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 58 days to go, let's meet UCF's offensive lineman Connor Meadows:

1. Who is Connor Meadows?

Position: Offensive Lineman

Class: Redshirt Senior

Height/Weight: 6-foot-4 / 300 pounds

Hometown: Trenton, Tennessee

High School: Peabody High School

Connor Meadows arrived at UCF during what ended up being the final spring transfer portal window.

"It was kind of an adjustment period, getting used to the guys. It was a sprint," Meadows said following an April 9 practice session.

Now, with a full year under his belt in Orlando, Meadows is set to embark on his redshirt senior season. However, he said that just because young players might look up to older guys more due to their age and experience does not necessarily mean younger players can't lead.

"I'm not the biggest believer that [a leader] has to be an old guy," Meadows said. "When I was young, went to college, I was trying to push the standard, and it's even more now."

2. What did he do last season?

Meadows played in eight of the Knights' 12 games in 2025, with a majority of his snaps coming at right guard, even starting there for the last three games of the season, according to his UCF Athletics profile page. However, he also saw at least a few snaps as a right tackle, a left tackle and even a tight end.

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

Thanks to the Knights' efforts in the transfer portal, picking up tackles like Henry Tabansi and Tyler Gibson to go along with Preston Cushman and potentially Owen Spell, Meadows has a chance to focus more exclusively as an interior offensive lineman in 2026.

With the graduations of both Keegan Smith and Patrick Barnett, UCF's starting right guard position has been left open, leaving room for Meadows to inherit the role after seeing most of his snaps at the position last season. However, it might not be as simple as that.

Following an April 9 practice session, offensive line coach AJ Blazek mentioned that both Meadows and Brady Wayburn have played some at center and have that as part of their "bag of tricks." With Wayburn also seeing starts at right guard in 2025 at UConn and redshirt freshman Jacob Maiava emerging as a potential "glue guy," it's less a question of who gets playing time and more a question of which position they will play on the line.

Thanks to Meadows' experience last season, the chances of him playing a sizeable role in 2026 seem fairly likely. He just needs fall camp to help determine what exact role he is going to have, whether it's as a right guard, left guard, center, or even a Swiss Army knife backup for the entire line.

Catch up on the rest of the list below:

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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