Top 5 Moments of 2024

We are a few days away from flipping the calendar page to 2025, which always reminds me of how quickly time pushes forward. For UCF, 2024 will probably be remembered as an interesting transition year in the athletics program, with some good moments sprinkled into a lot of inconsistency and frustration. We know what happened with the football program, men’s basketball had some bright spots, women’s hoops struggled all season, volleyball was a flop, softball struggled in Big 12 play, women’s soccer didn’t produce much success, men’s soccer battled injuries, and baseball ushered in the Rich Wallace era with some inspired play. However, I vow to not let this deter me from highlighting the positives of 2024 as only the Sons of UCF can: a Top 5.

OLI (Outside looking in): Softball losing a 12 inning thriller against Auburn in the Regional round. UCF Pitcher Sarah Willis threw 200 pitches in a gutsy performance, but UCF couldn’t get anything going offensively against Auburn pitcher Maddie Penta.

OLI (Outside looking in): UCF Baseball making a solid run to the semi-finals of the Big 12 tournament, earning them a a berth in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2017.

OLI (Outside looking in): Groundbreaking on the new Roth Tower finally took place after the conclusion of the 2024 season. The new tower will provide additional premium seating and event space, and is being funded by the Tourist Development Tax money UCF was awarded from Orange County. This would have been listed higher, but a groundbreaking means nothing until something is built.

5: UCF Football with a comeback win at TCU. After finding themselves in a 28-7 hole early in the third quarter, the trio of RJ Harvey, KJ Jefferson, and Kobe Hudson helped to engineer a dramatic comeback win in the first road game of the season. The win moved the Knights to 3-0, and created a wave of optimism on the young season.[Editors Note: The Knights would only win one more game all season].

4: Fox Sports Big Noon Kickoff broadcasts live from Memory Mall. The win against TCU set up a matchup between then 3-0 UCF and the 3-1 Colorado Buffaloes. With Colorado coach Deion Sanders, and star players Travis Hunter and Sheduer Sanders coming to town, it created a great opportunity for the Knights to showcase the program and announce their presence to the nation. The event itself went off fairly well, highlighted by Mark Ingram spending some quality time with Knugget, and DJ Khaled performing throughout the show. While the crowd was not as large as the 2018 ESPN College Gameday appearance, Fox announced it to be the largest crowd they had seen up until that point. [Editors note: Everything else about that day sucked].

3: Scott Frost is hired as Head Football Coach. This newsletter has covered the condition of the football program over the past month, so I won’t rehash that here. However, the announcement of Scott Frost as head football coach created an energy and excitement that was sorely needed. According to the Orlando Sentinel, UCF received a financial jolt upon Frost’s hire, and fan support poured in all over social media. Who knows if this will actually work, but all things considered, this was a big moment for UCF.

2: RJ Harvey breaks the touchdown record. One bright spot from the football season was watching the continued greatness of UCF running back RJ Harvey. With his 22nd rushing touchdown on the season against Utah, he eclipsed the all-time touchdowns scored record held by Kevin Smith. He later added a receiving touchdown, bringing his Knights career total to 48. Hopefully the yuck of the season doesn’t serve as an erasure on the tremendous year by one of the best to ever do it in the black and gold.

1: UCF Basketball upsets #3 Kansas. Coming into the 2023-24 season, with a brand new roster and stiff Big 12 competition, nobody had high expectations for the UCF Basketball team. However, when January 10th rolled around the Knights shocked almost everybody in the college basketball world by pulling out a 65-60 upset over the Jayhawks. This game will also be remembered for the introduction of the palm fronds in the student section, which made the postgame court storm even more fun. The Knights would go on to score big wins against Texas, Oklahoma, and Texas Tech in their first season of Big 12 conference play.

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Roster and Personnel Turnover

If you are like me, trying to keep up with all of the changes for UCF Football has been a challenge. To help us all out, here is an updated tracker on the puts and takes for your Knights.

Coaching Staff

Hired

• Alex Grinch - Defensive Coordinator - Most recently DB/co-DC at Wisconsin

• Steve Cooper - Offensive Coordinator - Most recently offensive analyst at Boise State

• McKenzie Milton - Quarterback Coach - Most recently offensive analyst at Tennessee

• Sean Beckton - Wide Receiver Coach - Most recently an analyst at UCF

• Kenny Martin - Defensive Tackle Coach - Retained from previous staff

• Mike Dawson - Edge and Defensive Run Game Coach - Most recently a defensive assistant at Kansas

• Shawn Clark* - Offensive Line Coach - Most recently the head coach at Appalachian State. [Editor’s Note: This hire has not been officially announced by UCF, but has been reported by Pete Thamel of ESPN]

NCAA rules stipulate that a team can have 10 on-field assistant coaches, meaning Scott Frost has three more positions to fill. The obvious positions that are still open are special teams coordinator, running back coach, tight end coach, and defensive back coach. It is possible that UCF will have a coach fill multiple roles to get to the maximum of 10 staff coaches. It should also be noted that a rule change in the spring of 2024 allows for analysts to work in on-field roles, so you could see UCF hire into those roles to support specific position groups

