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 85 days to go, let's meet UCF wide receiver Carson Hinshaw:

Who is Carson Hinshaw?
What did he do last season?
What role is he going to have in 2026?

1. Who is Carson Hinshaw?

Position: Wide Receiver

Class: Redshirt Sophomore

Height/Weight: 5-foot-10 / 165 pounds

Hometown: Lake Mary, Florida

High School: Lake Mary High School

Hinshaw is the older brother of fellow wide receiver Chase Hinshaw, who we discussed in the previous entry. They are both following in the footsteps of their father, Tyson Hinshaw, a former UCF wide receiver who was the Knights' primary passing target during the 2000 season. His 89 receptions that season remain second-most in a single season in program history.

However, Tyson was not the first Hinshaw to play for UCF. That would be his older brother, and Carson and Chase's uncle, Darin, who played quarterback from 1991 to 1994. He set new program records with 9,000 career passing yards and 92 career passing touchdowns; marks that Daunte Culpepper ended up breaking a few years later. He has also had multiple coaching roles in Orlando, most recently being the Knights' offensive coordinator for two seasons under Gus Malzahn in 2023 and 2024.

2. What did he do last season?

Hinshaw was mostly with the scout team alongside his brother in 2025, though he did see the field for the Knights' contests against North Carolina A&T and BYU.

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

Like his brother, Hinshaw has to contend with a wide receiver room that is packed with experience, both from returners, like Duane Thomas Jr. and Waden Charles, and transfers, like Josh Derry and Jonathan Bibbs, alike.

Even so, both brothers have the confidence of wide receivers coach Sean Beckton, who said he could put them on the field today and they would know exactly what to do.

However, with fellow redshirt sophomore Caleb Rollerson also getting some looks last season and another, DayDay Farmer, returning from injury, Hinshaw looks most likely to continue working with the scout team for most of the season unless the injury bug takes hold higher on the depth chart.

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

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