The UCF Knights football team, coming off a winless season (0-12), is trying to forget the past and focus on the future.
A lot has changed since the end of last season. UCF hired new coach Scott Frost from Oregon to rebuild the program and take it to new heights. Frost and his new coaching staff are bringing a new culture to UCF for their offense and defense: #UCFast and #UCFierce. Catchy isn’t it?
The fan base is fully supporting the new UCF identity by showing their support at the Spring Game a couple weeks ago and by breaking the school record with more than 23,000 fans attending Bright House Networks Stadium.
After the game was over, there were a lot of positive things to take away on both sides of the ball for the offense and defense heading into the summer. But there is one important question that many Knights fans want to know.
Who will be the starting quarterback for the Knights this upcoming season?
Coach Scott Frost said an interesting statement in the video above. “Playing Quarterback in this offense is one of the hardest things to do in sports, in my opinion.”
That is eye opening.
He explains this by saying: as the quarterback “after the play is over you have to look at a sideline, get a signal, decipher what the signal means, get everybody lined up, check the secondary for coverage, check the front to see everyone coming, change protection if you need to, know what your job is, snap the ball, and go through a read.”
That is a lot for someone to remember for every single offensive play throughout the game. And do in a short amount of time and multiple times per game — this offense is about speed after all.
What is even more challenging, is the fact that Coach Frost expects his Quarterback to be ready on the go “it all happens in about 12 seconds.”
Also, he adds how we need “guys that can process things fast.” Frost said even if players can do that, “it takes a while to get to that point where you’re comfortable and not thinking anymore and your reacting.”
Coach Frost expects a lot of his team, and he is bringing a new identity to the UCF Football program.
And the decision begins with quarterback. Frost was not ready to commit to any of the quarterbacks currently on the roster following the spring game. Each had their moments and struggles in their first public display of the offense.
Undoubtedly quarterback is the most important position on the field for UCF. And the Knights have many options to choose from.
First is incumbent starter, senior Justin Holman. The soft-spoken Holman was the backup to now-NFL starter Blake Bortles during his freshman season before taking over as a starter full time in 2014. By learning, watching and studying with Bortles on a daily basis during his freshman year, Holman got invaluable knowledge of the position.
Holman appeared in three games as a backup quarterback his freshman year (2013). Then, as a sophomore Holman started 12 of the 13 games played in (2014) and led the Knights to the Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl and a share of the American Athletic Conference title.
As a junior last season, Holman battled injuries and started nine games at quarterback for UCF. He showed a lot of heart and determination by leading one of the nation’s youngest teams through difficult times.
Holman’s stats as the Knights starting quarterback have been inconsistent. In 2014, he threw for 2,952 yards thanks to a 223-for-392 campaign and totaled 23 touchdowns in the air compared to 14 picks, adding three rushing touchdowns. Last season as a junior, he finished 127-for-250 for a 50.8 completion percentage with seven touchdowns, 1,379 passing yards and 140 rushing yards. It was a much more difficult campaign.
But if anyone is more equipped to step in and play at a high level in the college game, it is Holman.
“Within this tempo, it’s all about execution and if you miss on one piece then the play can fail easily,” Holman said after the spring game to the Orlando Sentinel. He also said how he “wants to be a good decision maker and move the ball at will.”
That sounds like a confident quarterback.
He has shown the ability to run and pass, which is crucial in this up-tempo, hurry-up offense. But Holman is more accustomed to the Pro Style offense, so it will not be an easy transition.
With that being said, Holman has all the tools to succeed in this new offense by having the brains, size and experience to get the job done for the Knights.
But there will be pressure. This offense is very different and other players may be more adapted to take better advantage of all it can do.
His backup much of last year was redshirt senior Nick Patti. Patti was a high school star at quarterback at Dr. Phillips.
Patti does not have great size for a quarterback at 5-foot-11, 206 pounds, so George O’Leary’s coaching staff decided to switch him to wide receiver. During his junior season, he played all 12 games as a wide receiver and with Holman injured, introduced some “Wild Knight” packages that used Patti’s speed to run around the goal line.
Frost’s coaching staff this year switched Patti back to quarterback again.
