One narrative is looming UCF Knights football team: ‘Will Scott Frost’s renewed chapter be a hit or flop?’ Well, fans believe that former head coach Gus Malzahn no longer wanted to be a part of the sinking ship and gave up $5 million and a head coach seat to be Florida State’s offensive coordinator. To fill Malzahn’s place, UCF counted on their former coach, dishing out a five-year contract worth $22.1 million to Scott Frost. Now, what’s next?

The expectations run high for Scott, who now has an NFL feather in his hat. Learning from the best, Los Angeles Rams’ Sean McVay, fans now look forward to what Frost will bring to the table. Above all, everyone waits to see how Scott uplifts the crumbling offense. So, the head coach instills a sense of urgency within the team. And the Knights’ offensive coordinator, Steve Cooper, broke his silence on this

On July 31, Frost’s staffer faced the media, and that’s when the topic of “urgency” came up. Cooper shared, “We talk a lot about as a staff. We want to have a sense of urgency, and we’re talking about every day, too. It’s not just a sense of urgency to play the first game. A lot of people talk about goals and all those things as they start day one. Like this really isn’t any changeover from what we were doing last week in relationship to how we work. A thing that Coach Frost says a lot is ‘Rise and conquer.’ And to me, when you say rise and conquer, that means that every single day, you have a sense of urgency.” Talking about the Knights’ offense in the pre-Frost era? 

RJ Harvey finished third in the nation in rushing, and Amari Kight graded well in pass protection and run blocking. Apart from this, Kobe Hudson came with flying colors in the receiving department. But someone rained on their parade. That’s none other than KJ Jefferson, who sat on the bench after five games in which he threw for 1,012 yards, seven touchdowns, and four picks. This performance pushed the Knights to No.8 in scoring offense. How are Knight and co. trying to flip the script?

Cooper shared, “When we go out on the football field, we practice differently than a lot of teams. There’s a certain pace that we have to be able to execute every day from drill to drill. But that also means in relationship to how we install and those kinds of things that we need to have a sense of urgency.” Now that Frost is here, the drills are bound to be different. 

After all, he picked up lessons from McVay, who led the Rams as the top-10 offense in most categories. Not just the NFL, Scott served as the offensive coordinator in Oregon and was hired by Chip Kelly. Thus, he is blessed with a blended experience. Now that they are hitting the pedal on bolstering the offense, what about their quarterback situation?

Scott Frost and co.’s evaluation process for picking QB1 from a three-way battle

The expectations are obviously high from Frost about picking the best quarterback. After all, the now-head coach quarterbacked the Cornhuskers to a national title in 1997 under the guidance of legendary coach Tom Osborne. Right now, the quarterback competition is intense at UCF. The Knights find themselves caught up in the midst of a three-way battle between Tayven Jackson, Jacurri Brown, and Cam Fancher. Now, will Frost and co. find the one?

Cooper guided the fans through the evaluation process. He noted, “There are certain non-negotiables that the quarterback has to play with, which we’re still exploring those things in relationship to how these guys get evaluated from training camp. It’s still an open competition between the three guys. With that being said, as you get closer and closer to game day and that decision has been made, then again, your word, refine things to fit and curtail the offense to best highlight that player.” The Knights are moving with extreme caution.

KJ Jefferson never lived up to the preseason buzz. The 6’3″, 247-pound Mississippi native averaged only 2.8 yards per carry and seemed more sluggish than he had in previous years. The 17-year-old EJ Colson went 1 of 4 for -6 yards and had 6 yards on three carries. Against Cincinnati. Jacurri Brown came up with a completion rate of 52.2%. So, Frost knows he can’t afford any mess-ups. 

While the head coach is yet to name his QB1, Phil Steele got his favorite. On the Sons of UCF podcast, he shared, “I like Tayven Jackson. I think he’s really talented, throws the ball well, and I liked what I saw out of him at Indiana in all the games that he played.” Scott Frost’s seat is already heating up after his blunt “wrong job” remark about Nebraska. Now, he’ll have to prove that returning to UCF was the “right job” all along by saving Knights from the quarterback mess.