A free-agent frenzy 🤯, Bowser's back and bubble burst? 🥴
The transfer portal giveth and taketh away, as we've seen with programs across the country. How UCF and Gus Malzahn are adapting to this new age of college football.
If you haven’t gotten tickets for the Hula Bowl, which will be McKenzie Milton’s last game at the Bounce House, now’s the time. KZ is donating 50 percent of all ticket sales from this website to the family of the late Otis Anderson ✌🏻 What an awesome gesture by Milton. Grab your tickets 🎟!
Today’s read is 5 minutes ⏲️
Trending in the Kingdom: Bowser’s 🔙
At times, running back Isaiah Bowser was UCF’s best player this past season, especially when he was able to get on the field. Let’s hope we get to see a lot more of him in 2022 and injuries don’t get in the way.
Here’s the scoop 🚨: Gus Malzahn’s sqaud got a big boost on Wednesday when the Northwestern transfer made it official that he’s returning for a fifth year, using the extra year of eligibility that every player was granted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
🐊⚔️ Bowser saved his best game of the season for last, stomping all over the Florida Gators in the Gasparilla Bowl, carrying the ball 35 times for 155 yards and 2 touchdowns.
His 155 yards were the 9th-highest of any running back in a bowl game.
The two rushing touchdowns were tied for second-most of the bowl season.
Bowser had 124 of his yards after-contact, which was fourth-best among bowl game backs.
He carried the ball 35 times, a UCF bowl-record.
Better together 🤲🏻: It’s no surprise UCF was a better football team when Bowser was on the field this season, going 6-2 when he suited up and 3-2 in the five games without him. He missed the Navy and ECU games with a knee injury, then fought with an ankle issue that kept him out of the final three weeks of the regular season.
Bowser kicked off the season with a bang, rushing for a career-best 172 yards and a touchdown, adding four catches and 29 yards receiving in the season-opening win over Boise State.
He tied a UCF record with four rushing TDs in a win over Bethune-Cookman in week two.
Overall, he led UCF backs with 168 touches and nine scores in 2021.
“It’s been great. I love it here,” Bowser said after the bowl win. “Coaches, teammates, and the fans are amazing. The weather... I love everything about it. I’ve had a good time winning a lot of games.”
Final thoughts 🤔: A running back tandem of Bowser and Johnny Richardson - who led the Knights in rushing this season (733) and was second in all-purpose yards (1,260) - will be a really dangerous duo, as long as both stay healthy. Add in the two rookies in this year’s class, in Jordan McDonald and Xavier Townsend, and the backfield could very well be one of the deepest positions on offense for the Knights.
Transfer portal 🤝 Free agency
You thought NFL free agency was crazy? College football said hold my beer 🍺. We’ve seen so many sport-shifting transfers over the course of the last few weeks, especially at the quarterback position.
Tell me more: Over 2,000 players have entered the transfer portal since August, according to The Athletic and ESPN. The new rule, allowing players a single transfer without having to sit out a season, and the debut of name, image and likeness laws, have massively changed the sport. It’s college football’s version of free agency, and it’s absolutely nuts.
🔄 Take quarterback Dillon Gabriel, for example, who transferred from UCF to UCLA, only to burn the Bruins days before enrolling in classes to reunite with his former OC Jeffy Lebby at Oklahoma, whose star quarterback Caleb Williams decided to surprisingly test out his options in the portal. The domino effect rippled across the sport.
I think Dan Wetzel put it best in his column for Yahoo! Sports this week:
“College football, perhaps the most American of a sporting creation, is now boldly and openly embracing a most American of concepts — freedom of movement, capitalism, naked greed. None of those should be considered insults. It’s what makes the place. And the sport.”
…it all feels new, but it’s actually just overdue,” Wetzel went on to write. “And while some players will, no doubt, seek the highest NIL money possible, so what? Since when is seeking better compensation a bad thing for someone? It’s essentially how every job search in the real world works.”
Reality check ✅: UCF has really benefited from the portal in Gus Malzahn’s first season in Orlando, adding a wealth of talent that contributed to the 9-4 record:
Two of UCF’s top three rushers - Bowser (Northwestern) and Mark Antony-Richards (Auburn) - were transfers from Power 5 programs.
Jaylon Robinson (Oklahoma) and Brandon Johnson (Tennessee) were, at one point, UCF’s best receiving threat this season.
The Knights’ third-leading tackler (Bryson Armstrong - FCS), interception leader (Divaad Wilson - Georgia) and sack and tackles for loss leader (Big Kat Bryant - Auburn) were all newbies from the portal.
In recent weeks, the portal have giveth and taketh away from the Knights. Malzahn said he wanted to add 10 more players after the early signing period, and it’s clear a lot of that depth will come via the portal.
“Every day, every hour, every minute there’s a new guy in,” Malzahn said about the transfer portal to the Orlando Sentinel. “I really feel like the teams that can manage their rosters the best are going to have the advantage.”
