Notes & Quotes | Knights Ready to Prove Themselves in Maryland Matchup

(Photo by Adrian J. Hernandez / New Day Review)

Sept. 18, 2017 at Wayne Densch Center for Student-Athlete Leadership

Availability: C Jordan Johnson, WR Cam Stewart, LB Chequan Burkett, DL Tony Guerad

• It has been two weeks without a football game for the University of Central Florida.
• The last time UCF played a competitive game was in the team’s season-opening, 61-17 win over the FIU Panthers on Aug. 31.

C JORDAN JOHNSON: “I wouldn’t say it’s frustrating, but, I mean, we’re all just anxious to play a football game again. It’s been a while. It almost feels like we’re starting the season over. But I would just like to say we’re ready to go out there and play some football.”

 

WR CAM STEWART: “Everyone’s looking good. We’re flying around, and we’re still shaking off the rust just a little bit, but we’re dialed in this weekend, and we’re ready to take on Maryland.”

 

“Our coaches just really just been telling us that make sure you get in the playbook and making sure, just, we’re watching film pretty much ’cause he said Maryland’s gonna be a top-25 team, and so he was like we really need to, you know, focus in on our assignments this weekend and try to take it to ’em on Saturday.”

 

“Yes, I’ve watched two weeks of football. So, I’ve been kinda antsy and ready to play for the past two weeks, so haven’t touched a field since FIU, so kinda ready to get my feet wet again.”

 

“Yeah, I mean, it’s kinda weird watching, like, other teams play on Saturday, and we’re just at home watching them play in our rooms and eating stuff. So, I’m really ready to just get back and play on Saturday.”

 

LB CHEQUAN BURKETT: “Yeah, it’s kinda disappointing. You know, you wanna play—your last year, you wanna play the most games you possibly can ’cause it might be your last go-around playing football, but, hey, we scheduled a couple games. So, it’ll be okay. Just hopefully take it game by game, and hopefully we win [this weekend].”

 

“Nah, it gave us—it was helpful for us, you know, from the first game, injuries or little nicks and knacks. It gave us time to heal. Gave us time to get in our playbook. Gave us time to bond more as a team with the hurricane, everyone being together. Gave us time to lift, get stronger, lift more weights, so it’s just a big plus for us.”

 

DL TONY GUERAD: “[Not playing for two weeks] is frustrating. We just gotta keep our composure and let [UCF athletic director Danny White] do what he do. He gonna get us games—we know he gonna get us games. So we’ll be ready.”

 

“I ain’t never go through this, but first time for everything. So we just gotta come out strong against the next opponent we play.”

 

“We got our tablets and stuff. We still watch film every day. The tablets are our big, main thing.”

 

“Just a little hot. It was hot, so we had to get used to that again. But we ready.”

 

“We knocked [the rust off] last week. During the heat and stuff. We back to normal. We just gotta keep continue to grind and grind.”

• Week 2 and Week 3 games against the University of Memphis and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, respectively, were cancelled because of Hurricane Irma.
• The Memphis game, the Knights’ American Athletic Conference opener, was moved to Sept. 30.
• An official press release by UCF said the Knights, Georgia Tech and their respective conferences “explored rescheduling options.”
• During Irma’s threat, some players stayed on campus while other returned home.
• In the aftermath of Irma, players and coaches alike volunteered to help serve food to the National Guard, fill sandbags and work at a food bank to help the community.

C JORDAN JOHNSON: “We did a lot of team bonding. I spent like—I lived in the Towers, that on-campus housing. We just stayed in there. They kept us very safe. We played games with one another and hung out and just had fun. Me, Samuel Jackson and our girlfriends—they came over, and we played cards together for hours.”

 

“I enjoyed [working with the National Guard]. It was a chance for us to give back to our community as, like, leaders in our community. And I really enjoyed that, because I’m all about giving back, and it’s not about the things like, who you are, it’s what you do in the world. And it was just a great experience.”

 

LB CHEQUAN BURKETT: “Extremely prepared. You know, coaches were dialed in with everything. They let us know about the game being cancelled, made sure everybody who was going home made it home safely. Everyone who was staying was gathering together, protecting, make sure everybody had meals. So, they had a great game plan.”

 

“Yeah, it definitely helped us ’cause, you know, with normal days, you don’t have everybody in the same facility. People go off-campus, they go to their home. People be in the dorms. You know, some people have class. So everyone is separated. But with the storm, everyone was together in the same spot, at the same time ’cause they would play games, watch TV, watch film communicate with one another. Just a wonderful thing, for us, as a team.”

 

“That’s hard to tell ’cause I know if we would’ve been playing games, we would’ve able to correct our mistakes and grow as a team, especially if we were winning or either losing. That brings teams together, so, either way, it would’ve been a plus, but I just know that the hurricane helped us out ’cause everyone was in the same vicinity and just talking to one another.”

 

DL TONY GUERAD: “Team chemistry. We all played video games and stuff during the hurricane. Just bonding.”

 

“I was [here] for a little bit then I had left. I had went with my family. They came to Orlando, so I was with them too.”

