Who is Mikey Keene 🏈? Lucca going loco and history in the polls 🏌️♀️
With Dillon Gabriel sidelined indefinitely, freshman quarterback Mikey Keene takes over as the starter. Let's get to know the Arizona native.
The bye week came at the perfect time. Who else had a terrible football weekend? 🙋♂️ Between the heartbreaking loss on Friday, Dillon Gabriel’s injury, the Miami Dolphins worst shutout since the 1960’s and Tua Tagovailoa getting hurt, I need a break 😂.
Today’s read is 3.5 minutes ⏲️
Trending in the Kingdom: Meet the new QB1 ⚔️
As if the painful loss at Louisville wasn’t enough. Now UCF will be without star quarterback Dillon Gabriel for likely the rest of the regular season after he suffered a fractured clavicle in the final moments of the loss to Louisville. Thankfully, it won’t require surgery, so he could return at some point this year.
That means it’s Mikey Keene time, as the true freshman quarterback takes the reins of Gus Malzahn’s offense with Gabriel on the shelf.
Here’s the scoop: Malzahn made it clear during Monday’s weekly press conference that Keene, who earned the back up spot in camp, is the No. 1 quarterback and will take over for Gabriel. Transfer quarterback Joey Gatewood will be used in spots, but this is Keene’s team now.
UCF practiced on Sunday night and Keene ran with the first-team offense.
As for game action, he got some snaps in the 63-14 blowout win over Bethune-Cookman, going 4-for-7 with 55 yards and a 30-yard touchdown pass to Kaedin Robinson, which gave us a glimpse into his talents.
"He was one play away and any time you're one play away, you've got to prepare like you're the starter. He’s done that in the last three weeks,” Malzahn said on Monday. “I know that's helped him. The fact that he's a true freshman, there's gonna be some learning things. There’s probably going to be a few growing pains, but everyone around him, and coaches, myself included, we've got to raise our level to help him. We're confident that we can do that."
WATCH ▶️: Here’s that TD toss against B-CU, where Keene rolled out to this right, escaped the pressure and tossed a pretty ball on the run to Robinson, who came back to get it and scooted in for the score.
Keene flashed his athletic ability, which is what many of UCF’s coaches have gushed over, but there’s plenty more where that came from. The Arizona native is exceptionally skilled outside of the pocket, but it’s his leadership qualities that stood out at the high school level.
Keene’s high school career by the numbers 🏈:
50: Keene finished with 50 total touchdowns in 30 career games, while throwing for 5,191 yards and just eight interceptions.
23-0: He never lost a game as a starter in high school, finishing 23-0. He’s the school’s only unbeaten starting quarterback for two consecutive seasons that ended in championships.
5: He led Chandler to the No. 5 ranking in the nation as a senior in 2020.
2: Keene led his team to back-to-back state titles.
But he’s more than just a numbers guy.
"He's got 'it' (factor)," his former Chandler High coach Rick Garretson said on Keene. “He knows how to lead. He knows how to direct. He knows how to stay calm under pressure. It's why he's going to Central Florida."
Impressive pipeline 🔗: Keene is the latest in a line of excellent quarterbacks to come through Chandler, which includes Bryce Perkins (Virginia, now LA Rams) and Brett Hundley (UCLA, now Arizona Cardinals).
Keene’s arguably more mobile than his predecessors, a lot of which dates back to his younger years playing shortstop on the diamond.
In fact, his coach often likened his style of play to Johnny Manziel, especially for his ability to make something happen when the picked collapses. Keene seemed to like the comparison.
“Johnny Manziel back in college was a playmaker,” Keene said of the comparison. “You never knew if a play would be dead with him. His ability to escape pressure from inside the pocket and get outside, I would really compare myself to.”
How he ended up a Knight ⚔️
Keene enrolled early at UCF this January and was able to participate in spring practice, which is where he really made the coaching staff take notice. Remember, Keene was originally recruited by former head coach Josh Heupel and ex-staffers Joey Halzle (QB coach) and Alex Golesh (OC).
Halzle and Golesh got to see him in person when they flew to Arizona in January of 2020, before the pandemic hit, which really made the coaching staff feel comfortable with offering, which they did in April of 2020.
That September, Keene committed to UCF, which was his best offer at the time, but where he felt most comfortable: “It really came down to the school I felt would help me be the most successful in my life,” Keene told Knights247. “UCF is that school for me. The atmosphere of the school, players, and the coaching staff is second to none.”
