It would be fair to say UCF is still reeling from the surprising transfer of Adonys Henriquez. All of a sudden, the Knights lost their two best 3-point shooters from last year’s team and seemingly have a humongous lack of depth in the starting lineup.
Johnny Dawkins’ first season is going to be a difficult one for sure. There is no getting around that at this stage.
Yes, B.J. Taylor is coming back from injury. The all-freshman player from 2015 missed last year with a foot injury, forcing him to redshirt. Yes, Tacko Fall is coming back. Having a player of his size is an incredible benefit and makes the team ultimately difficult to handle. Then there is the versatile A.J. Davis.
There is a good core group for Dawkins to build from with two sophomores and a junior to play with.
But beyond that? The Knights will need a lot of young players to step up. They will need Justin McBride to be in shape and ready to play a significant role because McBride and Fall are not going to play long minutes. Tanksley Efianayi and Chance McSpadden will have to continue maturing.
But the team needs some help to become much more competitive and have a chance in the American. There is not just a ton of returning talent at the moment. There is a lot of faith in improvement and coaching to take the next step. Some influx of talent would be good.
So Dawkins has been as active recruiting incoming freshman as he has recruiting incoming transfers. The Knights lost Williams and Henriquez to transfers so there is a lot of this recruiting going on.
As Juan Toribio of Knights247 writes the Knights are in the running for several transfers.
The Knights are looking at and getting serious consideration from Louisiana Tech teammates Merrill Holden and Dayon Griffin.
Holden averaged 8.1 points per game in 23.4 minutes per game coming off the bench. The 6-foot-8 forward also posted 5.0 rebounds per game. He would be a good power forward next to Fall.
Griffin averaged 11.3 points per game on a 57.6 percent effective field goal percentage, on a little more than four 3-point field goal attempts. He would give the Knights the shooter on the wing the Knights really lack right now.
This tandem would be a really good get for Dawkins and his staff — a preview perhaps of his potential recruiting prowess.
Griffin is set to visit Friday according to reports and the St. Petersburg, Fla.-native would like to be close to home.
Other names the Knights are looking at may include Morehead State transfer Corban Collins and Boston College freshman Matt Millon.
Of course, with transfers, it is no guarantee that the player is eligible to play immediately. Griffin would be eligible immediately as would Collins (another guard) most likely.
UCF clearly has some work to do in this offseason to get the basketball team up to the level it was at even last year. It will be a big rebuilding process for Dawkins this year.
