Midland (Tex.) defensive end Traver Vliem already knew he loved UCF's hire of Scott Frost so he was especially excited when his phone rang on Saturday afternoon with a call from the new head Knight.
Vliem had an offer from the previous staff and was hoping the new regime would also be interested. They are.
"One of the recruiting assistants had been keeping me up to date after O'Leary left," Vliem said. "Frost has started now to contact recruits and the big thing for me is I wanted to make sure I still had an offer from the staff. They don't have to honor old offers I know. But he said he liked me and told me about his vision, stuff like that. It went real good."
UCF entered the season coming off back-to-back conference championships and two years ago finished with a No. 7 ranking after knocking off Baylor in the Fiesta Bowl. The Knights took a step back in 2015, but Frost aims to turn things around quickly.
"Coach Frost said he wants to bring winning football back to UCF and be the best program in the conference," Vliem said. "He wants to play an exciting brand of football like he's talked about. Bring that up-tempo Oregon offense there. He said he'd bring in a defensive coordinator to play an exciting brand of football on the defensive side of the ball. Play a brand that kids want to play in and have fun. There's a lot of good athletes in Florida. I think it'll work out great."
Even before the phone call, Vliem says he was impressed by the hire.
"I was kind of shocked really when UCF hired Coach Frost, but in a good way," Vliem said. I wasn't expecting that at all. Really the first thing that came to mind was what he could do with that offense knowing all the athletes they have in Florida. I think it's a really good hire. I'm excited about it and excited to see what kind of class he can bring in."
In fact, Vliem hopes to take a visit to UCF as soon as possible. He had already penciled in visits to Boise State (Jan. 15) and Fresno State (Jan. 22) for after the New Year.
"Frost talked about a visit in January," Vliem said. "I asked if I could come in December, maybe next weekend if they end up having visits. I don't want to wait until the end of January and put my decision off that long because the class could fill up. If I could get there next week that would be great."
Vliem has visited Orlando before (his family once took a trip to Disney World) but he's never been on campus.
"I really just like all the recent success UCF has had," Vliem said. "It's a good school. I like how everything is set up there with the facilities. Coach Frost was telling me how everything is really close on campus with the dorms and facilities. It sounds like a good place. I'm definitely excited to check it out."
Schools have been recruiting the 6-foot-4, 240-pounder for defensive end, though Vliem admits there's always the possibility he bulks up more into a defensive tackle down the line. Toledo has mentioned outside linebacker. He believes he had around 60 tackles, 20 tackles for loss, seven sacks and four forced fumbles as a senior at Midland.
"I'm definitely happy with how I played," Vliem said. "As a team, we lost in the first round of the playoffs, but it's something for the younger guys to build on. Obviously you want to go further and win state, but I'm definitely happy with where the program is going."