Not returning

• Gus Malzahn - Named Offensive Coordinator at Florida State

• Tim Harris, Jr - Named Wide Receiver Coach and Pass Game Coordinator at Florida State

• Herb Hand - Named Offensive Line Coach at Florida State

• Kam Martin - Named Running Back Coach and Assistant Head Coach at Tulsa

• Addison Williams - Named Defensive Back Coach at Nebraska

• Darin Hinshaw - Named Quarterback Coach at Purdue

Three coaches from the previous staff do not have a confirmed role on the new staff and have not announced a new role elsewhere

• Kenny Ingram - Defensive End Coach

• Trovon Reed - Cornerback Coach

• Brian Blackmon - Tight End and Special Teams Coach

[Editor’s Note: The official UCF Football roster no longer lists any of the above coaches]

Players

Newcomers

• DT RJ Jackson - last played at Tulsa

• DB Brandon Jacob - last played at Maryland

• QB Cam Fancher - last played at FAU

• OL Gaard Memmelaar - last played at Washington

• DB Isaiah Reed - last played at Brown

• DB DJ Bell - last played at Memphis

[Editor’s Note: this list is accurate as of 6:30pm EST on 12/22/24. It also represents only the players officially announced by UCF. The Knights also hold a verbal commitment from junior college running back Waymond Jordan, but he has not officially signed and has been visiting other schools of late. Media reports also have WR Day Day Farmer committing to the Knights, but that has not been confirmed by either party]

Transfer Portal (* indicates players who opted out mid-season)

• QB EJ Colson → Purdue

• QB Riley Trujillo

• WR *Xavier Townsend → Iowa State

• WR Tyree Patterson → Middle Tennessee

• TE Randy Pittman → FSU

• TE Reece Adkins → UMass

• OL Marcellus Marshall → Minnesota

• OL Adrian Medley → FSU

• C Caden Kitler → Arkansas

• OL Jonathan Cline

• OL Keyon Cox → Oregon State

• OL *Wes Dorsey

• DE *Kaven Call

• DE Zavier Carter

• DT Lee Hunter → Texas Tech

• DT Matthew Alexander → Georgia Tech

• LB Xe’ree Alexander → Washington

• CB Chasen Johnson → SMU

• DB *Bryon Threats → UCLA

• DB *William Wells

• K *Colton Boomer

• P Mitch McCarthy → Indiana

[Editor’s Note: the schools listed are what has been announced by either the player or the new school. Some of these players might not have officially signed]

Obviously things can change quickly and all of these decisions should probably be considered fluid. It is also important to remember that there is a spring portal window.

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The Week That Was

It was another busy week for the Sons of UCF team, and if you missed anything you still have time to get caught up:

Christian and Bailey talk UCF’s roster reset on the Pegasus Podcast

Eric Lopez and Trace Trylko break down the first week of Scott Frost 2.0

Andrew Cherico joined Adam on Sons LIVE, featuring Coach Lounsberry and Ben Hazel. You can watch that episode HERE

You can always enjoy all of the Sons content on your favorite podcast platform. While you are there, feel free to leave us a rating and review.

The Best of the Rest

Andrew Cherico and Dwayne Jones were able to attend the annual Cure Bowl game held in Downtown Orlando:

UCF Basketball closed out their non-conference schedule with a blowout win over Jacksonville University. The game also marked the season debut of Jaylin Sellers and Mikey Williams:

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Today I Learned

The hire of Alex Grinch as defensive coordinator certainly struck a nerve with UCF fans and the national landscape, many of whom were not supportive of the move:

While we have yet to hear from Scott Frost or Alex Grinch about the hire, I did find an interesting tidbit that might explain the connection.

In 2005, Grinch took a job as cornerbacks coach with New Hampshire, joining a staff that included offensive coordinator Chip Kelly. Grinch has been quoted as saying that his time working with Kelly helped him learn a lot about offensive football. After the 2006 season, Kelly would depart for Oregon, where he would first become offensive coordinator, and later head coach in 2010. In the 2009 season, a young Scott Frost joined the Oregon coaching staff as passing game coordinator and wide receiver coach.

It has been stated that Frost and Kelly have a close relationship, so it might be safe to assume that Frost reached out to Kelly (now the offensive coordinator at Ohio State) to get some additional insight on Grinch. To the extent it is relevant, Grinch’s experience working opposite a Chip Kelly-esqe offense might have also been one of the deciding factors. This by no means indicates the hire will work, but could offer some insight into the connection and thought process.

Cow of the Week

This guy had a rough weekend, almost as rough as the entire opening round of the playoff, which did not produce any overly compelling games:

Happy Holidays

On behalf of all of us here at the Sons of UCF, we wish you and yours a safe, happy, and healthy holiday season. As always, we are grateful for your support, and look forward to continuing to provide you UCF coverage into the new year.

Take care of yourselves, and each other.

Charge On!