ORLANDO, Florida - His presence towers those around him at CFE Arena. 

  • Tacko Fall and Aubrey Dawkins return after missing full season
  • Dawkins is son of head coach Johnny Dawkins
  • UCF has five seniors on the roster this year

“He’s well proportioned. He’s long, and he’s mobile for his size, which makes him a unique player,” UCF men's basketball head coach Johnny Dawkins said.

“The way that he can be such a fearful presence for the other team in the paint...I mean, there’s nobody else like that in the country,“ added guard BJ Taylor. 

All seven feet, six inches of Tacko Fall are enough to scare about any player in the AAC, let alone the rest of Division I. A potential NBA Draft pick, Fall returns to a Knights team looking to rebound from an injury-riddled 2017-2018 season. He was one of the casualties of the injury bug last year himself, having suffered a torn labrum and only playing half the season. 

“I think the biggest part was mentally," Fall said. "Just having the experience I was having, I mean physically, I’m not happy about the injury, but it helped me go to another level, get stronger, work on a couple skill work, and just play smarter.”

Fall wasn't the only one who suffered a torn labrum, though.

“It was a process I was not accustomed to, and it definitely hurt my heart,” transfer-guard Aubrey Dawkins said. Dawkins, Johnny's son, was a crucial sixth man for Michigan for two seasons, before transferring to UCF two years ago. After sitting out a season per NCAA transfer rules, he was set to debut for the Knights. But a preseason labrum tear put him on the sidelines as well.

“It’s terrible obviously, but at the same time, it helps, because somebody’s going through a similar pain to what I went. We could find a commonality. [Fall] went through it. I went through it,“ Dawkins said.

Fall was also relieved to get to experience the climb back to the court with his teammate.

“The fact that we had the same surgery at the same time, really helped us, we were there for each other. I know what he was going through, and he know what I was going through. It helped a lot,” he said.

So now, with a loaded group of healthy upperclassmen, UCF realizes its window to strike is upon it.

“If you wanna make something happen man, you gotta understand when’s the right time," Dawkins said. "And there’s no better time than now.”