When UCF kicked off its spring football camp last March, the electricity surrounding the school’s first season in the Big 12 was palpable. This time around, the only thing felt in the air was the unseasonable chill that descended Monday on Central Florida.
Nearly three months after wrapping up a 6-7 campaign in the program’s first year in a Power 5 conference, the Knights began Year 2 with a little less fanfare, but that doesn’t mean they were lacking plenty of reasons to be excited.
“I really liked our energy and our method,” said coach Gus Malzahn, who is coaching his fourth spring camp at UCF. “We’re rotating everybody, getting everybody a chance to run the base offense and base defense and learning to practice and be a great teammate and everything that goes with it.”
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The roster has undergone a transformation. More than a dozen transfers, led by former Arkansas quarterback KJ Jefferson, took to the practice field along with 11 true freshmen as part of the 2024 recruiting class — the highest-ranked class in school history.
There also was a bevy of returning fifth-year starters such as running back RJ Harvey, receiver Kobe Hudson, defensive tackle Ricky Barber, and offensive tackle Marcellus Marshall.
“Those guys are what I call impact players,” Malzahn said. “They’ve proven what they can do at a high level. You can tell they’re desperate. They’re desperate to win and desperate to be leaders to help our team and everything that goes with it.”
Harvey is coming off a career year in which he rushed for 1,416 yards.
“Everybody has been working hard this offseason,” Harvey said. “Every single day in winter workouts, everybody has been improving. We need to take that to the practice field and get better every day.”
Hudson, who is taking over the No. 1 receiver spot after Javon Baker’s early departure for the NFL, is focusing this spring on improving his overall game and becoming a better leader.
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“It makes me want to be great,” said Hudson, who finished second to Baker with 900 receiving yards. “It makes me want to come out and do everything right every day. I want to make plays daily to be that role model they admire.”
For Barber, the first practice of the spring is about getting those younger players into the mix, especially on defense.
“We have many of the main guys that we had last year, but we lost big names like [defensive end] Tre’Mon Morris-Brash, [linebackers] Jason Johnson and Walter Yates III,” he said. “So it’s about bringing those new guys into the fold and meshing them with our culture.”
After finishing last in the Big 12 in rush defense, Malzahn prioritized stopping the run.
He hired a familiar face, Ted Roof, who worked with Malzahn at Auburn, as the Knights’ new defensive coordinator. Roof is well-known for producing some of the top run defenses in the country.
“Our goal is to stop the run,” said Barber. “That’s something we don’t have time to wait around to do that. The early goal is to stop the run and develop the young guys.”
Jefferson may have only been around the program a few months, but the fifth-year senior knows the importance of keeping spring practices competitive.
“You want guys to come out there with a chip on their shoulder on both sides of the ball,” he said. “When both teams [offense and defense] have a chip on their shoulder, it just brings out the best in everybody on the field.”
Email Matt Murschel at mmurschel@orlandosentinel.com or follow him on X at @osmattmurschel.
