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 25 days to go, let's meet UCF kicker defensive back Rukeem Stroud:

Who is Rukeem Stroud?
What did he do last season?
What role is he going to have in 2026?

1. Who is Rukeem Stroud?

Position: Defensive Back

Class: Redshirt Freshman

Height/Weight: 5-foot-11 / 165 pounds

Hometown: Plant City, Florida

High School: Tampa Bay Technical High School

When Rukeem Stroud was scouted back in 2023 by 247Sports' Andrew Ivins, he was described as a "multi-year Power Five starter upside" and "must keep evolving as a player."

According to 247Sports' timeline, Stroud initially committed to Wisconsin on June 2, 2024, which would have made him part of an Alex Grinch-led defense at the time. However, once UCF, a school he made an unofficial visit to back in September 2023, made him an offer a few weeks later, he flipped his commitment. This was all just under six months before Grinch would also end up joining the Knights as their defensive coordinator.

2. What did he do last season?

Stroud played in three games as a true freshman, allowing him to use a redshirt.

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

With Stroud no longer needing to limit his playing time to qualify for a redshirt, his snap count could increase in 2026 in theory. However, he is also in a defensive back room that returned most of their contributors from last season: Demari Henderson, Jayden Bellamy, Antoine Jackson, Braeden Marshall and DJ Bell. Plus, it is also getting back Jayden Williams after an injury sidelined him for a majority of 2025 and added Ty Barturm, Matt Irwin and Jailen Duffie from the transfer portal.

With such depth in the Knights' secondary, Stroud seems the most likely to only see action in a few games, particularly during the garbage time portion of a blowout game, similar to their wins against North Carolina A&T and West Virginia last season.

Catch up on the rest of the list below:

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 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. 89 Caleb Rollerson	No. 90 Mujahid Jefferson	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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