UCF SIGNING DAY RECAP - SHINING A LITTLE ON THE KNIGHTS

CUSA Fans Central Florida Correspondent Ryan Westin takes a look at UCF's 2007 football recruiting class.

Velocidad, geschwindigkeit, velocita, vitesse. No matter how you translate it, the message is clear that UCF wanted to add speed for this year's signing class and from the looks of it—mission accomplished.

Head Coach George O'Leary, who is starting his third year at the helm of UCF football, was pleased that his team got what they were looking for.

"We are very excited about this class because we were able to address a lot of our needs, especially at the skill positions." O'Leary went onto say,"We went out to specifically recruit speed and athleticism at the wide receiver and defensive back positions and hopefully that has been accomplished."
O'Leary advised in his press conference that all 29 athletes had signed with UCF by 10:10AM on Feburary 7th. Four members of this year's signing class are already enrolled at the university and are going through winter workouts with the team.

IF YOU BUILD IT, HE WILL COME

UCF's brand new facilites and stadium are to be completed before the 2007 season begins. These facilites played a major role in the success of this year's signing class.

"The first couple of weeks we didn't take them (recruits) into the stadium because it was still in the beginning structure of it. The last couple of weekend visits we did put hard hats on them and took them right into the stadium. When you walk through the locker room and walk out into the stadium, I think that they were impressed. There was no question about that. Just the overall facility itself, as far as this building, the dorms, the practice fields, the indoor facility, the stadium they left very impressed with what has been going on here and their parents did too,” O'Leary stated in his signing day press conference.

Improvements to the UCF athletics facilites as a whole are estimated to be near $60 million dollars. The gridiron home of the Golden Knights, Brighthouse Network Stadium cost an estimated $47 million dollars. The Knights play their first game away from the Citrus Bowl in September as the play on the campus of UCF. The Citrus Bowl, which is approximately 15 miles from the campus of UCF was the home of UCF home football games since 1979.

Going to Miami

UCF was able to steal some real talent out of south Florida, a difficult task to accomplish in years past as Miami rarely let the cream of the crop slip through their grasp. Could this be a sign of things to come? This penetration into south Florida, which used to be almost impossible, now appears to be possible. With the likes of perrenial powers Miami and FSU struggling to get wins on the field, this has translated into wins on the recruiting trail for the Knights as they were able to sign several of these players. Wide receiver and defensive back standout Alphonso Bryant, who passed on Miami and chose to play for UCF, highlighted this crew.

UCF Golden Knights 2007 Signees

Kamar Aiken ATH 6-2 205 (Hollywood, Fla./Chaminade-Madonna)
Chad Alexander WR 6-2 185 (Lake Wales/Lake Wales)
Darin Baldwin DB 5-11 176 (Homestead/South Dade)
Justin Boddie DB 6-2 180 ( Atlanta, Ga./ North Atlanta)
Alphonso Bryant DB 6-0 190 (Florida City/Homestead)
Jack Carter DL 6-2 225 (Miami/Coral Reef)
Blake Clingan K 6-3 220 (Coral Springs/Coral Springs)
Muhammed De'Reese RB 6-1 210 (Titusville, Fla./Titusville)
Jake Goray TE 6-3 243 (Fort Walton Beach/Choctawhatchee)
Mike Greco QB 6-3 225 (Poplarville, Miss./Pearl River Comm. College)
A.J. Guyton ATH 5-11 184 (Naranja/Homestead)
Derrick Hallman DB 6-0 191 (Port St. Lucie/Fort Pierce Central)
Patrick Hanse DL 6-3 271 (Miami/Monsignor Pace)
Sidney Haynes WR 6-4 210 (Suwanee, Ga./Peachtree Ridge)
Troy Kelly LB 6-1 219 (Arcadia/DeSoto County)
Chad Keys DB 6-1 190 (Covington, La./St. Paul's School)
Josh Linam LB 6-2 235 (Tavares/Tavares)
Darius Nall DL 6-3 226 (Douglasville, Ga./Douglas County)
Adam Nissley TE 6-6 235 (Cumming, Ga./South Forsyth)
Nick Pieschel OL 6-7 295 (Fort Lauderdale/St. Thomas Aquinas)
Billy Offut OL 6-6 306 (Winter Park/Lake Howell)
Jason Pierre-Paul DL 6-5 235 (Deerfield Beach/Deerfield Beach)
Ereck Plancher WR 5-9 169 (Naples/Lely)
Nate Tice QB 6-3 190 (Edina, Minn./Edina)
Reggie Weams DB 6-0 190 (Baton Rouge, La./Redemptorist)
Joe Weatherford QB 6-4 200 (Land O' Lakes/Land O' Lakes)
Darnell Williams ATH 6-1 185 (Winter Park./Winter Park) *(Williams was No. 36 on Sentinel Top 100)
Khymest Williams WR 5-10 170 ( Lutcher, La./Lutcher)
Lawrence Young LB 6-1 195 (Pensacola/Woodham)

