Troy Walters, UCF’s
offensive coordinator, is excited to build on the Knights’ solid success last season, he tells the Sentinel in a Q&A session.
As promised, UCF’s offense was fast and furious at times last season. The Knights improved in just about every offensive category from the 2015 to 2016 seasons. The Sentinel caught up with offensive coordinator Troy Walters to discuss the strides the unit has made this offseason as well as expectations for the group heading into Year 2.
Question: What are you looking for out of the offense from Year 1 to Year 2? Troy Walters: “No. 1 is toughness; both mentally and physically. We’ve got to be a tougher team. On the O-line, we have to create a new line of scrimmage. We’ve got to finish our blocks. We’ve got to have that nasty attitude that we’re going to dominate the guy in front of us. And then mentally tough,
we’re not going to let anything or anybody prevent us from being champions, prevent us from winning, prevent us from doing our job. So mental toughness: it doesn’t matter where you play on the road, in the snow, in the rain. If you’re mentally tough, when the ball is thrown out there, you’re going to compete and you’re not going to let anything or anybody prevent you from being successful.”
Q: Do you feel like now that it’s Year 2, that you can open up the playbook a little bit more?
TW: “We can. We’re going to take it step-by-step and we’re going to start with the basics and make sure they master the basics because we’ve got enough just with the basics to be pretty potent. And once they really master that, then we can add on. But this offense is so diverse that you don’t have to do a lot scheme-wise, but the way we present it will give defenses problems so it all depends on what the guys can handle, hold and master because whatever we do, we want them to know what they’re doing.”
Q: What are you seeing from the offensive line?
TW: “The first thing you notice is physically, we look like a football team. I couldn’t say that last year. Up front, we look like a good O-line. They worked their tails off this summer and it’s showed the first two practices. They’re getting after it. Our D-line is special. Our Dline and our outside backers are special so they’re going to make those O-linemen work every day so they’re holding their own. But the one thing I like about our O-line is that they’re playing as one. They’ve really come together in the offseason and this summer and you can tell they’re a family and a close knit group and that’s what you need. You need all guys on the same page, rowing in the same direction.”
Q: What have you seen out of the quarterback position?
TW: “I think we have depth. Pete DiNovo did a great job this summer leading and being the guy this summer. McKenzie has done a good job these first two days. And then young guys have come in and over the summer, they’ve really – they met with [Quarterbacks] Coach [Mario] Verduzco on their own and they’ve picked up this offense well where it allows them to go out there and make plays so we’ve got depth. We’ve got four quarterbacks that we’re really excited about and we feel like whoever’s in there can help us win football games.”
Q: You’ve got some size and speed at the wide receiver position this season. How will that benefit you guys this season?
TW: “Guys have been in the offense another year so they’re comfortable with the scheme, they’re confident in the scheme so they can play fast. And we’re going to need five, six guys because we’re going to play fast and we’re going to run a lot of plays so we’re going to need a good rotation of guys that when they’re numbers called, they can go out and make plays. With the veteran guys and the young guys we added, Marlon Williams and Gabe Davis, we’re excited about the group that we have.”
Q: Coach Frost talked about this team growing more as a family. Have you seen that on the offensive side of the football?
TW: “Really I see it amongst the whole team. I think that’s one of the things I mentioned to Coach Frost yesterday when we were going through stretches that we’ve got a great group of guys across the board. Really no egos, all team-first guys. I think we’re going to be stronger and better cohesively as a unit than we were last year and that’s going to win football games. When you love playing for your brother on your right and your left and you trust and you hold each other accountable; that can take you long ways so I see that as an entire team and that’s exciting.”