UCF will take the field for spring football and its first practice with Scott Frost within the next month in preparation for the spring game and the upcoming 2016 season. The reality of the Scott Frost era are slowly coming into focus.
The talk around the program has been about picking up the pace. That is the entire marketing plan it seems for the Knights. #UCFast and all.
UCF wants to become Oregon East and will implement an offense to do that.
The big question then is about personnel. The Knights were one of the worst offensive teams in the nation by just about every measure. Football Outsiders’ S&P+ had the Knights offense as the third worst in the nation and worse than 120th in both passing and rushing.
Frost will have his work cut out for him to turn this team into a decent offensive team for sure.
While high-octane offenses are often thought of as having great passing games, the Oregon offense is very different. It is about speed in its purest form, getting to the line of scrimmage quickly after a tackle and getting the next play off. It is about spreading the ball to the perimeters, getting athletes in space and letting them create.
Implementing this offense at UCF is going to be a challenge. Especially with the talent already in place.
Oregon had the sixth best offense according to Football Outsiders’ S&P+ and, unsurprisingly for them, had a better rushing attack than passing attack. The Ducks have always used multiple running backs as well as a mobile quarterback to put pressure on a defense.
The Knights do not quite have that. Justin Holman can be efficient, although he still lacks some touch, but he is not that mobile. And the running backs are thin.
To get the offense going, it is going to take some work in the run game.
It means the Knights will need a bigger contribution from Dontravious Wilson, the veteran of the group, and rising sophomore Taj McWilliams. After the team dismissed William Stanback, there was a definite hole in the backfield the Knights continually struggled to fill.
No one among the group emerged as a viable featured back and the team as a whole rushed for less than 1,000 yards. UCF was down a lot, but a decent run game was absolutely necessary for UCF with Holman struggling with injuries all year. The Knights were one dimensional even when the game was close.
That cannot happen as the team picks up the pace with Scott Frost.
More likely than not, a lot of freshmen will be thrown into the fire. Daytona Mainland’s Adrian Killins was one of the best players in the Central florida area and could very well see some early action. The cupboard is still relatively bare for the Knights.
It is going to take internal improvement and someone will have to step up and help keep UCF’s pace. A better offensive line and the new offense should also create some new opportunities.
The Knights are going to have to find some pace in the ground game to have any kind of success. It will be one of the big storylines of the spring and moving forward into the fall.
