Inside The Knights

33 Prospects Make Visits to UCF Football

The Knights brought in some of the nation’s top talent for Bounce House Weekend, and here’s an overview of the UCF football recruiting weekend thus far.

Brian Smith

33 Prospects Make Visits to UCF Football
33 Prospects Make Visits to UCF Football /

In total, the UCF football program was able to bring in 15 unofficial visitors and 18 official visitors for this weekend. By state, one from Texas and Arkansas, nine from Alabama, five from Georgia, and 17 from talent-rich Florida. Here’s a look at the players that came to UCF.

All players are class of 2022 unless otherwise noted.

From a position standpoint, one quarterback -- UCF commitment Thomas Castellanos -- made an official visit to UCF. There were no running backs on campus, while three wide receivers did come to UCF for official visits. They were Marcus Peterson (Fla.), Omari Kelly (Ala.), and Tyler Griffin (Ga.). One wide receiver came for an unofficial visit, and that would be D.J. Allen, the lone Texan from this group, and he’s a burner. One tight end took his official visit to UCF, and that would be Tyrus Washington (Ga.), one of the most versatile receiving tight ends in the class of 2022.

Moving to offensive line, Jack Struebing came all the way from Arkansas to visit the Knights, and he’s also from Springdale, the same town that now UCF Head Coach Gus Malzahn used to coach high school football when he lived in Arkansas. The other offensive lineman to visit would be Miguel Maldonado, the UCF commitment from nearby Lakeland (Fla.).

Moving to defense, it’s a loaded group along the defensive line. In total, 10 defensive ends and defensive tackles came to UCF this weekend. As noted in the video above, the theme was defensive players, and it starts with the defensive line. There were four unofficial visitors from the defensive line, including defensive ends Khurtis Perry (Ala.), Kaven Call (Fla.) - 2023, and Jaquavious Russaw (Ala.) - 2023, as well as elite defensive lineman Peter Woods (Ala.) - 2023, who could play defensive end or defensive tackle in college. He’s a special talent.

The official visitors from this weekend include defensive ends Jeremiah Alexander (Ala.), Micah Pollard (Fla.), Jamaal Johnson (Fla.), Keahnist Thompson (Fla.) -- Maldonado's teammate at Lakeland, and Caden Story (Ala.). The lone defensive tackle would be Malachi Madison (Ga.), and he’s a very important recruit because he’s a true anchor in the middle of the line at 6’3”, 305 pounds.

The linebacker group includes six unofficial visitors. Lewis Carter (Fla.) - 2023, Andrew Harris (Fla.) - 2023 and his twin brother Michael Harris (Fla.) - 2023, Kam Moore (Fla.), T.J. Bullard (Fla.), and DeMario Tolan (Fla.). The theme is speed and versatility with the unofficial visitors, as each of the six prospects could play multiple linebacker positions.

Moving to the secondary, highly coveted Demari Henderson (Fla.) is the lone safety target that came for an unofficial visit, while the official visit list included one official visitor as well, and that would be Nick Jordan (Ga.), a player that be utilized in a multitude of ways by the Knights.

At cornerback, the Knights really did their best to bring in highly touted cornerbacks. The second of the Henderson twins, Ja’Cari Henderson (Fla.) made an unofficial visit, as did Cam Miller (Fla.), and both are big-time prospects. Officially, three more cornerbacks made it to UCF and all three would be excellent additions to the UCF football roster as well. Jarrell Stinson (Ala.), Nikai Martinez (Fla.), and Trequon Fegans (Ala.).

Final Thoughts

This weekend goes far beyond what most second-year programs are able to produce for a recruiting weekend, let alone a first-year staff with their inaugural recruiting weekend. Further, this is a national-level recruiting prospect list. UCF is going to be in the national conversation moving forward, and recruiting weekend’s like this one will open some eyes.

Stay locked in to Inside The Knights as more recruiting coverage will be available tomorrow. Additionally, any quick updates will come from the two Twitter handles below, so make sure to follow.

You will find me on Twitter @fbscout_florida and @UCF_FanNation

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Brian Smith
BRIAN SMITH

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