Meet The 2026 UCF Knights: Countdown To Kickoff - No. 83 Dylan Burk
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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.
This entry, however, will deviate a bit from that formula. While there is no player on UCF's roster wearing the No. 69 jersey, as of June 26, a new player has recently received a jersey with a number greater than 69.
So, with this spare time on our countdown, let's take a moment to meet new UCF tight end Dylan Burk:
1. Who is Dylan Burk?
Welcome to UCF, @DylanBurk14 ⚔️ pic.twitter.com/IEUMGtkAzp
— UCF Football (@UCF_Football) March 30, 2026
Position: Tight End
Class: Sophomore
Height/Weight: 6-foot-7 / 255 pounds
Hometown: Melbourne, Florida
High School: Merritt Island High School
Burk was a late transfer portal addition for the Knights, officially getting announced on March 30, the day before spring practice began. He was listed as a "fall arrival" on roster sheets provided to the media that observed spring practice sessions.
"We felt like we could use a couple more big bodies that could potentially help on special teams, and also be good at their position, and tight end was one of the spots we felt like could use another piece, and we actually brought him in in the winter, and if it works out, I'm excited to have him join us after spring ball's over," coach Scott Frost said following the Knights' first spring practice on March 31.
2. What did he do last season?
Burk played in all 12 games in his true freshman season with Sam Houston in 2025. He caught six passes for 55 yards.
3. What role is he going to have in 2026?
In the words of tight ends coach Cooper Bassett, Burk has "a lot that he's got to make up for" since he was not with the team during spring practice, especially when he believes the tight ends are the "tightest unit on the team."
"The challenge I have for Dylan is we have such a great tight room that he's going to have to come in and build some relationships and earn his way in, and that's the most important thing," Bassett said following an April 14 practice session.
Despite these disadvantages, there a few things that are in Burk's favor. For one, he is going to get started in Orlando with a season of college football experience under his belt already, so he is not going to need to get acclimated to college football the same way fellow tight end Brooks Hall does.
Additionally, he also has a redshirt year that he can still use, should he elect to stay under the old eligibility model. Considering Dylan Wade is the incumbent starter at the position, and Grayson Brosseau and Caden Piening have already exhausted their redshirts, Burk using his can allow him to have the most amount of eligibility possible remaining should he compete for the starting role in 2027.
However, Bassett said that Burk has a "big, big body" that he hopes can be "a force at the line of scrimmage." So, combine that with a potential role on the special teams unit, as Frost alluded to on the first day of spring practice, and Burk could see the field quite a few times in 2026, depending on the situation.
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Bryson Turner is a sports journalist who covers UCF Athletics. Turner has contributed to the Black and Gold Banneret, the home for UCF Athletics on SB Nation. He has called the Orlando area home since the age of 8 and received his bachelor's and master's degrees from UCF.
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