http://www.underdogdynasty.com/recruiting/2016/2/5/10914796/ucf-2016-football-recruiting-huge-success-under-frost
Around these parts, we were already pretty excited about new UCF Head Coach Scott Frost. Well shucks, following a great signing day we discussed over here, things are even better.
There aren't many events that
allow one to judge a new head coach who was not even held a practice
yet. National Signing Day is one. For Frost, UCF's first class under his
tenure looks to be a triumph, especially considering where the
expectations were.
Frost walked into a tough
situation. The 2015 Knights team was the worst in school history. It was
a complete failure on the field and staggeringly uninteresting to
watch. Historically, O'Leary's staff had done little to build meaningful
connections in local high schools. O'Leary's last class, in fact, had
more commits from Georgia than from Florida. And O'Leary's staff had
nailed down relatively few commitments for 2016.
And Frost didn't have much time with which to work. He was hired in December. He recruited with an incomplete staff.
They hustled.
The focus was very clearly on
in-state players. The Knights ended up with twelve of their twenty
signees from Florida and picked up some excellent players from south
Florida in particular -- including Jawon Hamilton from Homestead, whom I
have already in my mind anointed as the Knights' next great running back.
Frost's staff nabbed a couple
highly rated recruits, something that has been all too rare for UCF. The
most obvious and talked about pick up on National Signing Day was
Dredrick Snelson. A Minnesota commit who flipped and decided to stay
close to home with the Knights. Depending on who you ask, Snelson is
variously rated as a four star (Rivals, which puts him in its top 250
recruits and ESPN) or three star (Scout and 247Sports). He's the
Knights' highest rated recruit
this year. It's not just a feel good pick-up, either, but one that may
have a huge impact. The WR corps has the potential to be one of the
Knights' better units next year with Jordan Akins and Tre'Quan Smith
(some of the few bright spots on a terrible team last year) back
healthy. We're fairly giddy at the thought of Akins, Smith, and Snelson
on the field simultaneously.
The Knights' other four star
recruit and fellow Rivals250 member, Aaron Dowdell was previously
committed to Georgia . . . when Richt was the head coach. The Dawgs'
loss is the Knights' gain here, and a crucial one given how porous the
offensive line was both in 2015 (when it looked like it should have been
a strength) and 2014.
Add to all of this the fact that Frost was able to in many instances get "his" guys. The Knights' only signee[1]
at quarterback, McKenzie Milton had camped with Oregon and impressed
Frost there. As Frost describes it, Milton would be one of the top two
QB recruits in the country if he had been 6'4" instead of "six feet"
tall (okay, okay, so he's really 5'11").
And Frost reeled in a number of Junior College transfers, which should
help a team that last year had holes, uh, basically everywhere.
The Knights ended up with what is clearly one of the better classes in the Group of Five. Rivals
is the most bullish and has the Knights as the third ranked G5 class,
following only Houston (led of course by Future Texas or A&M Head
Coach Tom Herman) and Boise State, which signed seven more players than
the Knights did (and no four stars). Scout seems to think less of UCF. And 247Sports would rate the Knights at number seven.
It's a great inaugural class for Frost, and one that Knights fans should regard as his first victory.
[1] But not only incoming QB. Kruczek the younger, son of former UCF head coach Mike Kruczek, will be a preferred walk-on.
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