(Photo by Victor Tan / New Day Review)
ORLANDO, Fla. – After a bounce-back, 6-7 2016 season, the University of Central Florida has made strengthening team chemistry a priority this preseason.
“There’s been a lot of talk on our team about coming together and becoming a tighter-knit group,” Knights head coach Scott Frost said after practice on July 27. “For all the talk about it, we need to do it. We need to be taking care of each other.
“Old guys need to be helping young guys even if they’re competing against ‘em. Young guys need to be going to old guys and asking for help. We need to take care of each other on and off the field.”
The fact that the Knights want to build on their bonds doesn’t mean they didn’t have close relationships last season; they simply want to become even closer. That goal is something the players worked toward over the summer.
“We was close, but, like, you know, we just came even closer together,” Tre’Quan Smith said after practice on July 27. “Like, when everybody is close, you wanna be around somebody.”
The team worked on those bonds all summer long, spending time with each other and buying into the coaches’ new focus of better team chemistry. It was something offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach Troy Walters has noticed.
“Really, I see it amongst the whole team,” Walters said after practice on July 28. “One of the things I mentioned to Coach Frost yesterday when we were going through stretches is that we got a great group of guys—across the board. Really, no egos. All team-first guys.”
Walters played in the National Football League for eight seasons, including being a part of the 2003 Indianapolis Colts team that went to the AFC Championship Game. The second-year Knights coach knows the importance of trust between teammates.
“When you love playing for your brother to your right and to your left, and you trust, and you hold each other accountable, that can take you a long ways.” Walters said.
The sentiment that being a closer group helps win games isn’t just among the coaches, though. Smith believes that when players trust each other that criticism will never be taken personally, leading to an overall better product on game nights.
“You know, you don’t have a hard time constructive criticism someone,” Smith said. “So, you know, you think about it. You like, ‘Oh, he’s just trying get me better. That’s my brother. I can’t look at it in a bad way. I gotta look at it in a positive way.’ And when you look at things like that, you make the team better. You make everyone better.”
Improved team chemistry isn’t reserved for only the offensive side of the ball, either. Led by the 2016 American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year Shaquem Griffin, the defense is developing a better bond, too. He said the way the team is developing is unlike anything he’s seen before on past squads.
“We stay together. We walk everywhere together, and we eat together; we talk amongst each other the entire camp, and that chemistry that we got—it’s amazing,” Griffin said after practice on Aug. 4. “You got guys that wanna do extra work and come back and just do extra things. It’s something new that we haven’t really seen before, and I just feel, as a team, we hitting heights that we’ve never seen before.”
For Griffin, it’s about making sure his final collegiate team is not separated into two groups of veteran and green players. Instead, he wants the team to be “one specific group.”
“You know, I don’t want them to feel like it’s just the older guys and the young guys. It’s one specific group,” Griffin said. “And I want the young guys to know that. So, when they come and talk to us, we as one unit. Defense, when we together, it’s one unit. It’s not older guys and young guys. We all as one.”
With about three weeks from the season-opener, the Knights had their first scrimmage on Tuesday. UCF will host the Florida International University Panthers on Aug. 31 at 7:30 p.m.
For more on the Knights and their developing team chemistry, follow Ryan Weiss on Twitter at @NDR_RyanWeiss.
