Meet The 2026 UCF Knights: Countdown To Kickoff - No. 78 Preston Cushman

With 78 days to go until the 2026 UCF football season kicks off, learn more about the player wearing the Knights' No. 78 jersey: offensive lineman Preston Cushman.

Nov 1, 2025; Waco, Texas, USA; UCF Knights head coach Scott Frost on the sidelines against the Baylor Bears during the second half at McLane Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images | Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images

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 78 days to go, let's meet UCF offensive lineman Preston Cushman:

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

1. Who is Preston Cushman?

Position: Offensive Lineman

Class: Redshirt Senior

Height/Weight: 6-foot-5 / 305 pounds

Hometown: St. Petersburg, Florida

High School: Calvary Christian High School 

Cushman is a "big outdoors guy," he told 96.9 The Game's Marc Daniels back on Jan. 8 during an episode of "Knight Talk. At the time, he mentioned he was trying to bring his girlfriend along on a hunting trip.

"I've shot some deer and some ducks and stuff like that, and tried to shoot some pigs," Cushman said.

Since that interview, he also shot his first turkey, posting about it on Instagram on March 22.

After transferring in from Ole Miss, Cushman made the most of his first season in Orlando. He started in all 12 of the Knights' games at right tackle, led the team with 753 snaps and recorded a 63.1 grade on Pro Football Focus, according to his UCF Athletics profile page. That PFF ranking was the Knights' fourth-highest-graded among their offensive lineman.

Cushman is set to lead the offensive line into the 2026 season and would be a prime candidate for a team captain role. Being a team leader was even one of the reasons he returned to his home state in the first place; he said in a June 6 video feature on the UCF Knights YouTube channel.

"This is the place I wanted to come back to and be a leader and leave my mark on this place, because this place provided me the opportunity to play college football," Cushman said. "I want to be a guy that people can look up to, because I want to lead guys and help them. I was a young guy once, and watched guys do the right things, and it helped me grow up a little bit faster and get a little bit better at football."

While they had not been acquainted for very long at the time, new UCF offensive line coach AJ Blazek said following an April 9 practice session that Cushman's leadership "has been the biggest thing" he has seen from him so far.

Following an April 3 practice session, Cushman said that he felt at home at right tackle, but he knows he can move inside, even if he has not done it much.

So, depending on how the rest of the position group's talents stack up, Cushman seems the most likely to return to right tackle, just this time with a leadership role on the team to go along with it.

Catch up on the rest of the list below:

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

Catch up on more UCF news below:

Everything You Need to Know About the 2026 UCF Women’s Soccer Team

Why UCF Losing Jamichael Stillwell Is Not As Bad As You Think

UCF Knights Class of 2026 Early Signing Day Tracker