UCF has always been the No. 1 school for Dr. Phillips quarterback Marvin Washington.

He always made a point to show his interest, attending multiple spring practices as well as the Junior Day a couple months ago. The one thing that had eluded him though was an offer, but that all changed on Saturday following a standout performance at UCF's 7-on-7 tournament.

"The UCF coaches have been showing a lot of interest in me, but they wanted to see me in action," Washington said. "They liked what they saw and they offered me. I knew going into today if I did what I was supposed to do, had a good day, I was confident I'd get an offer."

Leading Dr. Phillips to the final eight of the 32-team tournament, Washington was very aware UCF's coaches were taking a keen interest in his games.

"Before (quarterbacks coach Mario) Verduzco watched me, I was already getting compliments from the coaches, like the running backs coach (Ryan Held) and the offensive line coach (Greg Austin) were saying, 'Good job! You're doing great!' Once I got in front of the big guys, Coach (Scott) Frost and Coach Verduzco, I did even better than the beginning, putting it in all the right spots."

Washington was called into Frost's office during a break in the tournament.

"Coach Frost sat me down and told me how much they liked me," Washington said. "They plan to keep on recruiting me and were telling me how good I was doing out there today and to just keep it up. He then asked me to get on the white board, read the defense, nail down coverages, all that. I nailed it. It's like second nature for me."

As it turns, that could have been the final test. The staff apparently met afterward to approve the offer and Verduzco got in touch later with the good news.

"I kind of thought it would happen while I was on campus, so I did get kind of worried," Washington said. "I was pretty tired, it was a long day, so I had a little nap when I got home. When I woke up, Coach Verduzco was blowing my phone up. All these tweets from him asking for me to call him. So I did and he told me the news and congratulated me. I told him, 'Thank you, you have no idea how much this really means to me.'"

Verduzco said Washington is the perfect fit for UCF's offense.

"He said I've got a very strong arm," Washington said. "The way I ran the offense, the up-tempo offense, that's what they want to do. I already do it in high school. That's what they like. He also said they liked my body language and how I carried myself."

Washington had about a dozen offers already including schools like Bowling Green, FAU, Georgia Southern, Southern Miss, Toledo and Troy. The Knights are clearly the standout leader.

"Even though I didn't have an offer yet, I still liked UCF no matter what," Washington said. "I was interested in the other schools that had offered me, but I always liked UCF. I always tried to come over a lot just to show how interested I am, stuff like that. They're automatically are at the top of my list... I like how UCF is close to home and the offense they run is my offense. It's a new coaching staff, it's like a new beginning I want to be a part of."

He admitted he could soon be a Knight.

"I talked to my coach and he told me about the recruiting process," Washington said. "He doesn't think I should waste any time, that I should go for it. I agree. I've got to talk to my parents though, just to verify everything. My position as a quarterback, you can't wait too long. Summer is coming up and a lot of kids are going to camps who they might offer. That might mess me up and take a spot. I just need to talk to my parents. I haven't even told my mom and dad yet. I'm going to talk to them and then I'm going to get to it."

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