➖ Notable names that have left: QB Gabriel (Oklahoma), LB Tatum Bethune (FSU) and WR Titus Mokiao-Atimalala.
➕ Notable names who’ve committed: S Koby Perry (FCS), LB Terrence Lewis and LB K.D. McDaniel.
We also thought WR Boobie Curry (Arizona) had jumped on board, but apparently he’s still on the market, having deleted his commitment tweet moments after sending it.
Best addition ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️: As for Lewis, he’s seemingly one of the biggest transfer additions so far, boasting the resume of a former five-star prospect who’s coming off knee and shoulder surgeries. Rivals.com’s Mike Farrell rated it a 9.2 out of 10 in terms of impact meter.
Who’s next? 🤔 Malzahn is in the market for a transfer quarterback and there’s significant momentum for former Ole Miss All-American quarterback John Rhys Plumlee, who moved to wide receiver, to join the Knights.
He set the Ole Miss freshman rushing record, as a quarterback, with 1,023 yards as well as total touchdowns with 16 in 2020.
The two schools in the mix seem to be UCF and Indiana.
He’s also was a stud baseball player for the Rebels.
Plumlee’s former coach, Lane Kiffin, didn’t sugar coat it when asked about the transfer portal a few weeks back.
"I don't think people really say it this way, but let's not make a mistake: We have free agency in college football," Kiffin said. "The kids a lot of times go to where they're going to get paid the most. No one else is saying that, maybe. But the kids say 'This is what I'm getting here from NIL.'"
Sports Illustrated did an analysis and since Aug. 1, the start of the 2021-22 portal cycle, an average of about 11 players per every one of the 130 FBS schools have entered the portal. That’s an absurd shift in not just roster spots, but recruiting.
Hey, coaches can do it — with 28 leaving their school or getting fired this year — so why can’t the players make moves as well?
Bubble burst? 🥴🏀
🏀 UCF basketball came into this week as a potential NCAA tournament dark horse after upsetting Michigan last week. Now, their chances of crashing March Madness seem slim to none.
Fill me in: Joe Lunardi, ESPN’s bracketology king, had UCF as the last team in on his “bracket watch” this week, which had them in the 64-team bracket for the NCAA Tournament, even after their loss to SMU. Now, after getting upset by Temple, that seems pretty slim.
The Knights had an uphill climb anyway to make the tournament, but there was promise after a 9-3 start that already included a win over the Owls last month. Then came Wednesday night’s debacle.
📉 Crashing down: UCF had an 85.9 percent win probability, according to ESPN, when C.J. Walker grabbed a defensive rebound with 1:01 remaining and the Knights up 62-58. Here’s what ensued over the final minute:
Walker missed a wide-open, 18-foot jump shot with 31 seconds to go.
Temple pushed the ball up the court as Zach Hicks hit a corner 3-pointer with 21.6 left on the clock.
At that point, UCF’s win probability was still at 67.5 percent.
After a quick Temple timeout, Brandon Mahan avoided a double team and got the ball past half court to Tyem Freeman, who got tied up, forcing a jump ball and giving the Owls the possession.
After a Johnny Dawkins timeout with 13.1 seconds remaining, Temple rushed up the court and Damian Dunn hit from downtown, giving the Owls the 64-62 lead with five seconds to play.
That trimmed UCF’s win probability to 12.7 percent.
UCF had to go the length of the court off the inbound, with Darius Perry handling it, but he dribbled the ball off his own foot, turning it over with 1.3 seconds left.
Temple hit a pair of free throws to ice it, winning 66-62. They scored the final eight points of the game to mount the comeback.
It was a crushing loss for a team with tournament hopes, as they’re now 0-2 in the New Year. The Knights were also 7-1 at home prior to the loss to Temple.
“We’ve just got to decide what we want to do as a team,” UCF’s Darius Perry said after the emotional loss. “Do we want to be the team we can be or do we want to be the same team we were last year?”
So, who’s to blame? 😡 Well, fans were quick to point fingers at Dawkins, but the jump ball and turnover late were both fluke plays. It was the second-half defense that really looked suspect, with Temple exploding for a 12-0 run, turning a 48-40 deficit to a 52-48 lead. That helped them get back in it.
Even worse, Temple was playing without their head coach, Aaron McKie, who was out due to COVID protocols, and two of its best players, Jake Forrester (non-covid illness) and Tai Strickland (back) who didn’t make the trip.
Give me a Knugget 🐴: UCF’s field goal percentage defense was 103rd worst in the nation coming in, and ranked towards the bottom of the conference.
Look, it’s not all over. There’s still a pair of games scheduled with Memphis, Houston and Wichita State over the next few weeks, plus a match up with Cincinnati, so they could climb back into the mix. That just seems a tad bit unrealistic now since they failed to handle a short-handed Temple at home.
Next up 📆: UCF hosts Memphis, next Wednesday at 7 p.m on ESPN+. Their previously-scheduled contest this weekend against Tulane has been postponed due to COVID issues.