classes_begin_7pm]

The hail with YOUTH!!! I'm tired of excuses, excuses, excuses for years and years! The Gators have zero offensive line experience and look how well the are coached. Our Offensive linemen are undersized (Recruiting!!!!!) YOU DON"T LOSE TO FURMAN AND FIU.....and last year we lost to UCONN with so many darned excuses!! WHEN DO WE TURN THE CORNER???? Under GOL and his ways we won't!! 10 years of progress to be 0-5 in the AAC. Any school we play, the QB has so much time to throw!!! This program is just run like crap under GOL!!!! Don't even get me started on play calling by an offensive line coach.

 

[Gwoz]

Look at the team that we "should" be fielding. These are the players that got hurt or left early:
QB- Justin Holman (broken finger) - Played FIU
RB- William Stanback (kicked off of team) - Played FIU
HB- Dontravious Wilson (banged up) - Played FIU
WR- Breshad Perryman (NFL)
WR- Jordan Akins (knee?) - Played FIU
WR- Taylor Oldham
WR- Tristan Payton (hurt in game 5) - Played FIU
OL- Joey Grant (career ending injury) - - Played FIU
OL- Micah Anderson (hasn't played since game 1) - - Played FIU

The offense that they should be fielding didn't beat FIU. Except for a guy that was injured in Spring and another that was expected to leave the program for almost a year now.

 

[mattropolis]

Great break-down!

 

[jetsaholic]

Great break-down!

Nope.