After two and a half months away from the field the UCF Knights are back.

  • Players stepped out on the field to open Fall Camp Wednesday morning
  • There is no clear cut starting QB, three are vying for the job
  • UCF opens its 2019 season August 29th against FAMU

“We’ve been working a long time to get out on the grass and they haven’t been there since the middle of April and they’ve put in a ton of work,” Head Coach Josh Heupel said after practice. 

Early Wednesday morning the team began its fall camp.

And the first ones out there were the quarterbacks– with no clear cut starter.

Darriel Mack Jr. helped the Knights win the conference title last season, but he’s sidelined with a broken foot and the QB competition has everyone’s attention.

“I thought DG (Dillon Gabriel) was really consistent throwing the football throughout the entire day, liked what he did,” Josh Heupel said after the first day of practice.

“Brandon (Wimbush) I think got better as the day went on. By the time we got to the team situations he was really accurate with some of the deep ball stuff down the field and Quad (Quadry Jones) was consistent throughout the day.”

Realistically this is a three horse QB race at UCF. You’ve got the transfer from Notre Dame in Brandon Wimbush, also the homegrown kid out of Jones High School Quadry Jones and the true freshman from Hawaii Dillon Gabriel.

Right now the waters are murky as far as separation goes during the first day of camp but each guy knows exactly what they have to do to earn the spot.

“The difference maker is probably consistency,” Jones explained. “At the end of the day we want to win football games, I feel like the head coach, head man is going to do what’s best as possible for us to win games, put us in the best position.”

While many think Wimbush is a front runner for the starting job, he does not.

“No. I don’t.  I think we are all at the starting line of a race—and whoever does the things necessary to win the job will be the guy who wins the race,” Wimbush added.

Each guy has their strengths. Wimbush is experienced; he went 12-3 as a starter for Notre Dame. Jones is explosive and Heupel praises Gabriel’s accuracy.  

“I have that confidence,” Gabriel explained. “It’s up to the coaches, I just know if it’s August 29th and my name is called I’ll be ready.”

Time will only tell as the countdown to the season opener gives the Knights 29 more days to find their quarterback.