UCF Unofficial Visits Impress Top Recruits More Than FSU and Florida

Prospects continue to make their way to UCF for unofficial visits, with UCF impressing some prospects and a coach more than FSU or Florida did.

Brian Smith | Apr 11, 2022

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UCF Knights

ORLANDO - One of the unique aspects of covering recruiting over the years would be building relationships with high school coaches across the South. That’s how one can find out the true stories as to why recruits pick any particular school. It’s the off the record details that matter most. The truly good information is not something that should be published, however, but there is a nice secondary way to present information.

No name. Just the hard data.

“They (UCF) really have a nice set up there. It looks and is run like an SEC school. We were very impressed.”

That’s a pretty nice start to the information. It gets better, however.

“(We) have been to FSU and Florida and neither compare (to UCF).”

Surprising comments? Perhaps to those that snub their noses up at UCF. Times have changed, however, and UCF is continuing to rise in the ranks of recruiting, facilities, and coaching. All of those factors contribute to the above quotes.

Now, the person that sent this is a veteran. He’s been all over and been wined and dined at numerous schools because of the players he coaches that can play any place in the country. In short, this coach knows the deal with what’s going on no matter the name of the football facility his players and himself walk into. That’s why his information was so important. He’s seen it all.

If it was just some random newly hired coach or someone that just wants attention, there would be no reason to discuss this topic. What it does present would be the following points.

First, like it or not, the acronym “SEC” sells to recruits. It just does. Fans of schools outside the SEC probably hate hearing that but it’s only going to get worse because of how much money SEC schools place into facilities and staff. Elite recruits notice, and so do the developmental recruits. They all want the best facilities and training.

Who can blame them?

If UCF wants to win big, it must present its brand in similar fashion to an SEC school with a twist tied to being the city of Orlando. Based on the above information, sent unsolicited mind you, that’s already being accomplished. That should not be surprising to anyone that reads this site.

As noted during several articles since Inside The Knights began on June 1, 2021, everyone in the UCF Football offices “gets” recruiting. It’s the lifeblood of the program and UCF has to continue to build its brand via recruiting strategy. So far, there’s no reason not to give UCF an A for its recruiting efforts under Head Coach Gus Malzahn. It’s been great. For anyone that was skeptical, go read those quotes again. Now, here’s what’s next.

UCF needs to finish the 2023 class strong in terms of the high school players. That’s also been mentioned before, and we are now in the midst of prime recruiting season. This following article details much of that information:

UCF Enters Vital Recruiting Stretch; Will the Knights Close on Elite Prospects?

With how UCF is hitting Georgia (article coming on that soon), keep an eye on that as well. UCF has a chance to break into some major programs in the greater Atlanta area alone. Many of the top prospects from that area visited UCF recently and more are expected soon. It’s been fantastic and that’s likely to present good news this December on National Signing Day.

Finally, to date, UCF has done a tremendous job of building relationships with younger players in the classes of 2024, 2025 and now even 2026 (soon to be freshmen). The Knights should be in a good position to compete with SEC programs more and more because of the relationship aspect of recruiting. Each passing year, the UCF Football staff will know these young men for a longer period of time. That’s going to pay dividends.

Perhaps the recruiting efforts of UCF coaches and staff will once again present text messages being sent by prep coaches about how much they and their players are impressed more by UCF than FSU and Florida.