ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Even without a head football coach, nine football players on Wednesday honored their verbal commitments and signed letters of intent to play for the Knights next season.

What You Need To Know

  • Nine players signed with UCF football on Early Signing Day

  • They signed letters of intent Wednesday, even though the Knights do not have a football coach now

  • Gus Malzahn resigned as head coach on Nov. 30, the day after UCF's season finale, and later joined FSU as offensive coordinator

  • The Knights still are awaiting word from two players who had made verbal commitments previously

Wide receivers Carl Jenkins Jr. of St. Augustine High, Santonyo Isaac of Tampa Bay Tech High School and Waden Charles out of Somerset Academy — Canyons in Boynton Beach; defensive backs Tony Williams of Miami Central and Rukeem Stroud of Tampa Bay High School; linebacker Malakhi Boone of South Sumter High in Bushnell and offensive lineman Jaquez Joiner out of Cocoa High, defensive tackle Ryshawn Perry from Covington, Ga., and running back Waymond Jordan Jr., the No. 1 junior college running back out of Hutchinson Conmmunity College in Kansas and Pensacola High, made their commitments official on football's Early Signing Day. Those players are all rated as four- or three-star recruits.

However, four-star wide receiver Jayvan Boggs of Cocoa High flipped from UCF to Florida State.

UCF is searching for a coach to replace Gus Malzahn, who resigned as the Knights' head coach on Nov. 30 and has been hired as the offensive coordinator for the Seminoles.

The football program acknowledged Malzahn's resignation with a statement on Nov. 30 and thanked him for his contributions to the Knights. The timing left a lot of questions about the uncertainty of who would play for UCF next season, with Early Signing Day approaching four days later and the transfer portal scheduled to open Sunday.

Commitments from high school players and additions through the transfer portal will be necessary for whoever is the next coach because the Knights had 25 seniors who will be graduating, and several players already on the Knights' roster this past season already have announced their decisions to transfer.

Two players who had made verbal commitments to UCF have yet to announce the team with which they have decided to sign — offensive lineman Andrew Stargel out of Roswell, Ga., and running back Taevion Swint out of Kissimmee Osceola. Swint had told the Orlando Sentinel on Sunday that he remained committed to UCF, despite the Malzahn news.

The Knights did not hold a news conference to announce its signees on Wednesday, but it did reveal who had signed with them in posts on the social media platform X.

UCF has not provided any information about its search for a replacement for Malzahn, though media outlets have speculated on many potential candidates.

On Tuesday, Malzahn posted a letter to UCF fans on social media, thanking them for their support during his four seasons at UCF.

"Kristi (Malzahn's wife) and I want to take a moment to say thanks. I have felt fortunate to serve as your head coach the past four years," his letter in an X post said. "I'm grateful for the passion of our fan base and the desire for greatness at such a special university. Thanks to Terry Mohajir for giving us the opportunity."

The letter concluded, "I wish UCF the best moving forward and am excited to see the next leader of the program continue to push Orlando's Hometown Team onto the national stage. Thank you, Knight Nation, for everything." 

It was signed by both Gus and Kristi Malzahn.