ORLANDO, Fla. — Jawon Hamilton went down violently in the first quarter of UCF’s 38-10 trouncing of Maryland this weekend, and will not be returning to the field in 2017.
Hamilton took to Facebook Sunday to tell followers that he would be cashing in on his medical resdhirt eligibility after a successful surgery. Coach Frost had said earlier in the day that he believed the injury to be significant but wasn’t sure on a return timetable.
“He’s such a good kid and such a good teammate that you hate to see anything like that happen to our kid,” Head Coach Scott Frost said about the talented sophomore. “Unfortunately, that’s part of the game, but we always just hate to see it. Those kids are working hard to be good at something, and give in so much effort it’s heartbreaking to watch that happen.”
“It has to be next man up,” said Offensive Tackle Aaron Evans. “He’s a big part of our offense, but again, we have a deep running back corps and I trust each and every one of them. I wish him the best, and he’s going to recover, I’m glad it’s just a break and not anything more serious. He’ll be back in a few months – a week, months, whatever it is.”
Hamilton leaves behind a deep running back unit that will rely on the inside talents of Taj McGowan and Cordarrian Richardson while leaning on versatile playmakers Otis Anderson and Adrian Killins on the outside.
“Losing Jawon, losing a brother, it hurts,” said Taj McGowan, who scored two touchdowns in the absence of Hamilton. “It really took a lot to refocus in, we really had to understand that we had something to do, we had a point to prove, so that kept us going. I feel like with the backs we have – from AK, to Otis to Cordarrian – even Greg McCrae, I feel like we have a good mix and match type of thing.”
The Knights certainly have the stable of backs to ease the loss of Hamilton, but almost every one of them is still relatively inexperienced and will have to grow into these prominent roles.
It’s a challenge that they will have to overcome with a quickness – because Memphis is coming, and that may be the pivotal conference matchup for UCF. For any battle like that, a Knight certainly needs his warhorse.
