Mack eager to make his mark
Backup QB shows what Knights’ future may hold
Although the game was effectively finished, Darriel Mack Jr. was just getting started.
UCF’s backup quarterback entered Thursday’s season opener at Connecticut during the early stages of the fourth quarter with the Knights holding a cozy 49-10 advantage. The way his first series as a college football player would end up unfolding, according to Mack, felt like a blessing. The events were kind of prophesied by the man whom he replaced.
As Mack was preparing to make his debut, quarterback McKenzie Milton came to him with these words on a post touch down celebration:
“If you take one and go for 80, we’re going to hit a little basketball shot and jump up together.”
Unfortunately, Mack didn’t pull off an 80-yard touchdown run on his opening drive. But a 70-yard rushing score — the second-longest in school history by a quarterback behind only a
75-yard scamper from Daunte Culpepper — was a fine consolation for the redshirt freshman. It occured on just his fifth play at the college level.
“I felt like it was too good to be true,” Mack said. “It felt like I was going to get tackled at one point. Then I kind of took that look and I was like, ‘Oh, man. It’s over with.’ ”
At the snap, Mack faked a handoff to running back Bentavious Thompson, benefited from a block by tight end Jake Hescock and zoomed around the left corner. Once he realized the Huskies were fading behind him, he focused instead on what was in front of him. Or rather, who was in front of him.
As Mack sprinted ahead, each step brought him closer to his parents, who were sitting in the first row seats right behind the end zone where their son would notch his first college touchdown.
“Once I got to about the 30, I kind of locked eyes and I could just see their excitement,” Mack said. “I couldn’t get to them fast enough.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance. My parents are my biggest supporters. They always are proud of me no matter where I am, no matter what I do. … To be able to make that play right in front of them, it was very big for me.”
Mack’s parents weren’t the only ones who were thrilled. He was mobbed by teammates and then, sure enough, a giddy Milton appeared. The two quarterbacks ran toward and then passed beside each other in the air, mimicking that jump shot they planned just minutes before.
To Milton, Mack’s explosive introduction to college football came as no surprise.
“I’ve seen that a bunch in practice from [last year],” Milton said.
Besides the highlight run, Mack completed both passes he threw against UConn for a total of 10 yards. He won the backup quarterback job in preseason camp, and coach Josh Heupel said what Mack accomplished Thursday was an example of how far he has come in a short amount of time with UCF’s new coaching staff.
“For him to go out and really perform pretty well, throw the ball a couple times, get his eyes in the right spot, be accurate with the football and then make the big play with his feet, I think it’s a positive for him,” Heupel said of Mack following the game. “Hopefully, it encourages him to press on even more.”
Although Mack will undoubtedly see the field again this season, he knows the present doesn’t belong to him. For now, he will wait behind Milton, whom he considers to be the best quarterback in the country, and simply stay ready. When the time comes for him to replace permanently Milton in perhaps a year or two, there is faith that the Knights will be in good hands.
‘He’s going to be a special player for a long time for UCF,” Milton said of Mack