UCF and new coach Scott Frost are clearly putting their focus on recruiting Central Florida to recover from last year’s winless season.
The change seemed instantaneous for Scott Frost when he first arrived in Orlando to begin his new job as head coach of UCF. The commitments began firing off to join Scott Frost and his UCFast revolution.
There was an offer and commitment from Jaquarius Bargnare, the dynamo Dr. Phillips wide receiver and kick returner. There was an offer and commitment from Mainland’s Adrian Killings, the running back that helped power Mainland throughout the season. Seminole defensive back Brandon Moore joined too.
Quite quickly, UCF’s focus shifted squarely on Central Florida and the Orlando area. In addition to those three recruits, there are several recruits in the area Frost is focusing on. Especially beyond 2016.
That was a key focus for him when he took over, and he reiterated that advantage in his press conference Thursday. As did his new defensive coordinator Erik Chinander, who came over from Oregon with him (h/t Alex Brooks of UCF Knight News):
“When we were at Oregon, obviously there is somewhere between 5 and 15 division one recruits per year,” Chinander said. “But now you’ve got everybody in your backyard, so I don’t have to get on planes every night and I don’t have to take red eyes. I drive to Tampa and I stay in town or I drive down to Miami, it’s going to be awesome.”
There is obviously a lot of talent to mine in Florida and plenty to go around and compete for among the power schools.
To recover from an 0-12 season, UCF will have to do a lot and make some major headway in recruiting in the final month before Signing Day. The focus on Central Florida will be a big boost for sure.
But the Knights’ climb up will start with what they do on the field in 2016. Certainly a return to competitiveness is possible considering the team is only one winless season removed from a share of the American.
“I think there is plenty of talent on this team to make a lot of strides to get where we want to get,” Frost said during his press conference. “It’s going to be a learning process for everybody and we’ll cater a lot of what we do to the talent that is on the team right now, but I’ve got a lot of confidence in the guys in this building already.”
