UCF is indeed having a rough football season; they have fallen short of expectations with an 0-6 record. A positive so far for the Knights is that a great deal of their young players have gotten a chance to play.
“Some of the kids are getting better, but not getting better quick enough,” said Coach O’Leary at Monday afternoon’s press conference.
UCF is one of the youngest teams in the nation, it has been a youth movement for the Knights this season. The Knights have started 71% of the incoming class of freshmen and have more first time starters than any other collegiate football team.
“Today I ran the seniors, then the juniors, then the sophomores and freshman,” said O’Leary. “I could count the seniors, they were seven of them. I could count the juniors, it was like 15 of them. The rest are all freshman and sophomores.”
With so many young players receiving valuable playing experience this season, they should grow together and develop chemistry for future years to come.
“They’re going to be a really good team in the future,” O’Leary said.
One big question mark for the Knights is whether O’Leary will be the coach leading these young players after this rebuilding season.
“I love the game of football and I don’t know what else I’ll do,” said O’Leary. “Right now, I wanna coach football.”
With Steve Spurrier calling it quits Monday evening at the age of 70, maybe O’Leary follows Spurrier and retires at the end of this season.
O’Leary has given some indication that he would like to coach beyond this season. It is difficult to imagine the respected coach riding off into retirement with such a blemish of a season on his record.
“I’ll be 70 something years old and God willing, yes,” O’Leary said when asked whether he sees himself coaching UCF’s young players two to three years down the road.
“I think when you do leave, you want to leave on a high-note” added O’Leary.
