Prospects on board with UCF's claim as national champions
CELEBRATION, Fla. -- The journey for the University of Central Florida from winless program in 2015 to undefeated Peach Bowl Champions in 2017 is one of the best turnaround stories in recent college football history. But while the Knights were the lovable underdog for most of the year, things changed for some college football fans when the school declared itself “National Champions” - as did Florida's governor.
What started as a tongue-in-cheek movement on Twitter turned into a full-fledged celebration, with the Knights even enjoying a victory parade at Disney World. The school’s celebration of its perfect season rubbed some fans (mostly in SEC country) the wrong way, but what do recruits think of the Knights claim? We surveyed several players at last weekend’s stop of the Rivals 3 Stripe Camp Series presented by adidas to get their thoughts.
DO YOU CONSIDER UCF THE NATIONAL CHAMPION?
“I believe they should be considered national champions. They should have been in the national championship, they were undefeated. But it’s Alabama, so of course they’re going to put Alabama in there.” – 2019 Tampa (Fla.) Jefferson athlete Dontavius Smith
“They should be. They were undefeated and they won every game. No team did that. I feel like they should have had the chance to compete in the national championship.” – 2020 Miami commit Leonard Manuel
“They did their thing and they did what they had to do. They won. I respect that. I call them the champs.” – 2020 Bellview, Fla. defensive back Desmond Dailey
“I feel like they should have at least had a chance at it. At least a chance to play Alabama and see where they are.” – Three-star Plant City, Fla. linebacker James Gordon
“Yeah, they definitely earned that. They earned that. That was crazy when they beat Auburn. It was shocking that they won. I didn’t think they were going to win, I’m not going to lie. But when they did, I was impressed.” – Three-star Apopka (Fla.) Wekiva linebacker/defensive end Rian Davis
“Yeah. I’ll give them that. They beat every team on their schedule, plus one, so they can call themselves that. But at the end of the day their strength of schedule wasn’t that great.” – 2019 Largo, Fla. defensive back Solomon Brown
“Honestly, they worked for that this year. They were grinding. I saw them practice a few times and honestly, they really worked for that. But Alabama, they’re there every year so I’ve still got to give it to Alabama.” – 2019 St. Cloud, Fla. running back Seth Johnson
“It wasn’t outrageous, because they did go undefeated and they did beat Auburn, which was a good team. They deserved it a little bit, but not to broadcast it everywhere. But they deserved to say it. They played it up just a little bit but just because it’s not like they actually won it. They made little photos and stuff, but it wasn’t that bad. They did a good job, so they had the right to say it. They were the only team that went undefeated. They were more having fun with it to see if people were going to go along with it.” – Three-star Bradenton (Fla.) Braden River running back Knowledge McDaniel
“They had to grind to get it, so yeah.” – 2019 Largo, Fla. offensive lineman Raymond Collins
WHAT DO YOU THINK WOULD HAVE HAPPENED HAD THEY PLAYED ALABAMA?
“I think they would have been in a fight. I think it would have been just like Alabama-Georgia. A fight all night. I don’t think UCF is going down without a fight.” – Johnson
“It would have been worse for UCF. They aren’t playing Auburn. this is Alabama. Alabama and Nick Saban, they love national championships and that’s what they live for. Their main goal is to make it to the national championship every year. For another team to say that they’re the national champs, I feel like that’s very disrespectful from their point of view.” – Smith
“I think they would have held their own against whoever.” – Manuel
“UCF did a lot of the trash talking. If UCF played Alabama, Alabama would win.” – Three-star St. Petersburg (Fla.) Gibbs and USF defensive back commit La’Darius Henry
“Alabama would have won. They would have beaten UCF. It would have been a close game because UCF would have never given up. They would have played the whole game but I think Alabama would beat them.” – Dailey
“I don’t even know, to be honest. Whoever would fight the hardest.” – Collins
DO YOU THINK THE UNDEFEATED SEASON WILL HELP UCF IN RECRUITING?
“They will be able to recruit better, but Scott Frost did a lot of that so losing him hurts them.” – Manuel
“Yes, sir. It’s crazy. They got a lot better. I remember they weren’t that good. I left for two years and came back and then they were national champions.” – Davis
“For sure.” – Brown
“A lot of people like to see that in them. Now that they’ve gone undefeated they are probably going to have a strong recruiting class this year and the year after that, too.” – McDaniel
“It’s a good school, They do have a good program and everything, so I think it will help.” – Collins