Welcome to 2025

A new year has arrived for us all, and I wanted to share a few updates you can expect from the Sons in 2025.

First and most exciting, we will be officially welcoming six new interns to the Sons of UCF during the spring semester. This is a big deal for us because it allows us to continue to serve our mission of giving back to UCF and helping give people a platform to develop their voice. With school starting this week, you will begin seeing some of the new faces really soon, and we’ll be sure to introduce them to you in this newsletter. Do us a favor and give them a warm Sons of UCF welcome!

As we announced last week, Sons of UCF LIVE will now start at 9pm on Thursday evenings. We did not come to this decision lightly, but we think that starting an hour later will allow more people to watch live and join in on the fun in the chat. We will still be available in all of the same places, and you can expect the usual mix of information and hi-jinx.

We are also going to continue to find new and creative ways to cover UCF and build the Sons community. Every day, it seems like a new content creator emerges, or a show claims to be the ONLY or the BEST to cover UCF, but we like what we do, and we are going to keep doing it, and hopefully, we’ll continue to evolve and get better. Having said that, we know you have options when looking for UCF content, and we thank you for your consistent support.

Do you have legal questions and aren’t sure where to turn? Well look no further than UCF alum Michael Hoffman and his firm of Warner, Hoffman, Greig, and Garcia. Check out their website for more details:

The Football Roster coming into focus

As I have done the previous few weeks, here are the updates to the football coaching staff and roster over the past week:

UCF officially announced the hiring of Shawn Clark as offensive line coach and Brandon Harris as defensive backs coach. Clark was previously the head coach at Appalachian State, and Harris was co-DC and DB coach at FAU:

Per Matt Zenitz of On3 Sports, UCF is targeting Jimmy Beal from Utah State as running backs coach:

Also per Matt Zenitz of On3 Sports, UCF is looking to hire Zach Duval as strength and conditioning coach. Duval worked at UCF under Scott Frost in 2016-17:

Lastly, per Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports, UCF is finalizing a deal to hire Mark D’Onofrio to the defensive staff:

Based on announcements and reports, here is where things stand with the coaching staff:

Offense

• Steve Cooper - Offensive Coordinator

• McKenzie Milton - QB Coach

• Sean Beckton - WR Coach

• Shawn Clark - OL Coach

• Jimmy Beal - RB Coach (reported)

* There is no TE Coach specifically announced, so it is likely that one of the current coaches will cover that position group or UCF would hire an analyst to run that position group.

Defense

• Alex Grinch - Defensive Coordinator (could also coach Safety position)

• Mike Dawson - EDGE Coach

• Kenny Martin - DL Coach

• Brandon Harris - DB Coach

• Mark D’Onofrio - LB Coach (reported, no position group confirmed)

* There has been no announcement on Special Teams Coach, which again could be assigned to one of the current coaches or be filled by an analyst hire.

The football roster also saw some additions through the portal this week, including:

• WR DJ Black – Limestone University

• DL Sincere Edwards - Pittsburgh

• DB Jyaire Brown – LSU

• QB Tayven Jackson - Indiana

• LB Lewis Carter - Oklahoma

This week is obviously highlighted by the addition of QB Tayven Jackson, who spent the past two seasons at Indiana after taking a redshirt season at Tennessee. At Indiana, Jackson started six games over his two seasons, including one in 2024. He also appeared in seven total games for a Hoosier team that found its way into the inaugural college football playoff. Throughout his college career, he has accounted for 11 total touchdowns, and he will have two years of eligibility remaining.

Jackson’s addition puts the QB room total at four currently, including Jackson, transfer Cam Fancher, Dylan Rizk, and Jacurri Brown. It is probably too soon to predict the starter just yet, but it appears things will be setting up for an interesting competition beginning with spring practice.

The defensive additions this week are also pretty important, specifically DE Sincere Edwards and LB Lewis Carter. Some of you may remember Edwards from the 2024 recruiting cycle, as he was originally committed to the Knights before flipping to Pittsburgh late. His lone season with the Panthers saw him amass 17 total tackles, 6 tackles for loss, and 3 sacks. Carter comes to the Knights after two seasons with the Oklahoma Sooners. The Tampa product had 30 tackles and 3 tackles for loss in his Sooner career. Both players should figure to be contenders for key roles on the re-worked UCF defense.

You can always get your Sons of UCF content in the audio format on all of the major platforms. Find your favorite and be sure to subscribe

The Week That Was

If you missed any of the Sons content this week, there is always time to get caught up:

Christian and Bailey celebrated the 250th episode of the Pegasus Podcast:

Eric Lopez and Trace Trylko looked back on 2024 in this episode of Around The Kingdom:

Nick Patti and Ben Hazel joined us this week on Sons LIVE. Check out the replay HERE

If you haven’t seen the new and improved Knights Fan Shop, you are really missing out. You’ll find some exclusive and unique UCF merch:

Hoop Dreams

The Men’s Basketball Team opened the Big 12 Conference schedule with a big road win at Texas Tech on New Year’s Eve. Optimism was high for this team, but unfortunately, that came to a crashing halt on Sunday with a blowout loss at home against Kansas, 99-48. Nevertheless, Andrew Cherico and Dwayne Jones provided a preview of the game:

Meanwhile, Andrew Cherico dropped his official conference schedule prediction video this week, check it out:

Today I Learned

The Big 12 Conference is fortunate to have some great coaches in both football and men’s basketball, but, did you know that UCF is the only school in the Big 12 that boasts a head football coach and head men’s basketball coach who played in the highest professional league in their prospective sport?

Football coach Scott Frost was drafted in the 3rd round of the 1998 NFL Draft by the New York Jets, and also spent time with the Cleveland Browns, Green Bay Packers, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers before retiring in 2003.

Men’s basketball coach Johnny Dawkins was the 10th overall pick in the 1986 NBA Draft by the San Antonio Spurs, and spent 9 years in the NBA with stops in Philadelphia and Detroit.

Some other notable professional careers by Big 12 coaches include Colorado’s Deion Sanders (Football), Arizona State’s Bobby Hurley (Basketball), and TCU’s Jamie Dixon (Basketball)

Have you been to the Sons of UCF website recently? If not, be sure you bookmark us so you can always check in for the latest from talented writers such as Dali Drama and Brian Peterson:

Cow of The Week

The world of college sports has changed significantly over the past 4 years, and perhaps no player personifies that change more than QB Jaden Rashada. I want to be clear that the cow in this situation isn’t necessarily Jaden himself, but rather all of the things that are now involved in college sports in 2024.

He’s committed to four different schools, asked out of one NLI, played three total games, and filed one lawsuit. After not playing a down in 2024, Rashada is on the move again, having entered the transfer portal this week.

I really hope this kid finds the right situation, but let’s not pretend that the adults haven’t played a large role in creating the environment and driving the decision-making.

The Week Ahead

We’ll be back to a normal week of shows, including Pegasus Podcast, Around The Kingdom, and Sons of UCF LIVE. We’ll also have an interview with The Athletic’s Mitch Sherman looking back at Scott Frost’s tenure at UCF.

We’ll also have a recap of the UCF and Kansas basketball game, and complete coverage as UCF welcomes Colorado to Addition Financial Arena.

As always, take care of yourselves and each other.

Charge On!