UCF Wide Receiver Responds To Knights' Doubters

As the UCF Knights' season-opener draws closer, predictions on their performance in the first season of coach Scott Frost's return have varied widely.

At the more optimistic end, the Knights are projected to win eight games and crack bowl eligibility, but on the more pessimistic side, they have them missing out on bowl eligibility and finishing near or at the bottom of the Big 12.

"All of that is just fuel," wide receiver Waden Charles said in an episode of the Charge On Podcast's "Meet the Knights." "You're literally just putting fuel into the fight, I'm not gonna lie to you."

If the doubts towards this season's Knights squad are fuel, then Frost has become a gas station.

"The thing that coach Frost does that I like: he shows us what other people are saying," Charles said. "When we get in a team meeting, he has a little thing, like, 'What they're saying,' and it's like a slide show of what people said, so we see all of those things. This day and age, everybody's on their phone, you're gonna see all of those things, so it's hard to shy away from it. So, it's good that we know about those things, because it just gives us a chip on our shoulder, to go out there and just, not even prove everybody wrong, just prove ourselves right at the end of the day."

The Knights' first chance to prove themselves this season is on Thursday at 7 p.m. as they face off against Jacksonville State.

How UCF's Athletic Director Sealed The Deal On Signing Day

Wide receiver Carl Jenkins Jr. de-committed from UCF months before National Signing Day.

The St. Augustine High School product, who had initially committed to the Knights in late June, opened up his recruitment again three months later because he wanted to find an offense more suited to him.

"I just wanted to go into more air raid offense, more explosive, more throwing offense," Jenkins Jr. said in an episode of the Charge on Podcast's "Meet the Knights" series. "So. I had other schools reaching out. So, I'm just like, I'm gonna just back off and then just explore more options, and then just, you know, see what happens."

To Jenkins' point, the Knights last season rushed the ball 516 times, tied for the 22nd-most in the nation, while only passing 311 times, which ranked 99th in the nation. However, on Nov. 30, in the lead-up to Signing Day, UCF's coach, Gus Malzahn, resigned.

Enter UCF athletic director, Terry Mohajir, who Jenkins Jr. said called him "every day" before Signing Day. Before becoming an administrator, Mohajir had a brief coaching career as an assistant at Kansas from 1993 to 1996.

"It was kind of crazy because, obviously, I didn't know what I was going into, but the options that he told me, I felt kind of satisfied with the top three that he told me, so I just did my research and I felt really good about them all," Jenkins Jr. said. "It meant the most to me that the AD was calling me. I mean, like, not too many people get the opportunity for the AD at a college program to call them and tell them to come to the school."

Fellow receiver Waden Charles, while he remained committed to UCF since July, signed the same day as Jenkins.

"I mean, he was just really telling us that we got an opportunity to come in and do something that's never been done before," Charles said. "There was no staff, so we had the opportunity to sign with no staff and then we can look back in like, three to four years, when we all do what we always wanted to do, and we can just be like, 'Man, we signed to UCF with no coaching staff, and we always trusted the AD,' so he was just telling us that would be a pretty beautiful thing."

Of course, Mohajir telling the recruiters that coach Scott Frost was an option for them is different from meeting the man in person.

"I was actually going into the indoor [practice facility] to go put in some extra work," Jenkins said. "I had ran into him on the way there. He pulled me into the office. He told me he watched my film, he loved it, and then, from there, he was just telling me a little bit about the offense and what he's gonna throw at us in like, the next two months."

Both receivers begin their first season of college football on Aug. 28 at 7 p.m. as UCF hosts Jacksonville State.

Catch up on more UCF News below:

College Football Writer Projects Gloomy Outlook For UCF Knights

ESPN's FPI Prediction Gives UCF Fans Some Hope This Season

TCU Transfer A Focal Point For UCF Defense Against Jacksonville State