Patti is Holman’s main competitor to win the starting quarterback competition, and he shared some thoughts after the Spring Game about his new head coach.
“He puts a lot on our plate, but he trusts us. He let’s us have fun and let’s us do what we think is going to be successful,” PATTI SAID TO THE ORLANDO SENTINEL. “They give us enough rope where we can be ourselves, but not enough rope where were going to fail.”
Patti has shown his versatility and athletic ability on the field by being able to play both the quarterback and wide receiver positions at the college level.
Last season, he rushed 30 times for 106 yards and two scores, caught 13 passes for 104 yards and a touchdown and went 4-for-8 for 25 yards in the passing game. That show the potential to be a jack of all trades, that could translate well in this new up-tempo offense.
But it is unclear what he can produce full time.
Sophomore Tyler Harris was the backup quarterback last year and got some playing time with Holman injured. Coming out of high school, Harris was a highly ranked 4-star recruit with ESPN listing him as the No. 12 pocket passer in the country. As a redshirt freshman last year, Harris played in six games as a backup quarterback.
Harris when on the field last season, put up some decent numbers as the Knights quarterback. He went 26-for-61 with 308 yards and four touchdowns, coming off the bench. With more playing time, Harris could be a dark horse in the open quarterback competition.
Redshirt junior Pete Dinovo has had an up-and-down experience at UCF so far. As a redshirt freshman, he was named the starter for the Croke Park Classic in Ireland vs Penn State. It was the first time that UCF started a freshman quarterback since 2010 as he was set to split time with Holman early on in the two quarterbacks’ careers.
That ended up being the only game he started that season. Holman came on strong later in the game and nearly led the Knights to the upset win. Holman took the starting job and never looked back.
Last season, as a sophomore the former coaching staff switched Dinovo to wide receiver at the start of the season then midway in the season switched him back to QB and barely played on the field.
UCF has another quarterback arriving this fall with committed recruit McKenzie Milton from Mililani, Hawai’i.
Milton is a 3-star recruit listed at 5-foot-11, 160 pounds and is a dual-threat quarterback. Scott Frost recruited him to come to UCF and be a part of his new fast offense he is bringing from Oregon. The two were in touch when Frost was in Oregon and Milton very much followed Frost to UCF.
Milton put up impressive stats while in high school. He led his team to four straight state championship appearances, including two back-to-back state titles in Hawai’i. Milton was named the state Gatorade Player of the Year. As a senior, Milton passed for 3,392 yards and 35 touchdowns and also ran for another 808 yards and scored 12 touchdowns.
Based on those stats alone, he should be in the running for the starting quarterback. But Milton will likely redshirt his freshman season due to all the quarterbacks already on the roster. He will need some time to get up to speed.
UCF and Frost have a lot of options to choose from at the quarterback position. Each candidate has a different skill set they can bring to this new fast-paced offense and are currently battling each other in an open competition.
Frost shared his thoughts, on what he saw during the UCF Spring Game.
“I thought Justin made a lot of good plays. Nick Patti made a lot of good plays. Garrett made some great throws. Harris and Dinovo, all those guys did some good things.”
That sounds like a coach still not sure who will lead his Knights this upcoming season. Frost offered some advice for the quarterbacks if they want to win the job and gave some hope as well
“It needs to get more consistent, but it will once these guys get familiar with what their doing.”
With that being said, Holman still seems to be the best option to lead the Knights this upcoming season. Holman has that leadership quality that can help this young team transition to a new offense and culture Frost and his staff are bringing to UCF.
Moreover, he has the most experience as a starting quarterback compared to the other candidates. Holman has the smarts and physical traits necessary to be a more than capable college starting quarterback and he also has speed for this offense too as he can run when asked upon.
Frost did offer some clarity in regards to when he expects to make a final decision on the QB competition:
“Depth chart is probably premature at this point, probably more so than anything because were installing. When your installing new stuff offensively and defensively it’s hard to judge someone too much until everybody is familiar with the scheme and the system and then you could look at them based on how well their playing. Will probably make most of those decisions in the Fall.”
The quarterback battle will remain a heated one as that position is the most difficult and important in this offense. It is probably the most important position in this new offense.
The Knights may not know the answer until fall comes around, but there are several different options though for Frost to choose from.
