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.

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:

Who is Dylan Burk?
What did he do last season?
What role is he going to have in 2026?

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.

Click a name below and catch up on the rest of the list:

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

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