Keene was one of the best dual-threat quarterbacks in the nation, ranked as a three-star prospect and the No. 16 quarterback prospect in Arizona, 56th in the 2021 class. He was also, uniquely, the most recent quarterback signee from the western part of the country, which has become a theme for the Knights in recent years.
Five of the last six signees have hailed from Nebraska, Arizona or Hawaii.
2021: Keene (Arizona)
2020: Parker Navarro (Arizona)
2019: Dillon Gabriel (Hawaii)
2017: Darriel Mack (Virginia), Noah Vedral (Nebraska)
2016: McKenzie Milton (Hawaii)
Heupel was extremely complimentary of Keene last December, before leaving for the Vols.
"I just think his makeup, his competitive spirit, his experience winning, being in a great program, doing multiple things offensively, has a really high IQ for a young guy at that position," Heupel said of Keene. "I think he's really driven and you put all those attributes together. He's a winner and you want to continue to bring those types of quarterbacks into your program because that's got to drive your entire football team."
He also had a 4.6 GPA, so smarts on and off the field.
"He's dynamic with the ball in his hands," Halzle said about Keene. "He's a big-time playmaker. Creative in the pocket. Creative out of the pocket. Has a really strong arm and I think people don't quite realize how strong he is. Dude can rip it all over the football field."
Love that last sentence, and it’s clear he can rip it, given some of what we saw on his high school film. It’s why UCF coaches are confident and comfortable with Keene running the show.
Will there be mistakes? Of course, but there’s so much raw talent there that you have to believe it’ll take over in moments that matter. Just watch how he moves in real time in this nationally-televised games. Early on, he took some sacks and had the occasional overthrow, but Keene just kept plays alive. It’s Kyler Murray-like, at times, which means the boom potential is way bigger than the bust.
Final thought 🤔: Nobody can replace DG, but Keene can definitely keep this team in the race for a conference championship, especially if they get healthy around him.
He’ll have the added benefit of the week off to run through practice and get even more familiar with the playbook and personnel. Malzahn said they’re going to make him comfortable in terms of play calling, but that he can process things quickly, so “we’re in good hands.”
Malzahn also said the team has “rallied around him” and that the game experience two weeks ago will come in handy.
Check this out before you scroll 📰: UCF defensive tackle Kalia Davis penned his weekly newsletter following the weekend of football, and it’s really insightful. There’s obviously some thoughts on the loss to Louisville, but also around college football, the NFL and even e-sports! I encourage you to read it and subscribe, but here’s a few key cliff notes from Davis’ thoughts regarding the Louisville game:
On the defense’s performance: “We know after watching film that we left a lot on the table and that there is work to be done. The good part is that these are things that we can fix.”
On the injuries: “Injuries are a part of sports. It is ideal to come into a game with all of your players healthy and to leave that game the same way. The fact is, that just doesn't happen sometimes. We had some teammates go down this past week and it hurt us. I just ask those of you that are reading, to keep those teammates in your prayers for a speedy recovery and swift bounce back!”
On the road ahead: “Losses always hurt. This one was especially heartbreaking with so many highs and lows during the game but we must put this one in the past and move forward! My goal for this season is to get another AAC ring and I know the whole team shares that vision.”
Lucca going loco ⚽
UCF men’s soccer won its first conference game of the season over the weekend and AAC offensive player of the week Lucca Dourado deserves some love for his hot streak.
Fill me in: Dourado, who’s from Brazil and is a Montverde Academy grad, is off to a sensational start in his sophomore season. Saturday was the second-straight match that Dourado scored two goals. He also scored twice against FGCU on Sep. 11.
📈 While in the midst of this goal streak, Dourado is climbing the national charts for goals (6) and goals per game (1.25). Here’s the national rankings:
Bojan Kolevski (Cleveland State): 1.33 per game
Lucca Dourado (UCF), Tyler Bagley (Cornell) and Dylan Bufton (Northern Kentucky): 1.25 per game
Next up 📅: Friday, Sept. 24: UCF vs. Temple (Orlando, Fla.) - 6 p.m. (ESPN+)
Making history on the links 🏌️♀️
Don’t look now, but Emily Marron’s squad is making some pretty impressive history of their own on the links.
The story: The UCF women's golf team is ranked No. 6 in the initial Golfweek Top-25 rankings, which marks the highest spot in program history. They got there by finshing in a tie for fifth at the Cougar Classic (-3), which was a better outing than No. 23 Vanderbilt and No. 22 Maryland in their first event of the season.
Here’s the official Top 10:
Arkansas
Baylor
Oklahoma State
Florida
Georgia
UCF
North Carolina
Texas Tech
TCU
Vanderbilt