Walters eager to speed up Knights’ offense
UCF is moving closer to wrapping up its spring football workouts.
And so far, the “UCFast” attack is starting to click under the direction of firstyear coach Scott Frost and his staff.
UCF offensive coordinator Troy Walters talked with the Orlando Sentinel about the offense’s progress.
Question: There were players carrying other players on their backs during practice the other day. What was that drill and what was that for?
Answer: “It was competition Monday, so every period there was something at stake. One of the periods we lost as an offense, so we had to carry a partner across the field and then get down and they had to carry us back. So it was part of losing the competition on Monday.
“That’s one of those things where every play, every rep counts. You promote and breed competition and there’s a winner and a loser. And we don’t like losing so it was a good day.”
Q: The players haven’t gone through the summer offseason strength and conditioning program with the new staff. What kind of difference could you expect to see of them in August versus now?
A: “It needs to be drastic. Guys need to get in shape. This offense, this defense we’re gonna play fast. And if you’re not in shape, you’re not in condition, you can’t play in this offense. Because you’re gonna be tired, you’re not gonna be able to play fast, you’re not gonna be able to think on the run and so the strength and conditioning this summer is going to be critical. I know Coach [Zach] Duval is gonna get those guys right. We expect
to see dramatic improvement on conditioning. He’s really only had two months with them. The longer he has with them, the better shape they’re going to be and the better we’ll be as a team.
Q: On a scale of one to five, five being the best conditioned, where would you say they’re at right now?
A: “Probably a two for this offense. We’ll go a series of four reps and we still have some guys that after two reps, they’re tired. Three reps and they’re tired. We want them to go eight, nine, 10, 11 reps just like you would in a game. They’re working, but they just gotta get into shape.”
Q: What have you seen out of Dontravious Wilson so far this spring?
A: “He’s a great competitor. He competes play in and play out, runs the ball hard. In the scrimmage, he had a great scrimmage. You know he’s hard to tackle. He knows his assignments, he’s consistent but the biggest thing is just that he’s a load. He’s a load to bring down, [he gets] yards after contact so he’s definitely going to help this offense. He’s a senior so he has a sense of urgency and that sense and feeling of we gotta get it done now. We’re excited to have him and excited with
what all the running backs are doing. They’re doing a good job picking up this offense and we want to use the running backs in a variety of situations, catching the ball in the backfield, they gotta know the receiver positions, they gotta know what to do in the backfield so we’re expecting big things out of the running back position.”
Q: I asked Nick Patti this question the other day as well. I’m not sure what you guys are going to do at quarterback yet, but would you possibly use a multiple quarterback system?
A: “In this offense, we’re gonna put our best players on the field. And if Nick Patti is one of the best players, then we gotta find a role for him. We’re gonna put the best players on the field, we’re gonna be creative and we’re gonna do whatever it takes to be successful. Nick Patti is a guy that works his butt off and in the offseason program, he was probably one of the top guys in terms of conditioning, in terms of finishing, in terms of competing, winning drills. He was always in the front and so he’s done a great job and there’s a place for him somewhere on that field. And we gotta be creative and find a way to get him out there.”