When Gus Malzahn arrived as the new coach at UCF in February, he spoke about making recruiting a priority particularly in the state of Florida. But his scope was limited thanks to an NCAA-mandated recruiting dead period that limited interactions between coaches and high school prospects to online-only.
So when the NCAA lifted the mandate on June 1, allowing recruits to make in-person campus visits for the first time since March 2020, Malzahn called it “the most important 26 days in the last two years from a recruiting standpoint.”
In anticipation, the Knights coaching staff went to work setting up multiple camps while welcoming 332 prospects to its campus.