Meet The 2026 UCF Knights: Countdown To Kickoff

Welcome to UCF Knights on SI's countdown to kickoff!

In this series, we are going to introduce you to every single player on the 2026 UCF football roster so that you can know what to expect from them or even pinpoint the ones you want to follow throughout the coming season. We are going to go through the Knights' roster in reverse jersey-number order, with the day each player's entry is published corresponding to the number of days remaining until UCF's season-opener on Sep. 3 at 7 p.m. against Bethune-Cookman.

So, with one day to go, let's meet UCF defensive back Jayden Bellamy:

1. Who is Jayden Bellamy?

Position: Defensive Back

Class: Redshirt Senior

Height/Weight: 6-foot-1 / 190 pounds

Hometown: Freehold, New Jersey

High School: Bergen Catholic High School

After transferring to UCF from Syracuse ahead of the 2025 season, Jayden Bellamy is back for one final season in Orlando.

Upon completion, Bellamy would become the third person in his immediate family to finish their college sports career.

His father, Jay Bellamy, was a safety at Rutgers, and while he went undrafted in the 1994 NFL Draft, he went on to play 14 seasons in the league for the Seattle Seahawks (1994-2000) and New Orleans Saints (2001-2007). In fact, from 1998 to 2004, Bellamy started every single week of the regular season.

More recently, his sister, Bre Bellamy, finished up her college basketball career, playing four seasons for William & Mary before finishing at UMass in 2023-24. As a forward, she averaged 6.9 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game with a 45.7% shooting percentage.

2. What did he do last season?

Bellamy was named an All-Big 12 Honorable Mention after recording 27 tackles, 20 of which were solo, plus eight pass breakups and an interception.

3. What role is he going to have in 2026?

Bellamy is set to resume a substantial role as one of the Knights' cornerbacks in 2026. However, at least according to the Knights' Week 1 depth chart, there is a chance he may not start every game thanks to DJ Bell rising to become a starting option alongside him and Antione Jackson.

While Bellamy's snap count could end up being reduced compared to 2025, it would likely have less to do with Bellamy himself and more to do with the quality of depth in the defensive back room behind him. During the Knights' local media day, Bellamy said the room would be "very, very deep," mentioning both Bell and Jailen Duffie.

Such a deep defensive back room can also create a competition for getting takeaways, which Bellamy said had become "the main game" of the Knights' practices.

"I think we were 94th in takeaways last year, and that's not what we want," Bellamy said.

Catch up on the rest of the list below:

No. 2 Jayden Williams and Tyren Hornes

No. 3 Jonathan Bibbs

No. 4 Braeden Marshall and Taevion Swint

No. 5 Josh Derry and DJ Bell


No. 6 Isaiah Nixon and DayDay Farmer	No. 7 Duane Thomas Jr. and Antione Jackson	No. 8 Demari Henderson and Rocco Marriott	No. 9 Waden Charles	No. 10 Kaleb Annett and Sincere Edwards
No. 11 Landen Chambers and Ken Talley	No. 12 Keyone Jenkins and Aymeric Koumba	No. 13 Caleb Rollerson	No. 14 Alonza Barnett III and Kahmel Johnson	No. 15 Will Stone and Preston Hall
No. 16 Dante Carr and TJ Branch	No. 17 Jailen Duffie	No. 18 Caleb Flagg and Caden Piening	No. 19 Rashad Henry	No. 20 Lewis Carter and Kaj Baker
No. 21 Ty Bartrum	No. 22 Amarion Queen	No. 23 Jordan Nunuha and Jayden Burnett	No. 24 Tackett Curtis and Arthur Lewis IV	No. 25 Rukeem Stroud
No. 26 Duke Watson and Elijah Keys	No. 27 Nicholas Antoine	No. 28 Matt Irwin	No. 29 Tyce Porcher	No. 30 Otis Hardy
No. 31 Noah McGough	No. 32 Matthew Occhipinti	No. 33 Phil Picciotti	No. 34 Jahleel Culbreath	No. 35 Agyeman Addae
No. 36 Dylan Bennett	No. 37 Rocklyn Kelley	No. 38 Jayden Jennings	No. 39 Andrea Parisi	No. 41 Bruno Dall
No. 42 Artavius Jones and Chance Nixon	No. 43 Cole Kozlowski	No. 44 Kyle Hicks	No. 45 Quentin Hatch	No. 47 Arthur Kingdom and Sam Powell
No. 49 Atticus Bertrams and Donnell Johnson III	No. 53 LaParka Langston	No. 54 Cooper Terpstra and Trenton Turner	No. 55 Jacob Maiava and Noah Mercer	No. 56 Patrick Ryan
No. 57 Camp Lott	No. 58 Connor Meadows	No. 61 Owen Spell	No. 66 Brady Wayburn	No. 67 Noah Senka
No. 68 Ethan Higgins	No. 70 RaiShaun McHaney	No. 71 Amahn Williams	No. 72 Dominick Campbell	No. 73 Henry Tabansi
No. 74 Matthew Prigmore	No. 75 Tyler Gibson	No. 76 Justin Royes	No. 77 Kasiyah Charlton	No. 78 Preston Cushman
No. 79 Daniel Marcellinus	No. 80 Elijah Hardy	No. 81 Zack Palmer	No. 82 Jordyn Bridgewater	No. 83 Dylan Burk
No. 84 Thomas Wadsworth	No. 85 Carson Hinshaw	No. 86 Chase Hinshaw	No. 87 Brooks Hall	No. 88 Grayson Brousseau
No. 90 Mujahid Jefferson	No. 91 Donteye Drew	No. 92 Jeffson Lafontant	No. 93 Brad Gurley	No. 94 L A Jesse Harrold
No. 95 RJ Jackson Jr.	No. 96 Anthony Coaxum	No. 97 Josh Schell and Mason Denaberg	No. 98 Alhassan Iddrissu	No. 99 Thomas Collins

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