Who is the front-runner to start at QB for UCF? Right now, there isn’t one.
College football is back, if only for a short while, with spring practices beginning at some schools.
At UCF, the lingering question since the January transfer of former Notre Dame quarterback Brandon Wimbush was if he would supplant Darriel Mack Jr. as the Knights’ starting signal-caller in the wake of the horrific injury McKenzie Milton suffered toward the end of 2018 that continues to sideline him for the foreseeable future.
Turns out it isn’t just those two battling for the starting quarterback role.
“Right now, you’ve got four guys who are competing, splitting reps, pushing each other out on the practice field, pushing each other out in the meeting room,” UCF head coach Josh Heupel told reporters on Monday. “The strength of any position, certainly the quarterback position, can never be one guy. I think last year’s indicative of that.”
Heupel said the reps between four quarterbacks on the roster — Mack, Wimbush, freshman Dillon Gabriel and redshirt freshman Quadry Jones — will be split evenly.
But the quarterback position isn’t the only position up for grabs for Heupel and his staff as they enter their second season at UCF.
“There’s questions everywhere,” Heupel told reporters Monday. “Nobody’s got a starting spot. You’ve got to go out and earn it. There’s not a play a guy made or didn’t make last year that carries over to this year.”
Here are some other notes from Monday’s spring football practice:
▪ Milton’s injury was devastating to say the least. Since it happened in the first half of the War on I-4 rivalry win at USF, Milton’s long road to recovery began. Heupel reiterated that during an update on Milton’s status on Monday. “He’s a long ways away from being at the end of his rehab,” Heupel said. “... I do really like how things have unfolded for him at this point. I think he feels good about the surgeries that have happened.”
▪ The Hawaii pipeline to UCF started with Milton and continued with Dillon Gabriel. The quarterback played at the same high school as Milton and signed with the Knights in December. He also set the Hawaiian state high school record for career passing yards, topping a list that also includes Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. Heupel said Gabriel is smart and coachable. “Can change from one rep to the next,” Heupel said. “You give him something, he incorporates it into his game.”
▪ Heupel said Gabriel made good decisions in Monday’s practice and threw to the right receiver. The next step is working on his feet to allow him to be more accurate.
▪ Offensive lineman Jake Brown’s decision to return as a redshirt senior has an impact on the Knights not lost on Heupel, who said, “To have one of your tackles back? That’s huge for us.”
