#ChargeOn Today: 🏟️ The Bounce is back — Gabe the tennis 🐐 — The ultimate "Golden Knight"
How about a little Wednesday wisdom from Tay Gowan? The former UCF corner just signed a 4-year, $3.6 million dollar deal with the Arizona Cardinals. From being homeless to a millionaire, never give up on your dreams: “I’ve struggled and been homeless all my life,“ Gowan told shrinegame.com, "but that has never stopped me from having good grades to achieve my main goal in life to make it to the NFL.”
Now on to what’s happening in the Kingdom ✍🏼.
Today’s read is 5.5 minutes ⏲️
Trending in the Kingdom: A full house in the Bounce House 🏟️
UCF will allow a full capacity crowd for the 2021 football season. (Photo: UCF Athletics)
Anyone else been blasting Zombie Nation all day today? Apologies to my coworkers, because it has been on repeat - and for good reason. UCF is going back to a full house at the Bounce House for the 2021 football season.
Here’s the scoop: UCF Athletic Director Terry Mohajir announced the school will be at “full capacity at its home football games and other home athletics events this fall.”
This is all part of the school’s plan to “return largely to a pre-COVID environment” beginning June 23. That day marks the nixing of physical distancing requirements and allowing full participation at UCF athletic and social events. Face coverings won’t be required, either.
What they’re saying 🗣️:
“We all anticipated a return to full capacity by fall, and this represents a vote of confidence in that plan and a notable step in that direction,” Mohajir said. “The combination of vaccination success stories and the low number of COVID cases on campus played into the decision to move to this position.
"As we open our fall seasons, vaccines will be a critical way we can prioritize the health and safety of Knight Nation and help ensure our fans are comfortable attending our games. As far as football is concerned, we’ve already experienced strong momentum in recruiting and fan engagement with Coach (Gus) Malzahn and his staff. We look forward to joining our alumni and fans in experiencing our 2021 football season in a packed and rocking Bounce House.”
One thing to consider, since Mohajir pointed to vaccines being the key to safety here, the first COVID-19 vaccine booster shots could be needed as soon as September. That’s according to the CEOs of Pfizer and Moderna. UCF is scheduled to open the season on Labor Day weekend.
Better get your tickets fast 🎫: UCF currently has sold 93% of available seats for the 2021 season, according to the athletics department.
November 29, 2019: A capacity crowd of 45,216 fans at the Bounce House in a 34-7 win over USF.
If #UCF opens on Sept. 2, it will be 643 days since their last full house. The Knights’ legendary 25-game win streak happened over a span of 745 days.
Crazy to think about 🤔
What’s everyone else doing? 💭
Florida State: Planning for 100% capacity
Florida: Planning for 100% capacity
FIU: No official word yet, but they’re cutting pandemic restrictions this summer
As for each of the aforementioned teams, Miami (9.5) and UCF (9.5) are tied for the highest over-under win totals, according to betonline.ag. In terms of the AAC, DraftKings Sportsbook has Cincinnati (10.5) slightly above UCF (9.5).
A quick programming note 📺: It was just announced that UCF’s game on Saturday, Oct. 2 at Navy will kick off at 3:30 p.m. on CBS Sports Network. Plan accordingly.
🎾🐐 Gabe the GOAT
Gabe's historic season has come to a close as he falls to the nation's top singles player.
An absolutely incredible run through the NCAA Singles Championships from our top guy.
We're proud of you Gabe 💪 #ChargeOn https://t.co/y35XHEGhkG
We need to give some love to John Roddick’s crew, who has been setting records on the clay this season, especially Gabriel Decamps.
Fill me in: Decamps, a junior from Sao Paulo, Brazil, just put together the best single-season run in UCF men’s tennis history, despite it ending on a sour note with a loss in the NCAA singles quarterfinals to the nation’s top singles player, Kentucky’s Liam Draxl. It was the furthest any Knight has ever gone.
The previous best was Korey Lovett, who lost in the round of 32 back in 2017.
No. 1 @liamdraxl is headed to the #NCAATennis Championship semifinals.
After a 7-6 (8-6), 6-1 win over No. 9 Gabriel Decamps of UCF, the Kentucky sophomore will meet No. 6 Sam Riffice of Florida in the singles #FinalFour. https://t.co/xkAGvCnrZI
The UCF men’s tennis team finished No. 11 in the final Intercollegiate Tennis Association Top 25 poll, with a lot of the credit due to Decamps, who truly rewrote the record books this season. Here’s a look at the historic run:
He became the first player in UCF history to qualify for the NCAA Singles Championship multiple times
The first Knight ever to be named an All-American multiple times
He climbed as high as No. 3 this season in the Oracle/ITA singles rankings, a program best.
Named the American Athletic Conference Player of the Year
At one point this season, he won 13-straight matches
Give me a Knugget 🐴: The UCF women’s tennis team also finished No. 11 in the ITA rankings, with two Knights - Valeriya Zeleva and Rebeka Stolmar - participating in the NCAA Singles Championship in the same season for the first time in team history.
