What to look for as camp starts for the Knights

Tuesday marks the opening of the 2025 spring football camp, the first official practice of the Scott Frost 2.0 era. There are a plethora of unknowns with this team, and hopefully, we will start to get some clarity over the next four weeks. 

Sons of UCF intern reporter Caitlin Russo provided her take on some of the players to watch in this article.

As we approach the first week, here are three key things to watch for:

The QB Battle

This is probably the most obvious question, but there is no denying it is an important one. The offensive staff will have fifteen practices to decide their depth chart amongst Dylan Rizk, Jacurri Brown, Tayven Jackson, and Cam Fancher. While not exactly a who’s-who of QB’s, there is plenty of talent within the group. 

Cam Fancher has the most career games and TD passes under his belt, having played four seasons at Marshall and FAU. However, his play has been inconsistent at times, headlined by 25 career INT’s and a career completion percentage that barely sneaks above 60%.

UCF fans have seen every snap of Dylan Rizk’s career as he enters his third season with the Knights. Appearing in seven career games, including four starts in 2024, Rizk has shown some moxy and fieldsmanship to go along with raw talent. Perhaps the biggest knock on Rizk might be style of play, as the Frost offense has typically relied on a dual-threat style QB, for which others in the QB room might fit better. 

Jacurri Brown might have the highest level of raw athleticism and skill amongst the group. Through three seasons between Miami and UCF, Brown has racked up 679 rushing yards and six touchdowns. However, the passing game has been his achilles heel, with only a 57% completion percentage, a 5 TD to 8 INT ratio, and a 105.2 QB rating. Will he be able to make himself a consistent enough threat in the passing game to run this offense?

Newcomer Tayven Jackson arrives in Orlando via Indiana and Tennessee. While he has mainly been in a reserve role throughout his career, he was mildly impressive in his lone start for Indiana in 2024, throwing for one touchdown and running for another as the Hooisers got the win. Perhaps the biggest question for the former four star recruit is if he can consistently make plays in the offense and protect the football, improving on his 1 to 1 career TD to INT (6 apiece). 

Who are the playmakers

This Knights offense was drained of well-known playmakers through graduation and the transfer portal. Names like RJ Harvey, Kobe Hudson, Jacoby Jones, and Randy Pittman are gone, to be replaced by… who exactly? In the running back room, returner Myles Montgomery is likely to get first crack at toting the rock, but transfer Jaden Nixon and young talent like Stacy Gage and Taevion Swint will get looks as well. 

The wide receiver position is even more wide open, with essentially a brand new crop of pass catchers looking to make their name. Transfer DJ Black has the most career catches in the group, notching 37 grabs and nine touchdowns in two seasons at Limestone University. Florida transfer Marcus Burke also brings some experience, with 19 catches and two touchdowns over four seasons. The rest of the group boasts a ton of potential, without a lot of in-game experience. Transfer Day Day Farmer has six career catches, and the returning trio of Bredell Richardson, Jordyn Bridgewater, and Kason Stokes did not see any playing time in 2024. From this group, the Knights will need somebody to emerge as a consistent playmaker to support whoever will be under center. 

What will this defense look like

Based on the number of returning playing, it would seem as though the defense should be ahead of the offense as camp gets started. However, this will be a new defensive system installed by coordinator Alex Grinch that will likely see the Knights switch to a three-man front. This scheme could allow UCF to take advantage of speed on the outside (Nyjalik Kelly and Malachi Lawrence) and still be stout up the middle (John Walker and Horace Lockett). Speaking of the middle, the linebacking corps has been much maligned over the past two seasons, and new additions Cole Kozlowski and Lewis Carter figure to have an opportunity to lock down significant playing time. On the backend, there will be no shortage of players vying for playing time as the projected roster shows 20 guys listed as a defensive back or safety (the most of any one position group). 

The practice season starts Tuesday, March 11th, and is expected to run through April 19th. UCF has announced two practices will be open to the public, April 5th and April 11th. The Sons will have wire to wire team coverage all spring on all of our platforms.

If you missed any of our interviews with the coaching staff, you still have time to get caught up: