SOTC Update: UCF Knights
Gus Malzahn's final season unraveled quickly. They turn back the clock to a finer day, one that included a self-proclaimed 'National Championship' under the direction of one Scott Frost.
UCF Knights
State of the Chart™ Recap Edition
Live All-In Ranking: 48th
Offense: 38th
Defense: 51st
2024 Results: 4-8 (2-7 in Big XII)
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|||||| STATE OF THE CHART™ SUMMARY
The final season of the Gus Malzahn era seemed to unravel quickly. Coming into the season, this showed as the top roster talent-wise in the Big XII. As the season rolled on, things started to take a turn. It started with quarterback KJ Jefferson’s benching after a sluggish start. It ended with a four-win season and Malzahn bailing to head to Tallahassee to become Florida State’s offensive coordinator. The administration turned back the clock to bring Scott Frost back to Orlando after leaving for the Nebraska job back in 2018 following a self-proclaimed National Championship run in 2017. The Nebraska stop failed, and he got more experience in the NFL before taking on this roster that was depleted following departure. They were able to retain the future quarterback Dylan Rizk after he established himself a year ago. Other than retaining some of that talent, they must go to the portal to supplement the roster in order to compete in the competitive and parity-filled Big 12 conference. This may take a year or two to get up to speed completely, but Frost has done this before. It took just two years to go from a winless team to a “National Champion” in his last stint here. That’s not a realistic expectation this time around, but if they get some bounces, they certainly can improve on the four wins of 2024.
|||||| HEAD COACH AND COACHING STAFF
The range of outcomes that have followed Scott Frost in his career as a coach is befuddling. He was a successful offensive coordinator at Oregon and followed that up with a “National Championship” here in Orlando in 2017 before getting the Nebraska job. He bombed in Lincoln before heading back to Orlando to ‘run it back.’ He’ll need to retain some of the talent Gus Malzahn left behind and utilize the portal to build this back up.
Coaching Staff Notes/Changes:
Here is a look at the staff that Frost has compiled here in his second stint as the head coach:
Offensive Coordinator: Steve Cooper comes in from Boise State where he was an offensive assistant. He took all of that Broncos success in a year after leading the Maine offense in 2023. He worked closely with Frost at Nebraska in 2018-22 in a variety of roles. Frost will call the offensive plays.
Defensive Coordinator: Alex Grinch was much maligned as USC’s defensive coordinator in 2022-23. He has worked at other large programs, including Ohio State, Oklahoma and most recently, Wisconsin as their linebackers coach in 2024.
Offensive Line: Shawn Clark takes this job after his run as Appalachian State’s head coach from 2020-24. He had some success before the wheels fell off in his final season. He was the Mountaineers offensive line coach before his promotion there and brings a wealth of experience to the role.
Wide Receivers (Associate Head Coach): Sean Beckton Jr. — retained from previous staff; was most recently an offensive analyst.
Special Teams Coordinator: Pete Alamar — former Rice interim head coach & special teams coordinator.
Quarterbacks: McKenzie Milton — former UCF star quarterback and Tennessee offensive assistant in 2024.
Running Backs: Jimmy Beal — Utah State RB coach in 2024.
Defensive Tackles: Kenny Martin — retained from previous staff; been here since 2021.
EDGE (Run Game Coordinator on defense): Mike Dawson — Kansas Sr. Analyst in 2024 and Ohio State in 2023.
Linebackers: Mark D’Onofrio — Stanford linebackers coach in 2023-24.
Defensive Backs: Brandon Harris — Florida Atlantic cornerbacks coach (2002-24) and Florida International cornerbacks coach (2021).
