The Knights will begin the 2013 season in an unfamiliar environment, having moved in the offseason from Conference USA to join the likes of USF, Rutgers, Louisville, and Connecticut in the newly christened American Athletic Conference.
At home, UCF will host Akron, South Carolina, Connecticut, Houston, Rutgers, and for the home finale, USF.
George O’Leary will return for his 9th season as head coach, looking to improve upon a 60-55 showing during his tenure in Orlando.
The switch to the AAC comes after a year in which O’Leary took his team to a 10-4 record, but lost in the conference championship to Tulsa. UCF did go on to end on a high note, coming out on top over Ball State 38-17 in the Beef O’Brady Bowl.
OFFENSE
Blake Bortles has the opportunity to become the first UCF quarterback to throw for 3,000 yards in consecutive seasons since Daunte Culpepper accomplished the feat in ’97 and ’98. The junior is entering just his second full season as starting quarterback, and will have familiar faces in his top 4 receivers from last year. Rannell Hall, J.J. Worton, Jeff Godfrey and Breshad Perriman combined to account for over 2,000 of Bortles’ 3,059passing yards.
Hall may have the most extreme upside of the group. He finished last season with an eye-popping average of 18 yards per catch, and led the team with 631 total yards on only 35 receptions.
Perriman, the sophomore, will be more involved this year as well after an impressive rookie season. He has a chance to become a favorite target of Bortles, with a knack for stretching the field and making big catches.
After losing standout running back Latavius Murray and the dependable Brynn Harvey, what was once a three headed rushing attack will lean heavily on Storm Johnson. Johnson is the only back returning to the team with more than 20 carries to his name last season, and may see his workload increase to somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 carries this year.
DEFENSE
This is a unit that was a strength for UCF in 2012, finishing first in Conference USA rankings for both points against and in passing defense. The rushing defense was crushing as well, finishing fifth within the conference.
Top defensive backs A.J. Bouye and Kemal Ishmael are gone, taking their ball-hawking instincts and combined six interceptions with them. Left in their stead is a largely untested unit that will feature a roster that consists of nine freshmen.
Clayton Geathers stands alone among the defensive backs, as the junior had 117 tackles and two forced fumbles to his name last year.
Redshirt sophomores Deion Green and Thomas Niles will look to anchor the defensive line, as the defense in general will see a substantial amount of turnover. The two lineman are working off of a combined nine sacks last year. Not quite the production that was set by Troy Davis and his 8 sacks alone, but still enough to build off of and to be excited about.
The defense is now the biggest question mark headed into the season, and will be crucial in the Knights seeing any success in their inaugural season with the American Athletic Conference.