• Last season, the Knights fell to the University of Maryland 30-24 in double over time.
• It was then-true freshman quarterback McKenzie Milton’s first collegiate start.
• So far this season, the Terrapins are averaging 57 points per game through two games so far this season.
• Maryland’s biggest win this season was a 51-41 victory at the University of Texas at Austin in Week 1.

C JORDAN JOHNSON: “Very excited. I would say we’re all itching to get out there. It’s been a while since we played a game. Everybody else has played four games now. We have one under our belt. So we just wanna get out there and show the world what we’re made of.”

 

“We come into this game angrier than from last year ‘cause they got us in double overtime. And I just remember that game—I do remember it. And I remember the feeling that I had after the game more than anything. I just felt sick to my stomach that we really just lost in double overtime. And we were in it the whole time, and just, like, a string of events right at the end made us lose. But we’re gonna come in ready to get after them, and we’re gonna see what happens.”

 

“Like I said earlier, they have a good linebacker set. And [Jermaine Carter Jr.] is pretty good. And he’s gonna come out and—he’s not a guy that’s gonna come out attack us. He’s more of a read-and-react type of guy. He’s gonna try to be shifty and try to make us miss. And we just gotta go full speed and attack him. And if you go right at him, then the running back will make you right. If you go attack him that way, he’ll go that way, and then the running back will follow the block.”

 

WR CAM STEWART: “I just see a lot of—just, like, the improvements, I guess, that we made from the offensive-line perspective, and, like, the running backs hitting the holes hard, and receivers just catching the ball and stuff, and I just feel like this year’s gonna be a little bit different ’cause I feel like we have—we’re more detailed in our assignments, and we know what we’re supposed to do now, and so I feel like we’ll execute on Saturday.”

 

“I feel like we’re getting a little bit easier ’cause we got more people acclimated to the stuff that we’re doing now. So, people’s getting used to the, you know, the procedures that we do, where we traveling and what not and the playbook and all the meetings and stuff. So I feel like we’re really a little bit more prepared than previous years.”

 

“The things that are gonna challenge us is their linemen. Their linemen comes after it. Their defense flies around the field, and their corners, on screens and whatnot, they’re coming. And, so, [offensive coordinator and wide-receivers coach Troy Walters] really been preaching and harping over that receivers really need to put their foot down and make those blocks for the running backs to make those touchdown runs and those big gains to extend us and get us more points.”

 

“I feel like this is the game to show the world what we can actually do. I feel like we can be that team to be up there, and this is gonna be that step we need to take to see where we at—where we are to see what we’re gonna look like in our further schedule coming up this fall.”

 

“I have not asked McKenzie about the game from last year or like what’s his thoughts about this game, but I feel like he will—he did real good in the FIU game, so I feel like he’s more dialed in. He has a year of experience under his belt, so I feel like he will have more experience, and we’re really more detailed, and we have a better connection with the quarterbacks than we did last year. So I feel like he will do a pretty good job when we play Maryland.”

 

“I feel like we have a lot of receivers, running backs. Our line is really great, and I feel like when it’s time for a shootout, we’ll—we’re gonna have a shootout, and defenses—I feel like our offense can outplay any defense, really. I feel like our receivers can outplay any corners, and I feel like our running backs can run through tackles, any linebackers, any safeties, so after, like—if it’s time for a shootout, we can pull it off.”

 

“I don’t think it’s a danger being over-anxious. We just don’t need to be nervous pretty much. [Head coach Scott Frost] doesn’t want us to be play nervous. Just play confident, and I feel like if we confident, we’ll be successful.”

 

LB CHEQUAN BURKETT: “Yeah, of course, Big Ten team, that’s a big role, and, plus from last year, what happened in overtime, we definitely wanna come back this year and not have that happen.”

 

“[Defensive coordinator Erik Chinander] let us know they’re a pretty good offense. Just if we go out and do our thing, be dialed into our keys and make sure we communicate across the board, we’ll be okay.”

 

DL TONY GUERAD: “I remember the last play of the game. That really hurt us. But we gonna come back strong. We want revenge.”

 

“They have a good offense. We respect them ‘cause they just knocked off Texas. We respect every team that we play. They have a good run game that they use, so we gotta try to stop that.”

 

“We wanna shock the world. Everybody probably think we gonna lose and stuff. We wanna go up there and shock the world. They a good team, and we respect them.”

 

“Nothing changes [for a road game]. We got the same practice. Same practice habits. We go out there and grind every time like it’s our last practice.”

• In the Knights’ first game against FIU, UCF ran for just 148 yards on 45 attempts (3.3 yards per carry).

C JORDAN JOHNSON: “We’ve been working on aggression. I would like to say that. We’ve been trying to come off the ball harder. Trying to work our hips into the blocks to just press on the guys. Get, like, blades of grass and inches just trying to force our way through the line of scrimmage.”

This piece was put together with the help of Ryan Weiss. Follow him on Twitter at @NDR_RyanWeiss.

For more on the Knights, as they prepare to embark on their first road trip of the season, follow Victor Tan on Twitter at @NDR_VictorTan.