2010 NCAA Football Preview: Central Florida
The Knights of Central Florida have had to rely on faith before. When they hired George O’Leary as their head coach for the 2004 season they knew they were getting a man who’s credibility was questionable at best after the Notre Dame scandal when he was caught with a few discrepancies on his resume.
When the team failed to win a single game in that first year the administration at the university had to wonder if they had done the right thing. Their faith was repaid when he led the team to its biggest single season turn-around in 2005; the team played host to the first Conference–USA championship game after posting a 7-1 conference record, and were 8-3 overall.
Then in 2008 scandal struck again. Reports popped up following the death of a player following a particularly difficult practice that the player had shown signs of distress during practice, but O’Leary had continued to berate the player and refused to let anyone assist him.
The school decided to keep O’Leary on despite the reports and the losing season. He was able to rebound the following season in 2009 winning eight games and going back to a bowl game. With the on again-off again nature of O’Leary’s teams, fans may be in for a long season.
Offense
If the health of Brynn Harvey’s knee is not good enough to play come fall then the Knights may be in for another losing season in an even numbered year. He looked pretty good last season rushing for 1109 yards and 14 touchdowns on 261 carries. In spring practice he hurt his knee and it is not clear whether he will be ready to go for the 2010 season or not.
Harvey has four of five linemen returning and ready to block for him; right tackle Jah Reid should lead the way. If Harvey is not ready to go then O’Leary will be forced to use a running back by committee approach. Only one other has rushed for more than 100 yards last season (Jonathan Davis); freshman Brendan Kelly could see significant time if Harvey can’t play.
The big question mark will be figuring out who is going to take over for departed quarterback Brett Hodges. Hodges was not an all-star, but he was a decent field general. Rob Calabrese looks to be the early front runner, but it remains to be seen whether he will have the consistency that the team needs behind center. Until he proves he can provide that, Harvey (or whoever lines up in the backfield) will find themselves facing a defense heavily stacked against the run.
Defense
This could finally be the year where the Knights trend of losing seasons in even numbered seasons is broken if the defense can perform similar to last season’s unit. In 2009 the Knights had the best overall defense and run defense in the conference (48th and fourth nationally).
Some of the best players in the conference return for the Knights on defense. End Bruce Miller was the Defensive Player of the Year for Conference-USA in 2009 and justifiably so; he had 56 tackles and 13 sacks. Lawrence Young returns to anchor the linebackers; he has had at least 70 tackles or more the last two seasons.
What the team really need is to see their secondary improve; if they are going to compete with passing teams like the Houston Cougars they will have to. Last season the pass defense was 113th in the nation and ninth in the conference. The unit should see some improvement with the return of corner back Emery Allen who was lost to injuries in 2009. Josh Robinson was a freshman All-American selection last season and should be even better in 2010. If they play up to their potential, the Knights’ secondary could be one of the better ones in the conference.
In a tough conference the Central Florida Knights have their work cut out for them. While they do play some soft defenses, they play a lot of high powered offenses. If they are going to have back to back winning seasons for the first in O’Leary’s tenure someone will have to step up to lead the team.
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