Initial Overall Thoughts Regarding UCF Football Recruiting: Week One
Seeing is believing. After watching UCF football conduct a seven-on-seven combine, big man camp this past Saturday, and operate a true high school football camp with prospects on Tuesday, there’s no question anyone that watched those events should be impressed, Inside The Knights included. Here’s why.
Watching and scouting high school football for over 20 years has provided many insights. There are programs that operate high school camps and combines, and there are those college football programs that simply want to make money from those same camps and combines.
UCF football ran all three sections of their high school events like it should be done -- professionally each time -- to not only scout and evaluate the top prospects attending one of the events, but to also help every single high school player that attended to become a better player.
Take Advice from the Actual High School Players
After asking several players, both true prospects and just ordinary high school kids attending UCF’s events, how much they liked everything and it was a broken record.
“It’s well organized,” That was the exact same response from multiple high school players. In fact, that was far and away the No. 1 answer to the question. That’s a big thumbs up. Second, the response from the players when it comes to listening to the coaches.
Again, it depends on when and where a scout goes to watch a camp. Many camps become sloppy, and in a hurry, because high school football players need consistent direction and provided with specific detail. These are not professional athletes, no college athletes, at least not yet. Not even the truly elite high school football prospects will automatically know each and every drill. That’s the true definition of why colleges host camps. To teach.
Therefore, it was good to consistently witness coaches providing direction, and the campers consistently learning the drill very quickly. It’s a process, yes, but there was meaning with how these young men were coached; this was not a money grab like many high school camps. That’s why the response from the high school players, i.e. their body language and attitude, proved to be very good throughout Tuesday’s camp, as well as this past Saturday’s events, which you can read about here:
UCF Football Recruiting News and Notes
As will be discussed later today and throughout all this week, the Knights coaching staff and administration are bringing in truly top athletes that have upside. They are not working off of some list from a recruiting service. They are actually evaluating prospects.
True Evaluations and True Coaching Matters
Watching the coaches time prospects in the 40-yard dash, help them with finite information about stance, arm extension, intensity, eye discipline, and just flat out hustle was refreshing. The list could go on and on.
Bottom line, this group of UCF football coaches enjoyed teaching football. Every last one of them. The eyes do not lie while watching coaches work with players.
Walking from drill to drill and witnessing prospects working with UCF’s coaching staff provided insight into the true involvement of the staff, from Head Coach Gus Malzahn all the way down to the current UCF players helping to run the camp. With Tuesday’s camp as evidence, everyone had a task and kept the camp running smoothly. While this sounds like a simple answer and one that’s expected, considering the following statement from a prospect that attended Tuesday’s UCF camp.
“This camp is organized. I was just at FIU’s (Florida International University) camp, and it wasn’t organized at all.”
Due to the nature of that statement, one can quickly receive a better idea of how and why scouts want to know about not only organization, but respect from the prospects in attendance. Speaking of prospects, here’s some insight on elite talent.
Elite Recruits Matter in More Ways Than One
UCF football needs elite talent like any other college football program. That’s the obvious. With two of the prospects in attendance yesterday, which is great for UCF football, there’s more than meets the eye, however.
2023 DT John Walker (left) and 2023 DE Derrick LeBlanc (right)
As it should be, on Tuesday UCF hosted top prospects like Kissimmee (Fla.) Osceola class of 2023 defensive linemen Derrick LeBlanc and John Walker. Inside The Knights already discussed LeBlanc in an article where you can read about his talents. Here’s the kicker.
LeBlanc, along with Walker, are both national recruits. Either player could commit to a school like Florida or Ohio State without a second thought. With that said, they were at UCF and enjoying their surroundings on Tuesday.
They were tuned in to watching different segments of the camp, and of course the defensive line drills and everything the UCF coaches were saying. Oftentimes big-time recruits show up to camps and walk around and are not engaged. While knowing both players well and they are good young men, they are still teenagers. That means it can be easy to lose focus.
Both LeBlanc and Walker were actually enjoying watching the UCF coaching staff work with the various prospects and regular high school players there. Perhaps from everything witnessed over the past week, as well as the numerous conversations with high school prospects being recruited by the Knights, one theme stands above all else. Watching LeBlanc and Walker’s body language and attention to what happened during camp was most important for the long-term future of UCF football.
If the UCF coaching staff could not gain the attention of these two local stars, it would be a red flag moving forward. Just something to think about.
Final Thoughts
It’s one man’s opinion, but the overall direction of the UCF recruiting campaign is really good. It truly is. What will be very interesting is listening to what the prospects have to say that have already visited UCF over the past week, as well as the prospects that will continue to visit UCF over the course of the month of June.
Inside The Knights will be covering those prospects, and will be just as intrigued as the readers as to what the prospects have to say. There's going to be an abundance of information.
Stay locked into Inside the Knights! Check out the site’s home page for continuous recruiting coverage of UCF football.
You will find me on Twitter @fbscout_florida and @UCF_FanNation