During the past several weeks, UCF coach Gus Malzahn and his staff have been burning up the miles on the recruiting trails.
With only a few days until the early signing period Wednesday, the Knights hope to put the finishing touches on what should be their best recruiting class in program history.
It is ranked No. 27 in the latest composite rankings by 247Sports. Most of the 18 verbal commitments are from Florida (11).
“He’s done very well in recruiting the state and then staying regional to fill up the whole recruiting class basically,” Adam Gorney, national recruiting director of Rivals and Yahoo Sports, said about Malzahn. “You don’t need to leave the state of Florida to have an elite recruiting class.
“They’ve gone after guys that could have easily gone to bigger name schools in bigger conferences and [have] gotten them to stay home.”
Receivers Ric’Darious Farmer (Melbourne), Kason Stokes (Seffner) and Jordyn Bridgewater (Winter Garden), cornerbacks Jaylen Heyward (Rockledge), Jashad Presley (Orlando) and Chasen Johnson (Sanford), running back Stacy Gage (Fort Lauderdale) and quarterback Riley Trujillo (Jacksonville) are among a few players from the Sunshine State.
“I love what Gus has done in trying to recruit the 407 [area code] and the I-4 corridor,” added Andrew Ivins, scouting director at 247Sports. “I thought the program got away from that under Josh Heupel. They want to get the best players out of the top programs yearly, whether Seminole High School, Apopka High School or Osceola.”
There is plenty UCF can offer recruits, including a good environment and a chance to get on the field and play early. It’s enough to entice recruits to stay closer to home.
QB EJ Colson reclassifies from 2025 to join UCF’s 2024 class
That has worked well for the Knights, who signed local blue-chip…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/move-big-12-benefits-ucf-110000542.html
Author : Orlando Sentinel
Publish date : 2023-12-18 11:00:00
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