UCF Football: 3 keys to victory vs. Florida A&M in Week 1

UCF football opens the season against Florida A&M. While the Knights come in as heavy favorites, it’s important to get the season off on the right foot.

Central Florida opens its 2019 season with an in-state non-conference game against Florida A&M. While the Knights are favored by 47.5 points, it’s important to come into the game engaged and ready to click on all cylinders.

The Knights’ offense comes into the game with a new quarterback in grad transfer Brandon Wimbush. Head coach Josh Heupel also praised true freshman quarterback Dillon Gabriel, who comes in from the same high school as injured star quarterback McKenzie Milton. He rewrote the record books and received offers from Georgia and USC before choosing UCF.

With two quarterbacks in play, here are the three keys to victory for the Knights.

3. Get the new quarterbacks comfortable in the offense

As mentioned earlier, UCF comes into the game with two new quarterbacks, after injuries to both McKenzie Milton and Darriel Mack.

Wimbush will be making his first start with the Knights, after last playing in Notre Dame’s week five win against Florida State. It’ll be important for him to get off to a good start, and show he has improved his accuracy, as he completed only 53 percent of his throws at Notre Dame last season. The biggest strength of Wimbush is his ability to run, and that plays right into UCF’s game plan.

The rest of UCF’s offense is skilled, and a lot of key players are returning to the team.

Starting with the offensive line, UCF has one of the best in college football. The Knights return three linemen who were all first-team all conference in Cole Schneider, Jordan Johnson and Jake Brown, and they’ll be blocking for one of the best running back duos in the country.

Greg McCrae and Adrian Killins return after amassing a combined 2,390 yards from scrimmage last season. The rest of skill position players include utility man Otis Anderson and returning wide receivers Gabriel Davis and Tre Nixon and new starting tight end Jake Hescock.

This offense boasts a lot of talent, and making sure the quarterbacks can gel will be the most important part of the game.