National Signing Day Expectations, UCF Knights

National Signing Day is almost here and there are multiple scenarios that will play out tomorrow beyond the known commitments signing.

Author:
Brian Smith
Publish date:
Dec 14, 2021 9:18 PM EST

ORLANDO - First off, there’s no such thing as a guarantee in recruiting. It’s Russian roulette with teenagers running the table, if one will. There’s always drama and intrigue.

With that in mind, UCF will likely sign at least 14 prospects on Wednesday (look for at least one high school player to be added in addition to the already committed recruits), the first National Signing Day for the 2022 recruiting class. The second National Signing Day will be Wednesday, Feb. 2. Now onto some news.

Inside The Knights had learned on Sunday that offensive tackle Miguel Maldonado would likely not be signing on Wednesday, and it appears that offensive tackle Leyton Nelson will not be signing either, per Jason Beede of the Orlando Sentinel. When more details can be shared, Inside The Knights will gladly do so.

UCF Head Coach Gus Malzahn will address the media at 2:30 EST. He will only be able to comment about recruits that have officially sent over their letters of intent, per NCAA rules. If any recruit has yet to sign, that’s a player that Coach Malzahn will not make a comment about.

A few things to look for throughout National Signing Day are as follows:

**Inside The Knights will be covering the Lakeland (Fla.) High School press conferences where several prospects will sign. Look for interviews and videos on Twitter later on Wednesday and throughout the next several weeks from those interviews. Lakeland’s press conferences are at exactly the same time Coach Malzah’s press conference is going to be, 2:30 EST.

**This year’s National Signing Day will be like many before it, positive and informative. There’s a plethora of information about the relationships that were built between coaches and recruits, the different aspects of how recruits play like a Thomas Castellanos or Caden Kitler, and how the recruiting administrative staff helped to make high school football camps possible and transportation operate smoothly during official and unofficial visits. That will likely continue during Coach Malzahn’s press conference on Wednesday, as it should.

**There’s no specific timeline for announcing transfers; the Transfer Portal is essentially its own entity. A player can announce he’s transferring to another school during any given day so there’s guarantee that Coach Malzahn will announce any transfers on Wednesday despite the fact that UCF is likely to be heavily involved with several college transfer players at this time.

**As National Signing Day moves forward, Inside The Knights will chronicle commitments on this website, as well as on Twitter – @UCF_FanNation – to help broadcast each player that’s coming to play for the Knights.

**Also look for information regarding how rival schools did with UCF playing them in the future, and that includes future rivals like Baylor and Oklahoma State, the two teams that met in this year’s Big 12 Championship Game.

**A breakdown of UCF’s class from a positional and overall talent perspective will come out over the next few days.

For UCF coverage and recruiting information go to: The Daily Knight podcast. For more college football, UCF and recruiting information, go to Twitter: @fbscout_florida and @UCF_FanNation, as well as my YouTube Channel and Instagram page. Like and Subscribe!