2022 UCF Football: What Position Groups Need Breakout Stars
The Knights have stars at every position, but some units are better set up for the future than others, so who needs to breakout this season? Here is what I am hearing about certain players.
I’ve said this several times over the years, but one of my favorite parts of any UCF Football season is seeing which players breakout and become stars.
We’ve seen some huge jumps in previous seasons, whether it was McKenzie Milton in 2017 or Ryan O’Keefe last year, and it’s always fun to witness their transition from good to great or unheard of to unexpected star.
The 2022 UCF Knights have a nice mix of veterans and underclassmen, but there are quite a few key seniors who will be leaving after this season, meaning some fresh blood needs to step up and become the next wave of UCF stars.
However, some position groups need to find breakout stars more than other ones. Let’s examine what position groups need stars the most and who the potential breakout stars are in those specific units.
Wide Receiver
Despite being one of the deepest positions on the team, the wide receivers could still use a breakout player or two.
Why?
Well, there aren’t many proven players outside of Ryan O’Keefe and Auburn transfer Kobe Hudson.
On top of that, all the proven guys are upperclassmen and even the guys slated to see more action this year are also upperclassmen:
ROK: Senior
Amari Johnson: Senior
Hudson: Junior
Joey Gatewood: Senior
Dionte Marks: Junior
Jaylon Griffin: Junior
That means, ROK and Amari, who are both expected to be at the top of the rotation, are gone after this year. Hudson and Griffin, the other two WR’s expected at the top of the depth chart, have just one year remaining after this season.
So, UCF definitely needs some new wideouts to emerge this season.
Potential Breakouts
Jaylon Griffin
As of now, I am hearing that Griffin is the guy who is most expected to breakout at wide receiver. His name was mentioned multiple times by the coaching staff and players alike during Spring ball.
While he is a junior, if he does end up breaking out, he will at least have two full years of production at UCF.