Late start could be beneficial
Knights getting some extra practice time to eliminate mistakes
UCF was supposed be wrapping up preparation for its matchup with Florida International Saturday.
Instead, the Knights find themselves focusing on the season opener against Georgia Tech next weekend.
It’s been an unusual start to the college football season thanks to the coronavirus pandemic with staggered starts for teams during the next few weeks.
With 10 games already in the books and another 20 on the schedule this weekend, UCF essentially opens with a few bye weeks and has been able to get an early preview of potential hurdles the Knights could face.
“I think you watch the last two weeks and it makes you realize these are things you had better be hitting with your kids,” UCF co-offensive coordinator Alex Golesh said. “From special teams play to tackling to honestly being in good enough shape to go through four quarters of football.
“I think they’ve been awesome lessons for us.”
One thing that stood out
among the early football games was the lack of conditioning as well as poor tackling.
Navy, for instance, chose not to do any live tackling during preseason camp in order to limit physical contact among its players due to COVID-19. The Midshipmen struggled in their opener to BYU on Monday, getting outgained 580-149 in total
offense during a stunning 55-3 loss.
Golesh said early games were a stark reminder of what could happen when UCF takes the field unprepared.
“As you watch the games over the last two weeks, it’s really been about details and funda
mentals,” said Golesh. “Blocking, tackling, taking care of the football, timing in the passing game; all the little things that add up to wins and losses.
“If you have a normal cycle, I think you eliminate a lot of the mistakes including presnap penalties, the 12-men on the field, the play-clock on first-down; the little things that you should have worked through, that maybe you didn’t get a chance to do.”
Some of those early mistakes have already been introduced into UCF’s film study.
“It’s a wake-up call, a wake-up call, a wake-up call and you hope that wake-up call is taken care of in the classroom rather than having to learn it the hard way on the field on [Sept.] 19,” Golesh said of the clips. “I think for us, not having played two weeks ago and having this extra week … can only help us.”
Georgia Tech, meanwhile, opens the season Saturday in Tallahassee against Florida State. Golesh and the rest of the coaching staff will get a chance to do some scouting before settling into game week preparations.
“You get a feel for what the staff was feeling like and who they go with at quarterback,” defensive backs coach Willie Martinez said. “Is it one quarterback or do they play both quarterbacks? … And [we get a look] at some of the new guys that are playing at different positions on the line of scrimmage and skillsets.
“I think the quarterback that will be really good for us and having some kind of thought process for what the plan might be the following week.”
Maxwell stepping up
Defensive back Tay Gowan’s decision to opt out of this upcoming season has left UCF looking for a replacement at cornerback.
Redshirt junior Zamari Maxwell could be one of the players who could take over the starting role this season.
“He’s been working with the first group and he’s obviously improved tremendously mentally and physically,” Martinez said of
Maxwell. “You can see he’s raised the bar to a different level when it comes to his maturity based on last year to this year.”
Maxwell has appeared in 25 games for the Knights, including six starts in 2019.
“We’ve got some young players that are pushing him and that’s really good, but being able to line up against the receivers that we have that are very talented … has been really good for him too,” Martinez said.