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Nearly three-dozen high school recruits toured UCF’s football facilities — and Universal Studios Florida, for that matter — over the last month on official visits. Scott Frost, back on the Bounce House sidelines for the first time in eight years, gets his first full recruiting cycle to build the program into a Big 12 winner.
Monday begins the dead period, with contact impermissible all the way until July 31. In such time, many athletes will weigh the pros and cons of their prospective choices before announcing a decision ahead of their senior seasons.
UCF has searched all over the map to bolster its roster, supplementing four in-state commits with targets from another eight states (Arkansas, Connecticut, Georgia, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Texas). According to 247Sports, the Knights are positioned 56th nationally in the team recruiting rankings and 11th among the Big 12 Conference’s 16 programs.
Let’s recap the last month for the Knights, analyzing who rolled through Orlando, what they have gained and lost to date and what positional needs still remain.
May 30-June 1
Shmar Akande, CB, West Broward (Pembroke Pines, Fla.)
Dante Carr, QB, Minersville Area (Minersville, Pa.)
Kasiyah Charlton, OT, Brunswick (Brunswick, Ga.)
Jayden Curtis, DT, St. Martin (Ocean Springs, Miss.)
Max Mohring, LB, Malvern Prep (Malvern, Pa.)
Kymani Morales, LB, American Heritage (Plantation, Fla.)
Leon Noil Jr., IOL, Edna Karr (New Orleans, La.)
Jayvian Tanelus, RB, Community School of Naples (Naples, Fla.)
Tyren Wortham, WR, Booker (Sarasota, Fla.)
June 2-4
Devonte Anderson, DB, West Orange (Winter Garden, Fla.)
Matt Occhipinti, LB, Don Bosco Prep (Ramsey, N.J.)
June 6-8
Kaj Baker, RB, Somerset Academy (Pembroke Pines, Fla.)
Alhassan Iddrissu, EDGE, St. Thomas More (Oakdale, Conn.)
Desmond Johnson, LB, Miami Northwestern (Miami, Fla.)
Elijah Keys, CB, Fletcher (Neptune Beach, Fla.)
Isaiah McNish, DT, Wekiva (Apopka, Fla.)
Eric Parks, S, Tampa Bay Tech (Tampa, Fla.)
Jarius Rodgers, EDGE, Fleming Island (Fleming Island, Fla.)
June 9-11
Kamron Wilson, EDGE, Miami Southridge (Miami, Fla.)
June 13-15
Wihtlley Cadeau, DT, Booker T. Washington (Atlanta, Ga.)
Ben Gula, IOL, Cypress Bay (Weston, Fla.)
Gary Hadley Jr., WR, Cardinal Gibbons (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)
Julius Miles, TE, Freeport (Freeport, Fla.)
Amarion Queen, DB, Martin County (Stuart, Fla.)
Amahn Williams, IOL, Tabor Academy (Marion, Mass.)
June 20-22
Kane Archer, QB, Greenwood (Greenwood, Ark.)
Preston Hall, LB, Ridge Point (Missouri City, Texas)
Ja’Cari Jackson, DB, Olympia (Orlando, Fla.)
Coi Jean-Noel, WR, American Heritage (Plantation, Fla.)
Charlie Jilek, TE, Portage Central (Portage, Mich.)
Grant Kuhlmann, EDGE, Lincoln Lutheran (Lincoln, Neb.)
Arthur Lewis IV, RB, Bartram Trail (St. Johns, Fla.)
E’Shawn Sutton, S, Winter Park (Winter Park, Fla.)
Its class has gone through some significant shuffling over the last month, but UCF has 12 players committed for the 2026 recruiting cycle as of June 23.
Iddrissu, a 6-foot-7, 255-pound Ghana native with an 86-inch wingspan, became the second consensus four-star prospect to join the class when he committed June 12. It concluded a productive second visit weekend for the Knights which also produced pledges from versatile speedster Baker and emerging defensive interior force McNish.
Frost, offensive coordinator Steve Cooper and quarterbacks coach McKenzie Milton doubled down on the quarterback position, adding Pennsylvania dual-threat Carr to the mix. He and Gatorade Arkansas Player of the Year Archer combined for 7,619 yards of offense and 112 touchdowns during their respective junior campaigns.
Three more players made their decisions in UCF’s favor during the month, including a pair hailing from the Northeast.