A Few Good Men

Alphonso Bryant- A wide receiver and defensive back coming out of Homestead High School in south Florida, is one of the top players taken in this years signing class for head Coach George O'Leary's Knights. Bryant weighs in at 190 pounds, is 6 feet and posted an impressive 4.46 second forty. The Golden Knights were able to steer Bryant away from the Golden Gophers of the University of Minnesota. In Bryant's senior season at Homestead as a wide receiver he grabbed 40 receptions for 674 yards and found the endzone six times and was just as impressive playing defensive back with 54 tackles and two picks during his final season at Homestead. O'Leary advised in his signing day press conference that Bryant would play on defense.
Bryant's honors are highlighted by being selected to first team Class 6A All-State-Florida Sports Writers Association, as well as first-team All-Dade County-Miami Herald.

Nate Tice - who is the son of NFL coach and former player Mike Tice, signed to play football with UCF. The Tice Family has ties that go way back, as Mike Tice played quarterback for Coach George O'Leary in the 1970's. O'Leary and Tice were at the beginning of their realm in football as O'Leary was the Head Coach of Long Island's Central Islip High School and Tice was under center for the LICIHS. Nate, who runs a quick forty of 4.8 for a quarterback, is a 6’4 200-pounder out of Edina High in Edina, Minnesota. Nate selected to wear black and gold over other suitors of BYU and Oklahoma State.
-O'Leary and Tice's father coached side by side for the Minnesota Vikings from 2002-2003.

Joe Weatherford- Tice is not alone at the quarterback position, as he is joined by another familar name to the sports world. Joe Weatherford, younger brother of FSU quarterback Drew Weatherford (no not the holy FSU QB), signed up to dawn black and gold instead of garnet and gold like the elder Weatherford.

Darnell Williams- UCF signed local standout Williams, a four-year letterman out of Winter Park High School who was signed as an athlete. He played on both sides of the ball, starring wideout and defensive back in high school, and there is a strong possiblity he will be playing a lot this upcoming year. Williams was recognized by several outlets, which was highlighted by him joining fellow signee Alponso Bryant with honors of 6A all state selection (second-team.)

By the Numbers

-10:10 am- The time that the last letter of intent was received.
-60- According to rivals.com the Golden Knights recruiting class was ranked 60th in the country.
-4-UCF had four Knights sign their national letter of intent early as Darin Baldwin, Troy Kelly, Jake Goray, and Ereck Plancher signed and are getting used to college life as they are enrolled in the spring semester and preparing for spring practices.
-21-The state of Florida has 21 signees that that will be dressed in black and gold in August.
-4-UCF was able to sign four members from the Orlando area to the squad.
-3-O'Leary and his staff were able to sign talent outside the state of Florida from three states ( 4 from Georgia, 3 from Louisiana and one from Minnesota)
-15-$15 million is the amount the Brighthouse Network paid UCF for the naming rights to the new stadium for the next 15 years.

"Practice?" A.I.

O'Leary stated that the Knights spring practice will begin March 21 st. UCF will practice approximately four days a week and the 15-day schedule will conclude on April 14th. O'Leary went on to say that UCF will probably wrap up spring practices with a "Spring game" that will be held on UCF's practice field as the Knights did in 2006.

The Countdown begins

The Golden Knights start off the season as they have in the past as they travel to Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, North Carolina to take on ACC team North Carolina State on September 1st. UCF did some signing of its own by signing to play a home and home series with NC State. The Wolfpack will visit Orlando on September 11, 2010. This season will be a "season of firsts" and complete a major first as they play their first game at Brighthouse Networks Stadium, which is located on the northeast side of campus.

My first recommendation of the upcoming season: GET YOUR TICKETS N-O-W! The Golden Knights open the gates to their beautiful new stadium by welcoming Colt McCoy and University of Texas on September 15.