June 6th UCF Football Recruiting News and Notes
Each week moving forward, look for UCF recruiting news and notes. Topics that will be prevalent include commitments, visits, offers, and general recruiting themes. It does not necessarily mean it will be all about the Knights either.
What other programs are doing along the recruiting trail matters, too. When UCF loses a recruit to another program, that impacts the prospects left on the recruiting board, as well as the prospects that could conceivably receive an offer from the Knights thereafter. Recruiting is volatile.
One action creates an even bigger action, and the trend continues onward. With that in mind, here are this week’s UCF recruiting news and notes.
Knights Host Several Prospects
During UCF Head Coach Gus Malzahn’s first summer in Orlando, there was bound to be a first high school football camp. It happened Saturday, June 5, and that camp turned out to provide two sections. There was a big man camp for offensive and defensive linemen, and then there was a true seven-on-seven tournament played by Florida high school programs from cities and towns such as Orlando, Miami, Tampa, Kissimmee, Ocala, Sanford, Melbourne, and Fort Lauderdale.
Camp was 🔥 today‼️ Great competition, atmosphere and talent everywhere - good luck this season to all the teams and lineman that participated.
— Kareem Reid (@CoachReid99) June 5, 2021
The future of college football lives here 🚀#ChargeOn⚔️
You can read more about how the entirety of the weekend was planned out and executed here. For the sake of this article, however, do note that the effort and organization of the weekend was tremendous. Few seven-on-seven tournaments run smoothly, and you take that from someone that travels across Florida, Georgia and South Carolina to watch top players compete during seven-on-seven tournaments.
That’s why it was shocking as to how well organized the event turned out to be. The team effort also allowed for prospects like twins Ja’Cai and Demari Henderson, as well as their high school teammate, Kameron Moore, to participate and show their talents. UCF is highly interested in all three prospects. Another prospect is already all-in with the Knights.
UCF Commitment Thomas Castellanos Visited Orlando Again
The future Knights signal caller is very comfortable at UCF. After communicating with Thomas Castellanos about what he likes about UCF, an interesting group of topics came up. First, Castellanos discussed his official visit date.
“Next weekend, yes sir,” Castellanos replied to his UCF official visit date being June 11. “Bounce House weekend.”
While Castellanos certainly wants to help recruit several prospects to UCF with him, one particular Georgia high school player, like himself, was mentioned. “I know one guy I want to bring over here, Ty Washington. He’s from Lee County (High School).”
Washington is a flex tight end for Lee County, one of the state of Georgia’s perennial powers. The high school is located just north of Albany, Ga., about 30 minutes west of Interstate I-75. Because Castellanos plays for Waycross (Ga.) Ware County, and it’s just about two hours east of where Washington lives and plays, news about players tends to travel quickly. Therefore, it’s no surprise that Castellanos wants to see Washington join him in the Bounce House. One last piece of business about Castellanos
“No sir. Got to stay loyal.”
Those were the words Castellanos provided when asked if he was going to take any other visits or just stick with UCF. As vital as quarterback recruiting continues to be for any college football program, this is fantastic news for the UCF football coaching staff. Castellanos confirmed he still has other college programs coming at him, but he wants to be a Knight and play quarterback.
As for the players that will be taking official visits to UCF next weekend with Castellanos, that list is much larger than many people know. It could also help determine whether or not UCF takes the next step towards building a program that can compete for a national title.
UCF Football’s June 11th Weekend Will Be Huge
18 prospects are expected to visit UCF next weekend. That is correct, 18. While the list is still taking shape and there are certainly to be additions and subtractions, the UCF coaching staff will bring in several prime prospects next weekend.
While that list is certainly important by itself, it also notes something else. The UCF coaching staff has been together for about six months. To be able to recruit as well as they have and bring that many prospects in for a single weekend proves the current UCF coaching staff understands how to work together to compete with other top programs.
As for next weekend's visitors, a couple of names to note beyond Castellanos and Washington would be wide receiver Marcus Peterson, Lake City (Fla.) Columbia, cornerback Nikai Martinez, Apopka (Fla.) High School, cornerback Jarell Stinson, Opelika (Ala.) High School, and defensive end Keahnist Thompson, Lakeland (Fla.) High School. Thompson is teammates with UCF offensive line commitment Miguel Maldonado, who will also make his UCF official visit June 11th.
June is the first month that colleges can host recruits for official visits, so it will be interesting to find out how many recruits commit to the Knights in the next few weeks. Recruiting is sure to be a whirlwind, and Inside The Knights will be ready to publish all of the UCF recruiting news it can possibly produce.
You will find me on Twitter @fbscout_florida and @UCF_FanNation
