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As you know by now, I hate recruiting rankings and think they are bad and dumb, and I intend to prove it by doing the required legwork.
This National Signing Day Week, we continue that by doing our annual look back at the UCF Knights’ recruiting class from five years previously, and regrading it based on the results of their careers.
As a reminder, here’s our star system:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Star player and bonafide NFL Draft talent. Need not have stayed all four years.
⭐⭐⭐⭐ – All-conference-level or solid starter, possible late-round NFL draftee or UFA pickup.
⭐⭐⭐ – Played and finished career at UCF, graduated (or at least should have). Not NFL talent.
⭐⭐ – Played but didn’t finish at UCF. Transferred, left football, or something like that.
⭐ – Never played, probably on a milk carton somewhere.
Some of these guys aren’t done writing their stories yet, so as always, I reserve the right to change a player’s final ranking based on what happens with his post-UCF career.
And now, the UCF Football Recruiting Class of 2014:
UCF Football 2014 Recruiting Class
| Player | Pos. | Class | Hometown (Last School) | Rivals.com Ranking | Final Grade | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Pos. | Class | Hometown (Last School) | Rivals.com Ranking | Final Grade | Notes |
| Tre'Quan Smith | WR | 2014 | Delray Beach, FL (Village Academy) | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | AAC RoY '15, 2nd Team '17. 50+ catches all three years. 2017: 1171 yds, 13 TD. Declared early, drafted 3rd-#191 by Saints. |
| Kyle Gibson | DB | 2014 | Seffner, FL (Armwood) | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | Standout DB for final three years, All-AAC 1st Team '17. 5 career INTs. |
| Jamiyus Pittman | DT | 2014 | Moultrie, GA (Colquitt Co.) | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | All-AAC 1st Team '17, 2nd Team '16. 134 tackles, 11.5 sacks and a TD catch (!) in 49 career games. Graduated. UDFA played in 3 games with Dolphins in '18. |
| Wyatt Miller | OL | 2014 | Douglas, GA (Coffee) | ⭐️⭐️ | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | Two-time All-AAC Second Teamer. Started 34 of 36 career games on O-Line. Graduating 2018. |
| Lance McDowdell | DT | 2014 | Garden City, NY (Nassau CC) | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ | Starting DL as Sr. in '15. Landed with Jacksonville Sharks of NAL in '18. |
| Errol Clarke | LB | 2014 | Miami, FL (Garden City CC) | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ | Graduated '17. 69 tackles, 6.5 sacks as starting LB in '16. |
| Chavis Dickey | OL | 2014 | Fort Valley, GA (Peach Co.) | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ | Starter on OL as freshman in '14 and senior in '17. 45 career games. Graduated 2017. |
| Tre Neal | DB | 2014 | Buford, GA (Buford) | ⭐️⭐️ | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ | 144 tackles, 3 INT (34 gms) at UCF. Starting S '17, AAC-clinching INT vs. MEM. Graduated UCF, then transferred to Nebraska and started 13 games in '18. |
| Jordan Franks | TE | 2014 | Crawfordville, FL (Wakulla) | ⭐️⭐️ | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ | 43 catches, 509 yds, 2 TDs. Graduated '17. Signed by Bengals as UDFA. |
| Joey Connors | DT | 2014 | Kennesaw, GA (Harrison) | ⭐️⭐️ | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ | Stalwart on D-Line for three years. 4.5 sacks in 39 games. Graduating 2018. |
| Luke Palmer | OL | 2014 | Wauchula, FL (Hardee) | ⭐️⭐️ | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ | 46 career games at various OL positions and special teams. |
| A.J. Wooten | DE | 2014 | Nashville, GA (Berrien) | ⭐️⭐️ | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ | Stalwart on D-Line for three years. 75 tackles and three blocked kicks in 39 career games. Graduating 2018. |
| Tyler Harris | QB | 2014 | Blackshear, GA (Pierce Co.) | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ | ⭐️⭐️ | Played 6 games in '15 (26/61, 308, 4 TD). Transferred to Rhode Island, started in '17, graduated '18. |
| C.J. Jones | RB | 2014 | Port Orange, FL (Atlantic) | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ | ⭐️⭐️ | Led UCF in rushing in '15 (339 yards, TD). Left program after '16 (29 yards, TD in 3 games). |
| Chris Williams | DB | 2014 | Kingsland, GA (Camden Co.) | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ | ⭐️ | Flipped Bama commit, '14 Scout teamer. Shot twice in arm in July '15 incident. Never played. |
| Michael Rogers | ATH | 2014 | Smyrna, GA (Campbell) | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ | ⭐️ | Left program before '16, never played. |
| Chris Davis | WR | 2014 | Oviedo, FL (Oviedo) | ⭐️⭐️ | ⭐️ | Never saw the field at UCF. Left program after '15 and quit football. |
Observations
- Tre’Quan Smith was a beast.
- I feel like we haven’t heard the last of Kyle Gibson, Joey Connors, A.J. Wooten and Wyatt Miller, who just finished their careers this past season.
- Jamiyus Pittman and Jordan Franks actually played in the NFL as undrafted rookies in 2018, so keep an eye out for them this summer.
- There were a lot of good character guys in this class, notably Tre’Quan Smith, Kyle Gibson, Wyatt Miller, Errol Clarke, Tre’ Neal, Joey Connors, and Chavis Dickey.
- These dudes saw it all, from the AAC title in 2014, to the 2015 disaster, to the rebuild under Frost in 2016, to The Streak in 2017 and 2018.
- The fifth-year guys in this group also played for four different head coaches: George O’Leary, Danny Barrett (interim in ‘15), Scott Frost and Josh Heupel.
I’m hoping to re-evaluate some older classes (right now we have 2010 through this class), but right now, this class looks like one of the best in recent times, and given that it had only 17 guys, that was a solid job by the O’Leary staff.