Note: This is a “dynamic” article; meaning we will update any information that comes in this “off-season” and post a note when impactful moves are made or news breaks.
|||||| 2024 SCHEDULE / RESULTS ANALYSIS
This was about a standard Big XII slate of action, though what made it a bit tougher is the non-conference game squeezed in week six at Florida. That was supposed to be the tipping point for Gators head coach Billy Napier’s tenure. Instead, it was an affirming one for Napier and the beginning of the end for Guz Malzahn. The rout at the hands of Colorado the week prior was the start of a five-game losing streak and dropping eight of their last nine — the only win against a hapless and injured Arizona team. Malzahn appeared to have lost this team that was full of talent and took the offensive coordinator job at Florida State quickly following the conclusion of this rough season.
||||||| POSITION GROUP CHECK-INS
OFFENSE: Nobody will question Gus Malzahn’s offensive chops, and it certainly wasn’t the offense that held his final Knights team back. They were good but inconsistent. As usual, they were really good on the ground, but the passing game kept them from reaching their full potential. When you rank in the top 25 in most meaningful metrics but finish 49th with 30.4 points per game, something isn’t right. And, this time, it wasn’t because they weren’t finishing drives. They had an 84.2% touchdown rate overall and 71% in the red zone. Ah ha! Found it. It’s that quarterback play and the untimely interceptions. They threw 11 interceptions between four different passers. When quarterback KJ Jefferson, the Arkansas transfer, fell out of favor, it was put on the shoulders of redshirt freshman Dylan Rizk, who established himself as the future here. As the new regime comes in, things will undoubtedly change here. Frost will bring back his offense, and unlike at Nebraska, he’ll have the personnel to execute what he wants to do — and, more importantly, what worked here previously.
||| QB
KJ Jefferson was supposed to set the world on fire here in 2024. It didn’t materialize, and eventually, he lost his job. It went to Dylan Rizk, who played well over six games and appeared as the front-runner to lead the new Frost offense. That changed when he hit the portal in the spring. Jacurri Brown returns and two transfers come in to try to wrestle away the starting job, including the athletic (but oft injured) Tayven Jackson from Indiana and Cam Fancher from FAU/Marshall.
Updated (4/10): News of Dylan Rizk’s entry into the spring portal changed this outlook at bit. It has been updated above.
||| RB
RJ Harvey was simply a beast here. Taking over 230 carries for 1,500+ yards and 22 (!) scores in 2024. They leaned on him quite a bit and he delivered. He’s headed to the NFL. Myles Montgomery is the lone returner here with much experience. Frost brings in Jaden Nixon from Oklahoma State to likely form a split situation with Montgomery. The success of this group depends a lot on how that rebuild offensive line comes together — more on that later.
||| WR
Speaking of rebuilds, look at this room. Anybody receiving a target, plus two more, are all headed out. Kobe Hudson was the best option here in a weak passing attack. He heads to the NFL, while the rest graduate or transfer. Four transfers come in, but they are all ‘projects’ in some form. Marcus Burke (Florida) and Ric’Darious Farmer (West Virginia) were both four-star prospects, with Farmer being one in last year’s class. Those two have the most upside, but others will have to emerge.
Update (4/16): Farmer suffered a season-ending injury in spring camp and will miss the ‘24 season, take a medical redshirt and attempt a return for 2026.
||| TE
Randy Pittman was a good one and follows Malzahn to FSU. Backup Evan Morris runs out of eligibility. Kylan Fox and Grant Stevens both saw time a year ago and will return. They brought in Dylan Wade from Maryland, who hauled in 29 passes a year ago for the Terps. If this gets back to the Frost offense of yesteryear, the tight end has a role, and Wade could emerge as a go-to target for whoever is throwing the ball.
||| OL
This was one of the best run-blocking offensive lines in the country. Only one will return for the 2025 version: RT Paul Rubelt. That’s a fine start. They bring in five from the portal with various specialties and experience levels, but none of them jump off the page as surefire replacements. This rebuild will need to include some internal players who are sticking around and emerging. Former Appalachian State head coach Shawn Clark is just the guy to bring this all together as a key to the entire offense.
