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 28 days to go, let's meet UCF defensive back Matt Irwin:

Who is Matt Irwin?
What did he do last season?
What role is he going to have in 2026?

1. Who is Matt Irwin?

Welcome to UCF, @MattIrwin_4 ⚔️ pic.twitter.com/L1E6FEdRgV
— UCF Football (@UCF_Football) January 9, 2026

Position: Defensive Back

Class: Junior

Height/Weight: 5-foot-11 / 180 pounds

Hometown: Meridian, Idaho

High School: Owyhee High School

Matt Irwin arrives in Orlando after at least six years of playing football for teams based in his native Idaho. In fact, he is the only Idahoan on the Knights' roster this season.

After serving as a starting quarterback for Owyhee High School for three seasons, he stayed in western Idaho and played his first two seasons of college football for the Idaho Vandals, where he managed to start in one of the eight games he played in as a true freshman.

2. What did he do last season?

Irwin played in all 12 of the Vandals' games last season, and started in three of them. He recorded 45 tackles, 29 of them solo, a tackle for loss and two pass breakups.

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

Irwin is one of three additions from the transfer portal to what was already a deep UCF defensive back room. With returners like Braeden Marshall, Antoine Jackson, Jayden Bellamy, Demari Henderson, DJ Bell and Jayden Williams, and fellow FCS transfers like Ty Bartrum and Jailen Duffie in the mix, Irwin has his work cut out for him when it comes to earning playing time.

Thanks to his experience with Idaho, Irwin has a leg up over some of the younger members of the defensive back room, but he is still going to have to compete with several returning players for playing time. Luckily for him, he is entering his junior year, and thanks to the NCAA's new age-based eligibility, he could have another two years of college football ahead of him after 2026. So, even if Irwin ends up getting a relatively small slice of the playing time pie with the Knights this season, his work this season can help lay the groundwork for the position group later down the line.

Catch up on the rest of the list below:

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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