Hughes adapts quickly, delivers big plays for Knights
Mike Hughes had barely stepped on campus at UCF back in August when his former coaches were predicting big things. Turns out, they were right. Five games into his first season at UCF, the cornerback and punt returner has already had quite an impact on a team that has raced off to a 5-0 start and earned a top-20 national ranking.
The 5-foot-11, 191-pound juniorcollege transfer returned a punt 66 yards for a touchdown Saturday night during the Knights’ 63-21 rout of East Carolina.
“Mike Hughes continues to impress me and not just on the field. He’s doing everything right off it,” UCF coach Scott Frost said after the victory over the Pirates. “He could have had two [return touchdowns] tonight. … Special play on that punt
return, a lot of good blocking for him too, so a lot of guys deserve credit.”
Frost alluded to another punt return Hughes appeared to have scored on in the first half, going 81 yards to the end zone only to see the play called back due to an illegal block.
East Carolina couldn’t keep him out of the end zone, however, and Hughes hit paydirt in the third quarter.
It was Hughes’ second touchdown of his short UCF career. The first was a 57-yard interception return at Maryland.
Hugh’s big play Saturday was UCF’s first punt return for a touchdown in 10 years. The last time it happened was in 2007 when Eustis product Joe Burnett went 83 yards to score against Tulsa.
“I was definitely focused on getting another one,” Hughes said after his first punt return touchdown was called back. “They said that was the first one in 10 years. When I found that out, that felt pretty amazing.
“My guys did a great job [blocking] and I give those guys a lot of credit. I just [saw] a lot of grass and I just took off.”
During his first five games, Hughes has 18 tackles, is tied for the team lead in interceptions with two, has a forced fumble and leads the team with seven passes broken up.
Last season at Garden City (Kan.) Community College, the North Carolina native was named national defensive player of the year after helping Garden to the national championship. He had 47 tackles, two interceptions and six pass breakups, and he hasn’t lost a step this year.
He had three punt returns for touchdowns a year ago, so he was aching to get back into the end zone.
“Oh yeah, it’s definitely something I’ve been thinking about,” Hughes said. “Special teams … can change the game around and that’s what I like doing, so I like being back there [returning punts].”
He’s also a big key on the defense and he helped the Knights bounce back from a bit of a sub-par performance at Cincinnati a week ago, when they allowed the Bearcats to record nearly 400 yards of offense in three quarters.
“I think everyone would agree that last week we weren’t really feelin’ it, but this week we got back to having fun and playing our game,” Hughes said of the defensive effort that held ECU to 347 total yards.
The Knights will need to be “feelin’ it” this week on the road against tough American Athletic Conference foe Navy.
“Every game is important. Each week we start over,” Hughes said. “We say 1-0, that’s been our motto, and I think we’ve been doing a good job with that.”