UCF Football: Friday Spring Practice Notes (4/11)

ORLANDO, FL—Like many schools, the UCF football team is not having a spring football game this year. UCF had a second open practice available to the public on Friday, which I attended. Here are my notes on what I saw and how the depth charts are starting to take shape.

UCF Spring Football: Saturday Practice Notes

QB Competition Two-Man Race

In a surprise to many, Dylan Rizk has decided to enter the transfer portal this week. In the first open practice, he showed good versatility. However, he did have some bad decisions that led to turnovers. The rumor is that he was going to be the fourth quarterback, according to his play for the whole spring.

Three quarterbacks are fighting for the starting position. However, it is likely between Tayven Jackson and Jacurri Brown for the starting job. Former FAU quarterback Cam Fancher just has not shown enough to prove he can win the job. He is a very capable backup, but still looks to run too quickly instead of reading the field.

Jackson had a strong stretch of throws in the second half of Friday’s UCF spring practice that shows why he was such a high football recruit out of high school. He had zip on his throws and good ball placement. The quarterback was also more decisive this practice, showing the mobility to escape sacks and excel in a RPO offense. Jackson had a long run where a defender pushed him a little late when he was running out of bounds. However, he retained balance, and got the crowd involved. That is the kind of swagger the offense needs, and Jackson is starting to show it more.

Brown started slow but made some very nice throws as the practice went on. He is the better runner, but I am not sure if he has the accuracy to beat out Jackson. Brown has good arm strength, but his ball placement was inconsistent. The question is, if Jackson wins the job, will Brown stay? If he does, I could see a package in the offense for him because of his playmaking with his legs.

Running Back By Committee?

Usually, a committee is a bad thing because that means no one has stood out. In UCF’s case, all of the running backs look good and need to get on the field. In 2017, when Scott Frost led the Knights to an undefeated season, the carry distribution was split between four backs. There was a lead back with over 100 carries, but four players all had over 40 carries.

Myles Montgomery looks to be the leader in the room, on and off the field. On Friday, he did not have many huge runs, but he consistently pushed the pile for extra yards.

Stacy Gage was also impressive in drills and the live portion of practice. He has quick feet and can make people miss. He did have a fumble but was able to recover it.

Jaden Nixon continues be a key player in the offense and showed his power in the Oklahoma Drills, fighting through defenders to get to the endzone.

Four-star freshman Taevion Swint participated in drills but did not take part in any of the contact. It will be hard to keep him off the field in his Freshman year.

If I had to guess this is the depth chart at RB right now:

• Myles Montgomery
• Jaden Nixon
• Stacy Gage
• Taevion Swint
• Tyler Wrenn
• Agyeman Addae

WRs Continue to Impress

In my eyes Carl Jenkins Jr. and Waden Charles look the best of the wide receiver group and should be heavily involved. Both have strong hands and are getting a lot of reps in practice as starters. The freshman receivers do not look like freshman and have confidence in their game.

Ric’Darious Farmer is going to have a huge role and be a player the coaching staff is trying to get into open space. Early in practice he was getting screens, and even lined up in the backfield for a toss play. However, health will be a determining factor. Farmer was banged up after a rep in the Oklahoma Drill and did not return. In his absence, RS Freshman Bredell Richardson took over the slot role and looked very good.

They may not be starters, but DJ Black, Caleb Rollerson, and Duane Thomas Jr. all are going to be hard to keep off the field. Rollerson and Black are big-bodied receivers that have the speed still to run away from defenders. There are so many weapons at wide receiver it will be interesting how playing time will be distributed.

Defensive Notes

The UCF defense was not as dominant in this football practice as in the first spring session, but they still looked strong. I did not see any interceptions but there were a couple nice pass breakups that stopped touchdowns.

Philip Dunnam was quiet for most of practice but finished strong. The former FAU product broke up a crossing route in the end zone and made a huge hit on a running play to stop a sure touchdown. Jayden Bellamy for a second practice stood out to me as well with his excellent make up speed in breaking up passes.

The interior was very stout against the run for most of the practice. Yet two players that stood were Derrick LeBlanc and Keshaun Hudson. There was question about the tackle position because the three top players in snaps were gone from a season ago. There is many capable players so far and the interior looks to be a strong suit for the defense. In terms of alignment there seems to be quite a bit of shifting pre snap in the Alex Grinch defense.

Punt Returning

The UCF spring practice ended with some special teams reps and there were three football players fielding kicks. Bredell Richardson, Jaden Nixon, and Taevion Swint all tok turns on catching punts.

Richardson dropped the first attempt, but was solid after that. Swint had some impressive over the shoulder catches on long booming punts. There was no actual returns but all three players should provide strong return ability to give the Knights some extra field position.