A Sons of UCF Roundtable perspective

As the UCF Knights 2025 football season comes to an end, we take a quick look back at some of the key moments, players, and feelings, through the eyes of Sons of UCF contributors who covered the team throughout the season.

Our panel includes beat reporter and Knights247 writer Andrew Cherico, To Your Point host Jeff Allen, Sons Today co-host Brian Peterson, Sons of UCF LIVE co-host Adam Eaton, Pegasus Podcast co-host Christian Simmons, and Sons of UCF lead reporter and Around The Kingdom co-host Trace Trylko.

Who was the best player on offense?

Andrew: Dylan Wade.

Brian: Tight end Dylan Wade was the MVP of the offense—basically the guy who remembered the end zone still exists. He hauled in five touchdowns and led the team in receiving yards, which is impressive considering the offense sometimes looked allergic to the end zone.

Trace: Dylan Wade. When you catch 5 of UCF’s 12 passing TDs you’ve earned the title.

Jeff: Dylan Wade. Gave the Knights some explosiveness. Hope we can retain him.

Adam: Let’s make it a clean sweep for Dylan Wade. Set UCF records for receptions, yards, and touchdowns for a tight end. Turned out to be a perfect addition for this offense.

Christian: In a season where fans were subjected to game after game of a sputtering, largely lifeless offense, it feels like Dylan Wade’s contributions were easy to overlook. Despite the offense’s woes, he had one of the best campaigns from a tight end we’ve seen at UCF, managing to remain a consistent source of productivity and bailing the team out of more than a few tough spots. It’s absolutely critical that the Knights find a way to hold onto him for 2026.

Who was the best player on defense?

Andrew: Lewis Carter.

Brian: Future NFL Safety (you heard it here first), Phillip Dunnam, who just declared for the draft, was the defensive star of the season, snagging three interceptions (IN ONE GAME) and locking down the secondary. He was like the bouncer at the club—if you didn’t have the right pass, you weren’t getting in. Houston’s QB, Conner Wiegman, is probably still having nightmares about him.

Trace: Cole Kozlowski. Love his passion. Need more guys who play their heart out.

Jeff: Cole Kozlowski. Second leading tackler and tied for tackles for loss.

Adam: I’m going to go with Lewis Carter. Led the team in tackles and always seemed to be in the middle of the action on defense. Plus, he proved to be durable, which is remarkable since he rarely rotated out of the game.

Christian: There were plenty of standouts on defense this year to pick from, but I’m rolling with Phillip Dunnam. The FAU transfer exceeded even his Spring Ball and Fall Camp expectations, finishing the year with 60 total tackles, 3 TFLs and 3 picks. He was the type of player whose impact you could feel on any given play and watching him read Conner Weigman like a book for four quarters was one of the highlights of the Space Game.

What was the bright spot for you this season?

Andrew: The win at home over North Carolina.

Brian: Seeing young talent like Waden Charles and Agyeman Addae step up was refreshing. It’s like finding $20 in your old jeans—unexpected, but it makes you believe better days are coming! Waden is only a Freshman and these two guys could be the foundation for an offense that will need a lot of work this offseason. ALSO, major kudos to this debut of our 2025 uniforms. Those new Polaris stars on the pants made the whole season a success, regardless of the W-L ratio! 

Trace: The presence of UCF-lifers like Sean Beckton, KZ (McKenzie Milton) and more. And, the shirtless fan section that rallied the Knights over Oklahoma State. Or, at least that’s what I’m convincing myself about this viral moment.

Jeff: The defense. Kept us in so many games and if they had gotten support from the offense, they might have won 7 games.

Adam: Is it bad if I say Noe Ruelas? It feels like it had been a long time since the Knights had a reliable kicker who could also hit from distance. With the offense as limited as it was, Ruelas became a needed asset for this team.

Christian: The new uniforms, of course. It feels like, after years of tinkering, UCF has finally found the right way to implement gold into its uniforms in a proper and on-brand way. The giant Polaris starts and drop shadow were both huge winners that shined in every uniform combo we saw. The gold pants and new-look Knightmode were both excellent as well. We are a surprise return of Pewter away from me being the happiest I’ve ever been with the team’s uniforms

What loss hurt UCF the most?

Andrew: Houston.

Brian: The loss to Houston stung the most—and not just because it was a conference game. It was UCF’s first-ever “Space Game” defeat. The Knights looked ready for liftoff early on but ended up crashing back to Earth. This feels like a game UCF could have and should have won, if we hadn’t shot ourselves in the foot. We probably look back on this game as the reason we didn’t make a bowl in 2025.

