UCF Defensive Back Speaks Out For First Time Since Sealing Interception

When UCF Knights defensive back Jayden Bellamy emerged from the locker room tunnel for the season opener against Jacksonville State, he said he was a little scared.

It was not because of the game ahead, though. Being a transfer from Syracuse, Thursday night was the first time he heard a UCF crowd jump along to "Kernkraft 400" by Zombie Nation, which causes the Acrisure Bounce House to shake.

"I thought the bleachers were going to come down on us," Bellamy said. "I was asking all of them if that was thunder or that was [the fans], but it was loud."

Once he got past the loud environment, Bellamy recorded four tackles against the Gamecocks, two of them solo. He also got one pass breakup and one interception, both coming on the Knights' final defensive drive, helping preserve a 17-10 win.

"We always practice those situations at the end of practice," Bellamy said on Monday. "We all knew what it was. We all were all locked in. We weren't nervous, because we always did these types of situations against offense, so we knew what to expect."

Bellamy, in particular, "plays very confident," defensive coordinator Alex Grinch said on Tuesday.

"One of your biggest frustrations as a coach, especially the secondary coach, is when a defensive back is surprised when the ball is thrown in his zone, to his band," Grinch said. "That's the job description, is prevent those individuals from coming down. You're not going to win every one of those match-ups, but [Bellamy] just has a tendency to win more than he loses."

Despite the success of his first outing, Bellamy said that despite his success, he feels like he could have done better.

"I mean, it felt great to get a pick, and then obviously a pass deflection, but I feel like I could have played better," Bellamy said. "I feel like I let up two catches that probably should have been also a past deflection, but I felt like I could have been better, but it's just the first game, so I'll be back."

Bellamy officially transferred to UCF at a point in time when coach Scott Frost had not yet hired any assistants, he said. However, Frost ended up being the thing that attracted him to the Knights all on his own.

"He just never lied to me," Bellamy said. "I trusted him, and I knew his history with UCF. I was trying to come here and rekindle it all back here."

Bellamy and the rest of the Knights are back on Saturday at 7 p.m. as they take on North Carolina A&T.

Catch up on more UCF News below:

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UCF's Scott Frost Provides Quarterback Battle And Injury Update

Clutch Defense Helps Lift UCF Knights Over Jacksonville State