By: Robert Craft

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

When the UCF Knights took the field for their spring game on Saturday, they had a unique look.

UCF announced that in the spring game, players will be donning custom QR codes on the back of their jerseys in place of the traditional number. The QR code will link back to the player’s profile on the UCF athletics website.

On the UCF website, each player has links to their social media profiles. This innovative approach to the spring game further emphasizes the changing times across college athletics in the NIL era.

This approach is not the first of its kind for UCF in the NIL era. Last spring, UCF geared up for its spring game with different looking uniforms, just like this year. Last spring game, though, Knights players had their Twitter handles on their nameplates.

Things obviously look drastically different right now across college sports than they did a couple years ago. With players now able to profit off of their Name, Image, and Likeness, the game has completely changed. UCF head coach Gus Malzahn has seen those changes come by firsthand.

UCF has tried to embrace the evolving times under Malzahn, and now these types of things are par for the course in college sports.

“Last year, we put Twitter handles on our jerseys. I was like, ‘What the heck am I doing?’” Malzahn said. “We wanted to be the school that embraced it. At the old traditional schools, there’s a lot of dynamics. Yeah, they’re for it but really, they’re not for it. We are a school that can fully embrace it—the young school, social media. It fits with us. It was a little weird early on. Now it’s not. Now it’s part of the job description.”

UCF’s offense hit its stride in the Spring Game after quarterbacks Mikey Keene and John Rhys Plumlee combined to produce nearly 500 passing yards.

Malzahn’s optimism for the quarterbacks showed on the stat sheet with Keene going 21 of 28 for 282 passing yards and three touchdowns, while Plumlee went 11 of 15 for 189 passing yards and four touchdowns.

Opponents totaled 25 sacks for 158 yards against UCF last year. That’s 4 more sacks and 23 extra yards than the year prior.

With starters Cole Schneider and Marcus Tatum off to the pros, Malzahn turned to the NCAA transfer portal for more size. He found that with a 6-foot-10 offensive tackle Ryan Swoboda (Virginia) and a 6-foot-7 tackle Tylan Grable (Jacksonville State).

With the combination of adding two transfers with a full year of development under coach Herb Hand, Malzahn likes where things stand with his offensive line.

That success by the offensive line will lead to running the ball well. During the spring game, sophomore Johnny Richardson gained 108 yards on just 9 carries while Mark-Antony Richards, Anthony Williams and true freshman Jordan McDonald rushed for more than 30 yards each.

This all happened while starting running back Isaiah Bowser, who led the team with 9 rushing touchdowns last year, had the afternoon off.

Last season was the first for Malzahn at UCF. In his first year, he led the Knights to an overall record of 9-4, including a 5-3 mark against AAC opponents. UCF wrapped up the season with a victory over the Florida Gators in the Gasparilla Bowl.

“Ever since the bowl win, it’s been different,” Malzahn said. “I think the combination of the bowl win, the combination of going to the Big 12, you can feel when you’re here that we’re about to do something special. You can feel it, the recruits can feel it. Everybody wants to dream, everybody wants to be a part of something special, and we’re well on our way.”

UCF is definitely a bright future stock to BUY.