Trace: Houston. One play away from upsetting Houston and that would have earned UCF a bowl bid. 

Jeff: Baylor. A winnable game against a team whose coach was on the hot seat. A total dud of a game.

Adam: I’m going to say Kansas. Coming off of the tough road loss at Kansas State, the Knights returned home for the first Big 12 home game of the season, and they had Kansas under control in the first half before the offense self-destructed in the 3^rd quarter. I wonder how the season could have gone if UCF had the confidence of a win in the early part of their conference schedule.

Christian: Look no further than the Kansas goal line stand. In hindsight, that game was far more critical than we could’ve realized at the time. We didn’t know that failing to pick up a single yard would eventually cost UCF a bowl, or that Kansas would go on to have a down year and actually be one of the few beatable teams on the schedule. A win that night would’ve had the Knights at 4-1 and in strong position to make it to the postseason

Do you consider this season to be a success?

Andrew: No, but a trend in the right direction.

Brian: If success means winning games, then… nope. UCF went 5-7 and missed a bowl again. But if success means “we didn’t spontaneously combust,” then yes, we nailed it. At least Scott Frost seems to have a plan, and that’s more than we could say last year. 2025 seemed to be more about resetting and building a culture of wanting to play UCF Football. Feels like we are moving in that direction.

Trace: No. Minimum standard is a bowl bid and 6-6. When 10 BIG 12 teams go bowling and UCF doesn’t, it’s not a success.

Jeff: It may not say much but winning one more game with less talent than the previous season is a success in my book.

Adam: It was pretty much what I thought it would be – some good, some bad, and some unpredictable. However, the six wins and a bowl berth are the minimum standard in the sport right now, so it doesn’t feel good to fall short of that.

Christian: I’m never going to consider a year that ends with a losing record in the regular season to be a success. But, when you consider what this staff was up against, it’s hard to call it a total failure. Frost was hired at an awkward point in the calendar, not to mention in a year where the Kingdom had just been disbanded, revenue sharing was about the kick in and UCF was suddenly at an insurmountable financial disadvantage compared to most of its peers. On top of that, Frost had been out of College Football for a few years, so he didn’t have much experience with this new era or players from a previous stop to bring in and buoy the roster. Snagging three wins over Power Four opponents and just missing a bowl wasn’t the worst outcome on the table.

Do you feel better, worse, or the same about UCF as you did in December 2024?

Andrew: Same, first year was a project. I expect better in 2026

Brian: Slightly better? — best I can compare the season to is like going from a flat tire to a donut spare. At least we started moving again. The record didn’t improve much, but the defense looked competent, and Frost seems committed to fixing things (except penalties, I guess?) So yeah, cautious optimism… emphasis on cautious, because we’ve been hurt before. This offseason will define the 2026 season and Frost’s second tenure at UCF. There’s a lot on the line. Oh, and PLEASE fix our O-Line…

Trace: I’m hopeful. I want to believe 2026 will show progress. While the season missed the mark of a minimum 6-6 and a bowl bid, it was pretty much what was expected.

Jeff: I feel better. Another season of Gus would have flushed us for a very long time. The culture and vibes are a lot better. Moving forward, we can’t blame Gus any further and we need to make significant strides next season. To do that, we have to adapt more to what the state of the game is now because the horse is out of the barn and it ain’t going back to what it was.

Adam: I feel better in that it was obvious things weren’t working under the previous regime, so being out of that situation feels like the right thing for the program. A rebuild is always messy to go through, and it will require a viable strategic plan, vision and culture. More time will be needed to determine if UCF has any of those in place.

Christian: I feel better about some things and worse about others. So, I suppose that averages out to me feeling the same. I was impressed with what we saw from the coaching staff this year, despite the losses. It was easy to see how Frost’s new-look offense could be effective with a stronger roster, and he showed that his ability to identify talent hasn’t gone anywhere with strong portal pickups like Dylan Wade, Duane Thomas and Jaden Nixon. Alex Grinch blew away our offseason expectations. But I’m still not sold on the new recruiting and portal strategy. We remain in the dark on where UCF ranks with its NIL/rev share funds compared to its peers. I’d also love it if Frost could find a way to not lament this broken era of College Football every time a mic is placed in front of him. It doesn’t exactly inspire confidence that he’s adapting to this new era.