Meet The 2026 UCF Knights: Countdown To Kickoff - No. 27 Nicholas Antoine

With 27 days to go until the 2026 UCF football season kicks off, learn more about the players wearing the Knights' No. 27 jersey: defensive back Nicholas Antoine.

Nov 22, 2025; Orlando, Florida, USA; UCF Knights head coach Scott Frost walks into the venue before the game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys at Acrisure Bounce House. Mandatory Credit: Mike Watters-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

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 27 days to go, let's meet UCF defensive back Nicholas Antoine:

1. Who is Nicholas Antoine?
2. What did he do last season?
3. What role is he going to have in 2026?

1. Who is Nicholas Antoine?

Position: Defensive Back

Class: Redshirt Senior

Height/Weight: 6-foot-4 / 205 pounds

Hometown: Daytona Beach, Florida

High School: Mainland High School

After spending time on the football, basketball and track and field teams for Mainland High School in Daytona Beach, Antoine elected to stay in central Florida by committing to the Knights before the 2022 season. Under Gus Malzahn, Antoine never saw the field, spending his first three seasons in Orlando working with the scout team.

2. What did he do last season?

Antoine made his college football debut in 2025, playing in five games for the Knights. Four of those five appearances were UCF's last four games of the season.

Not long after Antoine played in the Knights' final game of the 2025 season against BYU, he graduated with a bachelor's degree in Kinesiology with a focus on Exercise and Sport Physiology.

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

With Antoine now in his redshirt senior season, it is not out of the question for him to see the field once again in 2026, particularly in the Knights' season-opener against FCS opponent Bethune-Cookman, in any game that enters into garbage time or on Senior Knight against Iowa State.

However, despite being the tallest player in the defensive back room at 6-foot-4, any snaps Antoine gets are likely going to be few and far between since he is a part of a defensive back room that's one of the deepest on the entire Knights roster even when exclusively factoring in its returners: Antoine Jackson, Demari Henderson, Jayden Williams, Braeden Marshall, Jayden Bellamy and DJ Bell, all of whom saw playing time last season. This is in addition to a trio of experienced transfers: Ty Bartrum, Matt Irwin and Jailen Duffie.

Catch up on the rest of the list below:

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