Williams is a 6-foot-4, 280-pound stalwart at left guard for a Tabor Academy team that went 8-1 and averaged 40.5 points per game. Occhipinti had 75 tackles with seven TFLs and five sacks, earned All-New Jersey honors for Don Bosco Prep and reportedly visited UConn, Cincinnati and West Virginia in addition to the Knights.
Rounding out the group is the Knights’ latest addition, Hall — a 6-foot-3, 215-pound linebacker who is the son of former Tennessee Titans fullback Ahmard Hall. Colorado State and San Diego State headlined the list of contenders for Hall prior to this past weekend.
UCF’s linebacker recruiting has been in a state of flux over the last six weeks. The Knights entered May with commitments from Morales, Ocoee’s Michael McClenton and Palm Beach Central’s Antoine Sharp; none of them are still in the Knights’ class as of June 18.
McClenton since reopened his recruitment, took visits to Florida International and Appalachian State and transferred to Edgewater. Sharp joined West Virginia’s class following a visit the second weekend of June, and Morales flipped to Georgia Tech three days after returning home from Atlanta.
Arguably, UCF’s biggest recruiting blow came June 22 when Wortham, who had 1,360 receiving yards and 17 touchdowns on just 67 catches, flipped in favor of Michigan State. The Knights held onto the 6-foot, 180-pounder through prior trips to Georgia and Kansas State, but could not fend off the Spartans’ push.
Kentucky moved quickly for Mohring at the end of April, issuing his first Power Four offer. Though UCF got the first crack at him on campus, the 6-foot-3, 215-pound linebacker instead chose the Wildcats.
Similarly, Johnson, who helped Northwestern win the FHSAA Class 3A championship last fall, committed to Pittsburgh after first checking out UCF. The 6-foot-1, 195-pound WILL linebacker registered 83 tackles, seven sacks, three interceptions two forced fumbles for Teddy Bridgewater’s Bulls.
Tanelus, who topped 1,500 rushing yards and 20 touchdowns as a junior, picked Duke on June 13. Two days later, Parks and Tampa Bay Tech teammate Tyson Stroud, the younger brother of UCF freshman cornerback Rukeem Stroud, announced commitments to Florida Atlantic.
Cadeau, a 6-foot-5, 295-pound defensive lineman out of Atlanta, locked in a commitment with Florida State before touring UCF.
Four key uncommitted to players to monitor entering July are Noil, Anderson, Curtis and Jean-Noel.
UCF is battling two Big 12 rivals, Baylor and Houston, as well as Mississippi State and Nebraska for the New Orleans native. Noil (6-5, 270) told 247Sports’ Rion Young that he plans to announce a commitment on July 7.
Anderson (6-1, 190) toured six schools in the space of a month: Louisville, UCF, Rutgers, Auburn, Maryland and Miami. Being able to keep Anderson — who had 38 tackles, 10 pass breakups and three interceptions for West Orange as a junior — home would be an enormous win.
Curtis (6-3, 265), brought to Orlando on the opening weekend, is a primary defensive tackle target. Ole Miss entered the picture at the start of June and had the last chance to make an impression in person.
Previously committed to West Virginia, Jean-Noel (5-10, 170) snagged 34 receptions for 505 yards and five TDs in American Heritage’s title-winning campaign. Per 247Sports’ Stephen Leonard, Jean-Noel could move up plans to commit on Aug. 12, with Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Pittsburgh and Purdue also in the mix.
As for potential flips in the Knights’ favor, Liberty commit Lewis — coming off a junior year in which he rushed for 1,666 yards and 21 TDs — gained an offer while in Orlando. The same could be said of Carr and Hall, both of whom committed almost immediately in the aftermath.
Syracuse has emerged as a new recruiting adversary throughout the Sunshine State for UCF, but the Knights have the chance to snatch Sutton from nearby Winter Park and, perhaps, a premier edge rusher in Rodgers or Wilson.
With Wortham’s departure from the group, wide receiver skyrockets to the top of the list of positional needs. UCF’s current depth chart at the position already feels thin, despite the impressive displays put forward in the spring by early enrollees Waden Charles and Carl Jenkins Jr.
Sean Beckton, the Knights’ wide receivers coach, described the duo as the “future” of the receiving corps, and they could be counted on to make plays early in their respective careers. As mentioned earlier, Jean-Noel is a huge priority at this point, though UCF faces plenty of Power Four competition.
Considering that, at one point, Mark D’Onofrio had three linebackers simultaneously committed, it’s fair to assume the position will continue to be a point of emphasis — either by expanding the board further or making additions via the transfer portal at year’s end.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: UCF Knights football recruiting overview after official visits
