2006 Central Florida Golden Knights football preview
Last week we began our 2006 Conference USA football preview series with the ECU football preview on CUSA-fans.com. Today our UCF football correspondent John Cooper previews the 2006 Central Florida football team.
2005 Record: 8-5 (7-1) CUSA East Champs
Head
Coach: George O'Leary
When people think of UCF football they think of a sleeping giant, and after last year it looks like the giant is almost awaken. The Golden Knights seem to have all the right ingredients brewing for them right now to be a great college football program. They are located in a great state filled with talent, they have a great coach in George O’Leary and they are in a up-and-coming conference. Last year UCF surprised everyone going 8-5 after a disappointing 0-11 season in the MAC in 2004. They accomplished a lot of things last year like winning the CUSA East Division, earning the right to play in the CUSA championship game, and earning a bowl birth vs. Nevada (Sheraton Hawaii Bowl) where they lost a nail biter 49-48 vs the WAC co-champs. Here is a breakdown of your 2006 UCF Golden Knights.
2006 UCF Offense
UCF has a offense returning a 2,900+ yard Passer, a 1,100+ yard rusher, and a 800+ yard receiver. These players, QB Steven Moffet, RB Kevin Smith, and WR Mike Walker, will be UCF’s 2006 offenssive gamebreakers. Overall UCF has 9 out of 11 starters returning and they will be a two-dimensional team which is hard to stop.
 UCF Offensive Line: The O-line for UCF is returning all 5 guys and across the line they have an average weight of 294 lbs. each. Leading the group at Center is Cedric Gagne-Marcoux who was a CUSA first team selection in 2005. The offensive line protected Steven Moffet very well in 2005 giving up only 9 sacks all season, and the propelled UCF running backs to over 2000 yards rushing. The O-line will open up holes for the running backs and give plenty of time for the QB’s. With 15 offensive linemen on the roster the Golden Knights should have plenty of depth.
UCF Receivers: The wideouts and TE’s for UCF are led by Mike Walker who had 64 receptions for 855 yards and 9 TD in 2005. Other key wideouts and TE’s are Rocky Ross, Mike Merrit, Antonio Eldemire, Sinclair Brown, Brooks Turner, Jabez Mitchem, Kenny Jackson, Shane Vernon, Travis Ferrer, and Sergio Joachim. This group will give QB Steven Moffet multiple weapons. This group together caught 248 passes for 3140 yards and 24 TD’s in 2005. With the main receiver last year gone (Brandon Marshall) someone will have to step up alongside Walker. With the O-line giving the QB’s plenty of time, and with the weapons at wideout and TE, this will be a great passing team with multiple weapons in 2006.
UCF Quaterbacks: Starting QB for the Knights this year will be Steven Moffet. Stats for Steven from last year include 2925 yards passing with 22 TDs and just 9 INT’s. Other QB’s will be Kyle Israel, Terry Mayo, Marquel Neasman, and Chris Carr. The backup QB this year will likely be Kyle Israel. Last year Israel only played in one game and that was against a bowl-bound Southern Miss team where he completed 9 out of 17 passes for 108 yards and a TD. He also had 9 carries for 49 yards and a TD on the ground. So while Israel is not the most experienced QB, it is nice to know that UCF has a capable backup if needed. In my opinion Moffet has a great chance to be CUSA’s player of the year.
UCF Running Backs: Leading the way at running back for UCF this year is Kevin Smith. In 2005 he had 249 carries for 1179 yards for 9 TD’s while averaging 4.7 yards per carry. In the passing game he caught 8 passes for 44 yards. UCF running backs do not get many opportunities in the air, but that’s ok when you can pound the ball with a guy like Smith. The other leading RB is Dontavius Wilcox. Wilcox ran for 274 yards in 2005, and he will be able to give Smith a break and shouldn’t miss a step. As a team the Golden Knights rushed for 2228 yards. At fullback expect to see a lot out of Shane Smith and Jason Peters. This is a inexperienced group, but both have shown potential and should lead block the whole year.
2006 UCF Defense
UCF Defensive Line: The starting lineup for the defensive line next year for UCF will be DE Emeka Okammor, DE Chris Welsh, NT Leger Douzable, and DT Keith Shologan. Watch for Okammor as he has made a position change from DT to DE. These guys need to help the CB’s out by getting pressure on that QB since opponents threw over 300 yards per game on them in 2005. They also need to clog those holes up better since they gave up 2648 yards rushing to opponents in 2005.
UCF Linebackers: The 3 LB’s starting for UCF this year are Cory Hogue, Ronnel Sandy, and Jordan Richards.
This group will be led by senior Ronnel Sandy who had 52 tackles, a sack, 1 forced fumble with 2 fumble recoveries and 1 INT in 2005. The other two are both Sophmores who will need some patience.
UCF Secondary: If the CUSA defensive of player of the year came from UCF it would have to be Joe Burnett. He was amazing last year as he totaled 55 solo tackles, 63 total tackles, 5 INT’s, 3 TFL, and 9 pass break ups. He was on CUSA’s first team and received recognition on many All American Freshman Teams across the nation. He is a contender for the Thorpe award, and his partner on the other side is Johnell Neal. These two make up the best CB duo in all of Conference USA. Neal was second on the team in tackles in 2005 and expect a big year for him in 2006. 60 of his 69 tackles were solo and he also had one forced fumble, 1 INT, and 1 sack in '05. Starting at the two safety spots are Marlon Williams, and Sha’reff Rashad. There is also a quality depth as backup safety named James Venson was second on the team in INT’s in 2005. Do not be surprised if Venson steals a starting spot this fall.
UCF Special Teams: Key players for the special teams include K Michael Torres, P Aaron Horne, KR Kevin Smith, and PR Joe Burnette. Burnette returned two punts for touchdowns in 2005 and averaged 16.5 yards per return.
Bottom Line: Repeating as CUSA East champs is expected by the UCF faithful, but with tough CUSA East rivals Memphis, Marshall, USM, ECU, and UAB it will be hard. Look for UCF to have a good number of CUSA first team players and maybe 1 or 2 All Americans. They really only have two gimmie games with Villanova, and Rice, so they will need to bring there A game every week. With a great coach and loads of talent coming in every year UCF should be a CUSA contender every year. My prediction for UCF this year is 10-2 (7-1). With losses to Memphis, and UF. Yes USF fans, the Golden Knights will get you this year. This team is capable of doing a lot of productive things on the gridiron this year and I think they will have another great year.
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