UCF Football January Update: Transfer Portal, Javon Baker and Roster News
Latest UCF Football Updates After a Busy December
December was quite the hectic month for UCF Football.
The Knights had a Bowl Game, National Signing Day and the Fall Transfer Portal Window all within a few days of each other.
As we all now, it was a very successful 2024 Early Signing Day, with UCF landing its best ever recruiting class in school history while signing 18 players, including 8 blue chip guys.
On the heels of that record signing day, UCF was busy in the portal trying to plug needs for next season.
So far, UCF has been able to secure 7 transfers and will obviously continue to be active both now and in the Spring transfer window.
Let’s take a look at the portal, some rumors about targets and a look at the current roster as it stands now.
Transfer Portal Update
As I stated, UCF has been able to secure 7 commitments so far in the portal. Here are the players:
QB KJ Jefferson - Arkansas
DB/LB DeShawn Pace - Cincinnati
TE Evan Morris - Michigan State
DB Bryon Threats - Cincinnati
Edge Daylan Dotson - UT Martin
RB Myles Montgomery - Cincinnati
OL Jabari Brooks - Samford
None is bigger than KJ Jefferson, the former Arkansas Razorback who has been a bonafide starter in the SEC for the past 3 seasons and has 5 total years of experience. He has thrown for 7,923 yards and 67 TD’s in his career, as well as rushed for an additional 21 TDs.
Even better, he is a dual threat QB who is an absolute perfect fit for a Gus Malzahn led UCF offense. He plays the same style as JRP but at 6’3” and 247 pounds is much more durable and bigger than UCF’s former QB.
Just take a look at this ridiculous clip of WCU defenders bouncing off him. Not sure JRP has the body for this.
Jefferson has plenty of amazing highlights on YouTube to check out, including this one:
I initially had thought Jefferson was going a different route, but he obviously chose UCF. Give credit to Kingdom and their NIL efforts for being able to get Jefferson. That’s a huge win publicly and for the Kingdom as it shows we can secure high level players, including a QB coming from the SEC with 5 years of experience.
UCF also just added former Cincy DB/LB DeShawn Pace. That is now the 3rd Bearcat to join the Knights this cycle. I think outside of Jefferson, Pace is the best pick up of this class. He has real experience playing in meaningful games at both LB and DB. It’s not clear how UCF will deploy him next season, but his commitment graphic did say safety.