List of Every UCF Knights First-Round Pick in NFL Draft History
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As Day One of the 2026 NFL Draft dawns, former UCF EDGE Malachi Lawrence has the opportunity to join an exclusive club of former Knights.
In UCF’s football history, only four alumni have been first-round draft picks.
So, let’s take a trip down memory lane to see what kind of players Lawrence would join should he hear his name called on Thursday night.
- Blake Bortles, Quarterback
- Mike Hughes, Cornerback
- Daunte Culpepper, Quarterback
- Breshad Perriman, Wide Reciever
1. Blake Bortles, Quarterback
The honor of being UCF's highest-ever draft pick belongs to quarterback Blake Bortles, who was selected with the third overall pick in the 2014 draft by the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Not counting his redshirt season, Bortles played three seasons in Orlando. After serving a backup role in 2011, he became the starter in 2012, earning Second-team All-C-USA honors. However, it was his 2013 season that drew the attention of NFL scouts, as he led the Knights to a Fiesta Bowl win, securing the AAC’s Offensive Player of the Year and First-team All-AAC honors along the way.
Despite just two seasons with the starting job, Bortles ranks sixth in program history with 7,598 passing yards, with both seasons ranking in the top 10 in single-season passing yards on their own.
With the Jaguars, Bortles became a central figure for the franchise’s mid-2010s era. He was named the starter after appearing in Week 3 of the 2014 NFL season and held the job for the next three full seasons afterwards. His defining moment came in 2017, when he led the Jaguars to a 10-6 record and a playoff run to their first AFC Championship Game since 1999.
Bortles still holds franchise records for the Jaguars, including the most passing yards and passing touchdowns in a single season, which both came in 2015. He also threw for five touchdowns in a game in Week 13 of 2015 against the Tennessee Titans and went 15 consecutive games with at least one passing score in 2015, both of which are also franchise records.
However, this performance came with the price of a lot of turnovers. Between 2014 and 2018, Bortles led the league with 75 interceptions, with 13 of them getting returned for a touchdown and had the second-most fumbles of any quarterback at 46, only beat out by Russell Wilson. These turnovers were what led to his benching in Week 13 of the 2018 season. He only started one more game after that.
Bortles was released by the Jaguars in the spring of 2019. He played in three games as a backup for the Los Angeles Rams that fall, but has not taken the field in an NFL game since, even though he still signed with the Green Bay Packers, Denver Broncos, New Orleans Saints and the Rams for a second time during the 2020 and 2021 seasons.
He was inducted into the UCF Athletics Hall of Fame in 2021 before he retired from football in 2022.
2. Mike Hughes, Cornerback
The only first-round draft pick of the Scott Frost era, cornerback Mike Hughes, is also the only former UCF defensive player to hear his name called in the first round of the NFL Draft.
He spent just one season as a Knight in 2017 after transferring from Garden City Community College, recording 49 tackles, 11 passes defended, one forced fumble and two interceptions. He was named First Team All-AAC for his efforts. However, most Knights fans remember him from his game-sealing 95-yard kickoff return for a touchdown against South Florida that kept UCF's hopes for an undefeated season alive.
Knight Nation, we leave you with this...
— UCF Football (@UCF_Football) November 25, 2017
Take it away, @ucf_marcdaniels (and Mike Hughes) 😁#UCFast pic.twitter.com/yQFLnudCQ2
That touchdown made Hughes one of 11 players to ever score at least one touchdown in three different categories; in his case, with two kick return touchdowns, a punt return touchdown and a pick six, according to UCF’s football record book. This helped him also earn Second Team All-AAC honors as a return specialist and Second Team All-American honors from the FWAA and Phil Steele.
Hughes was selected with the 30th overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, making him the most recent first-round draft pick of the four.
Injuries affected Hughes first and third seasons in the NFL with the Vikings, which led the franchise to decline the option on his rookie contract. Once Hughes signed with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2021, however, he became a more consistent player, usually coming off the bench, but would get a few starts. He continued in such a role with the Detroit Lions in 2022 and the Atlanta Falcons in 2023 before he got his first chance at being a regular starter for the Falcons in 2024.
Hughes is now coming off his eighth season in the NFL, and third with the Falcons, which ended prematurely due to a season-ending ankle injury in Week 15.
3. Daunte Culpepper, Quarterback
Quarterback Daunte Culpepper was UCF's original first-round draft pick after getting selected 11th overall in the draft by the Vikings in 1999, 15 years before another would join him in 2014.
As an underclassman, Culpepper led the Knights as they transitioned from an FCS team in 1995 to an FBS team in 1996. He still holds program records with 11,412 career passing yards and 84 career passing touchdowns. His 3,770-yard season in 1998 remains among the top in program history, only being beaten by 2002 Ryan Schneider and 2017 McKenzie Milton.
Culpepper became the Vikings’ starting quarterback in 2000 and held the job through 2005 before an injury cut his season short. During that time, he was selected for three Pro Bowls and led the league with 33 passing touchdowns in 2000 and with 4,717 passing yards in 2004. Following his time with the Vikings, he went on to play four more years in the NFL, one for the Miami Dolphins, one for the Oakland Raiders and two for the Detroit Lions.
He was inducted into the UCF Athletics Hall of Fame in 2002.
4. Breshad Perriman, Wide Reciever
Wide receiver Breshad Perriman started out as one of Bortles’ wide receivers when he became a starter in 2012. However, even with his improvement in the 2013 season, recording 811 yards and four touchdowns, his best college football was still ahead of him.
In 2014, Perriman improved once more, this time catching 50 passes for 1,044 yards and nine touchdowns, one of which came on a Hail Mary throw for the game-winning touchdown against East Carolina, cementing the receiver’s place in UCF lore. He also earned First-team All-AAC honors.
Perriman was selected with the 26th overall pick in the 2015 draft by the Baltimore Ravens. While injury kept him off the field during his rookie season, he became a regular contributor off the bench for most of his NFL career, though he would get the chance to start regularly with the New York Jets in his lone season with the team in 2020.
Still, despite only making a handful of starts for the Ravens, Cleveland Browns and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Perriman took advantage of the playing time he did have, like when he scored six touchdowns for the Buccaneers in 2019. After rejoining the Bucs midway through the 2021 season, he was on the receiving end of quarterback Tom Brady’s 700th career touchdown pass, which was also a walk-off overtime touchdown to lift the Buccaneers over the Buffalo Bills.
Perriman spent one last season in Tampa Bay in 2022 and has not taken the field in an NFL game since.
The 2026 NFL Draft opens at 8 p.m. on Thursday night.
Catch up on more UCF news below:
Every UCF Knights Player Drafted Under Scott Frost
Underrated UCF Knights Prospects Who Could Sneak Into the NFL Draft
UCF Football Loses High-Ranking Support Staff Member
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Bryson Turner is a sports journalist who covers UCF Athletics. Turner has contributed to the Black and Gold Banneret, the home for UCF Athletics on SB Nation. He has called the Orlando area home since the age of 8 and received his bachelor's and master's degrees from UCF.
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