UCF football hopes a busy June could pay big dividends on the recruiting trail

When Gus Malzahn arrived as the new coach at UCF in February, he spoke about making recruiting a priority particularly in the state of Florida. But his scope was limited thanks to an NCAA-mandated recruiting dead period that limited interactions between coaches and high school prospects to online-only.

So when the NCAA lifted the mandate on June 1, allowing recruits to make in-person campus visits for the first time since March 2020, Malzahn called it “the most important 26 days in the last two years from a recruiting standpoint.”

In anticipation, the Knights coaching staff went to work setting up multiple camps while welcoming 332 prospects to campus.

“June was like no other,” said Dave Shumate, UCF’s director of player personnel. “You sensed it was going to be an initial free-for-all but I think our recruiting staff, coaches and coach Malzahn did a good job of organizing it as best as we could.”

“For me, it was really refreshing just to have recruits on campus and showing them our facilities and get face to face with them to show them what the future looks like here,” added Malzahn.

Preparing to welcome the massive wave of high school recruits to campus for the first time in close to 14 months was perhaps the biggest challenge — not only identifying which prospects the Knights were zeroing in on but also welcoming a lot of players who were curious about the new coaching staff.

“What made it interesting for us was this was the first time meeting some of these people, too,” added Shumate.

“A lot of people that had never been here before were really impressed with our facilities, our vision of the program and where this program is going,” Malzahn explained. “Then you get on campus, and this is an unbelievable campus. It has the wow factor. I think all those things, a real positive response.”

UCF welcomed 3,800 high school players to its campus during those three weeks in June, according to Shumate.

“We got the majority of the kids we wanted to get on campus,” Shumate said of the process. “June, the craziest month in recruiting history probably.”

UCF entered the summer with two oral commitments for its 2022 recruiting class but that number quadrupled over the next three weeks. Receiver Tyler Griffin (Brooklet, Ga.), defensive end Jamaal Johnson (Miramar), offensive lineman Caden Kitler (Plano, Texas), linebacker TJ Bullard (Tampa) and defensive end Keahnist Thompson (Lakeland) all committed in a two-week span between June 18-30.

Nikai Martinez, a 4-star defensive back from Apopka, committed on July 9.

The Knights have the No. 60 recruiting class in the country, according to 247Sports. That is the third-best among American Athletic Conference programs behind Cincinnati and SMU.

“We got here too late and we’ve tried to play catch-up,” Malzahn said. “We’re still playing catch-up with the 2022s and I think we’re putting up a good fight. The 2023s and 2024s, that’s our future. We’re trying really hard to get people on campus and develop those relationships.

“The great thing is everybody will get a chance to see not only us but these other teams, what we do on the field and see if it matches up what everybody is saying. So I think that’s good for us.”

UCF has extended 117 offers to high school recruits for the 2023 class and 23 offers for the 2024 class, according to 247Sports.

“It’s a process and we’re just building the foundation these first five months but more specifically in recruiting, the month of June and of course this week in July,” Malzahn said.

Malzahn and his staff are hoping to reconnect with recruits this week before facing a month-long dead period beginning in August.

“We’re trying to get in front of the recruits one more time before the season starts because once the season starts, I mean, they’re busy, we’re busy and you just want to lay that foundation for you,” added Malzahn.

This article first appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com. Email Matt Murschel at mmurschel@orlandosentinel.com or follow him on Twitter at @osmattmurschel.