DEFENSE: The defense was littered with talent but defensive coordinator Addison Williams just didn’t quite put it all together to form a dynamic unit. It wasn’t bad — but, like the offense, it was certainly inconsistent. When a team found a hole, they exploited it relentlessly. They gave up 34+ points five times during the season, with the low point being the Colorado debacle when the Buffs dropped a 48-burger on them. Their best asset was stopping the run; holding opponents to just 3.5 yards per carry — ranked 19th in FBS. They could have been better at getting off the field, allowing a 42.8% conversion rate on third down (97th). That’s all out the window as the new regime comes in and Frost turns to the veteran but oft-questioned Alex Grinch at defensive coordinator. Some of that deep talent pool will stick around on this roster, but most of the starters and rotation contributors are heading out. So, this is a full rebuild and it’s not like Grinch hasn’t had talent to work with before (see: USC tenure). He’ll need to shed that reputation and mold this into something quickly. That will be quite the challenge.
||| DL
You can see the green/blue in the ‘overall’ column here and the depth of talent on this line. Unfortunately, most of them depart, including the leader Nyjalik Kelly, who entered the portal. Malachi Lawrence is the only primary player who will return to this group. They hit the portal to bring in a good one from Pitt, EDGE Sincere Edwards. R.J. Jackson (Tulsa) and Horace Lockett (Georgia Tech) are less hyped but are likely to contribute.
||| LB
Deshawn Pace was the leader here, but they had other solid contributors that didn’t go very deep, with just four in the primary rotation. All are gone. Andrew Harris will be a returning Junior and former 4-star prospect. He’ll be asked to step into a role. The new leader is fully expected to be Lewis Carter from Oklahoma. Four other transfers come in, including an exciting veteran from FCS Colgate, Cole Kozlowski. Despite the full rebuild, they have enough here to match the level of play from 2024.
||| DB
Mac McWilliams and BJ Adams were a solid pair of cornerbacks now heading to the next level. They also lose a full-time starter, SS Quadric Bullard. CB Chasen Johnson was a solid player as a true freshman, and he returns as the most experienced. They hit the portal hard to bring in quite a few to quickly build this back up. That is headlined by a pair of safeties, Jayden Bellamy from Syracuse and Phillip Dunnam from FAU. Grinch has been given the parts, and now he must build this engine.
SPECIAL TEAMS: …
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|||||| TRANSFER PORTAL TRACKER
This is the most action one team will see on both sides of the ledger in the portal. At time of publish, the Knights are losing 26 and picking up 28 players. As of now, our portal rankings have this as one of the best classes, which is saying something, considering the number of losses. If Frost and company are going to get this turned around quickly, it will be via the portal while UCF still has the brand recognition.
Below is a screen shot of the full, live Transfer Portal Tracker over at CFBDepth.com. Click the image or the button below to view it in its entirety…
|||||| 2025 RECRUITING CLASS
It’s little doubt that this class has been wrecked a bit by the coaching change. Some players reneged on their commitment and re-entered after Malzahn left for FSU. Frost has done a decent job keeping some of them around and then supplementing with his own. The two highest-rated player are running back Taevion Swint and defensive back Tony Williams.
Here is a snapshot of the 2025 Recruiting Class+ with a link to the live page with updates throughout the cycle:
|||||| 2025 SCHEDULE LOOK AHEAD
This looks similar to a year ago. They will get a test from Jacksonville State in week one, but they are going through a coaching change as well and may need some time to gel. The big non-conference matchup will be when Bill Belechick and North Carolina come to Orlando in week four — off the bye week. Then comes that always tough Big XII slate that has five road games this year.
There is a lot of movement and decisions to be made throughout the off-season, including more portal moves, winter workouts and spring ball. Get all caught up with the full-on State of the Chart Magazine coming in July. If you missed the ad before, get more information and give us your e-mail to stay in the loop on everything SOTC!
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