⚔️ Let's play the logo game
Who is the first player you think of when you see this logo? https://t.co/xiYEaK20Id
I’ve seen this social play making the rounds, so why not have a little fun ourselves? I asked our friends on Twitter to name the first player who came to mind when they saw the old UCF Golden Knights logo, which was primarily used from 1993 to 2007.
Kuddos to you guys, who gave some really good responses, but here’s who was most associated, based on the replies. No surprises here:
QB Daunte Culpepper (x16)
Playing years: 1995 to 1998
UCF Hall of Fame (Class of 2002)
Broke the NCAA record for single-season completion percentage (.736), while topping the 10,000-yard passing, 1,000-yard rushing marks in his career.
WR Brandon Marshall (x4)
Playing years: 2002 to 2005
UCF Hall of Fame (Class of 2019)
His most memorable game came in the 2005 Hawaii Bowl, when he had 11 grabs for 210 yards and three scores. He was named MVP of that game. Did you know Marshall also started at safety during the 2004 season? He actually led the team in tackles, with 51.
RB Kevin Smith (x4)
Playing years: 2005 to 2007
UCF Hall of Fame (Class of 2019)
Rushed for 2,567 yards during his senior season, falling just 61 yards shy of Barry Sanders’ all-time record of 2,628 (set in 1988).
QB Ryan Schneider (x2)
Playing years: 2000 to 2003
He ranks second all-time in career passing yards (10,976), single-season yards (3,770) and yards in a single game (497).
Led arguably one of the biggest scoring drives in program history, on October 28, 2000 against Alabama, completing seven of eight passes on the game’s final drive to set up Javier Beorlegui’s 39-yard game-winning field goal. UCF won 40-38.
QB Steven Moffett (x2)
Playing years: 2003 to 2006
In 2005, he threw for 2,925 yards, fourth-most in Conference USA. He was also top 5 in completions, attempts and passing touchdowns.
He engineered a pretty memorable late-game comeback to beat Marshall in 2006. Remember all those heated back and forth games with the Herd?
S Atari Bigby (x2)
Playing years: 2001 to 2004
Named a two-time All-MAC first teamer, with a pair of 100-tackle seasons as a Knight.
Who can forget Bigby had one of the most comical Sunday Night Football intros ever, Mr. University of Jah, Rastafari High.
CB Asante Samuel
Playing years: 1999 to 2002
UCF Hall of Fame (Class of 2015)
He did a little bit of everything with the Knights, ranking in the Top 8 for career picks, punt returns and pass break ups.
HC Mike Kruczek
Coaching years: 1985 to 2003
He served as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for 13 years, then took over as the team’s head coach in 1998. He went 36-30 with the Knights before being fired before the end of his sixth season.
Led UCF to that 2000 win over Alabama, the school’s first victory over a BCS program.
QB Kyle Israel
Playing years: 2004 to 2007
Threw the first touchdown pass in Bounce House history, a 7-yard, fourth-quarter pass to Kamar Aiken, which made the score 35-32 in a near-upset of No. 6 Texas on Sept. 15, 2007.
Led the Knights to their first Conference USA championship in 2007.
DB Paul Miranda
Playing years: 1996 to 1998
Still holds the school records for kickoff return average in a season (30.7) and for a career (33.3).
Had one of the most memorable kickoff returns in school history, a 88-yarder off a reverse in a 34-17 victory against Toledo in 1997.
WATCH: ▶️ Culpepper, Knights break attendance record in 41-10 victory over Idaho (via UCFSports)
UCF 41, Idaho 10 (1997) - Daunte Culpepper Mania & Knights break attendance record
👋 Meet the Mafia: Daniel Glass, UCF '11
Graduated 🎓: Fall 2011
From 🏠: Wyckoff, New Jersey
Current city 📍: Montvale, NJ
Current job 👔: Executive Vice President of a family-run 11 ShopRite Supermarkets in New Jersey and New York
Twitter handle 🐦: @Dgyn14
Favorite UCF memory 🏈: Chequan Burkett pick-6 vs. Auburn in the Peach Bowl (which he was at).
Random fact ❓: Attended three Super Bowls in a span of four years: Super Bowl XLVI (Giants over Patriots, 21–17), Super Bowl XLVIII (Seahawks over the Broncos, 43-8) and Super Bowl XLIX (Patriots over the Seahawks, 28-24).
Before we go, a few shout outs.
👏 Congratulations to the Lady Knights softball team for an unbelievable run this season.
UCF baseball is cruising through the AAC tournament. Next up? A date with Memphis tomorrow.
Less than 100 sleeps until we get to tailgate before a game at the Bounce House, but who’s counting? - Ryan
By Ryan Bass
The #ChargeOn Today Newsletter is dedicated to covering trending UCF Athletics news and topics. Have some feedback? Shoot me a message: chargeontoday@gmail.com
If you don't want these updates anymore, please unsubscribe here.
If you were forwarded this newsletter and you like it, you can subscribe here.
Powered by Revue