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The first thing you notice is the shoes. University of Central Florida athletic director Terry Mohajir is wearing gold-toed Jordan 1 lows, accentuated with black highlights and quotes Ludacris as members of the Knights staff hit the recruiting trail during a May visit to Atlanta, Georgia.
While UCF head coach Gus Malzahn and his assistants circle the greater Atlanta area for future Knights, Mohajir is also recruiting the city where a large portion of the school’s ever-growing alumni base lives. Weeks later, the UCF tour continues in New York City as the program celebrates the move to the Big 12.
UCF has frequently put up billboards around downtown Atlanta in an effort to extend the program’s Florida footprint through Atlanta as Malzahn continues to prize ATL’s recruiting hotbed. When asked about the message UCF is sending to other conferences by being in the heart of SEC country, Mohajir channels his best Deion Sanders impression.
“I mean, we’re coming,” Mohajir said during an exclusive May 10, 2023 interview. “We’re competing against the SEC and the ACC, and we recruit heavily in Georgia and we have a bunch of alumni in Atlanta and this is just another large regional city that we have to have a presence in.
“That’s why we’re here. We have a bunch of our fans and our alumni that have been clamoring for us to come up to Atlanta since I’ve been here. …If you want to be a national program, you got to leave the state.”
Months later, it would be Colorado that was coming to the Big 12, doubling the conference’s quota for black and gold schools. The Buffaloes issued a death blow to the Pac-12’s existence and after decades of joining new conferences, UCF finally finds itself on the right side of the realignment carousel.
UCF Head Coach Gus Malzahn: ‘I Think We’re One of Those Programs That’s Trending Upward’
Gus Malzahn may have Big 12 on his polo, but the UCF head man still sounds like an SEC head coach. Malzahn’s southern accent has the Knights head coach sounding like a local as he sits a little more than a mile away from where he was once on the opposing sideline during UCF’s Peach Bowl victory over Auburn in 2018.
Malzahn has wasted no time hitting the recruiting trail as UCF is threatening to secure a top-25 recruiting class for 2024. The Knights are fighting to have the top-ranked class in the Big 12 and are rising up the overall rankings at No. 25, per On3.com. Atlanta has become Orlando North with Malzahn’s staff pulling recruits away from SEC and ACC schools just as Mohajir promised.
UCF has already landed five Georgia recruits for 2024, including four four-star recruits, per Rivals. The Knights also added highly touted quarterback EJ Colson from the Peach State for 2025, who plays Friday night lights about two hours south of Atlanta at Cedar Grove High School.
“The last two years we’d recruit somebody, they’d get real excited, they’d say, ‘Oh, y’all are non-Power Five.’ Yeah well, we’d be out,” Malzahn says candidly during a May 10 interview. “That doesn’t happen anymore. We got a chance this year really to take the next step recruiting.”
UCF continues to bill itself as the “future of college football” choosing to embrace the program’s relative youth as a strength instead of a weakness. Malzahn lays out his recruiting pitch and why he thinks UCF is “trending upward.”
“We’ve got 72,000 students. We’re in Orlando where the world vacations,” Malzahn shifts into recruiting mode. “There’s no NFL team. Everything is set up.
“They played really good football way before I got there. Now, that we’re in the Big 12, we’re right in the center of the state which is as good a place as any place in the country to recruit,” Malzahn continued.
“It’s set up. It’s set up for success. I think we’re one of those programs that’s trending upward. It’s pretty exciting.”
UCF Is Excited to Introduce Big 12 Teams to the Bounce House
If UCF had one of those word bubbles that highlights frequent terms used, future would be in giant letters. The future is the only thing coaches can sell recruits. As the Knights head into the Big 12, Mohajir believes new fan bases visiting Orlando can expect to get an “energetic and youthful” gameday experience at FBC Mortgage Stadium which is affectionately nicknamed the Bounce House.
“I’d say energetic and youthful,” Mohajir states. “I think that would be the best way to explain it. I’ve been to every campus in the Big 12 except Texas Tech, so I have a pretty good gauge on that.
“I think that the teams that are in the league that are going to be coming to Orlando, they’re excited. …I think there’s going to be another infusion of energy just with these new fanbases seeing it for the first time.”
UCF AD Terry Mohajir on Expanded Playoff: ‘I Think You’re Going to See Some More Teams Get Into That Top Echelon’
Reflecting on Malzahn and Mohajir’s comments feels a bit like assessing a presidential candidate’s work once in office. Even with the notable bump the Big 12 gives UCF, Malzahn and his staff have wildly exceeded expectations with the top-25 recruiting class.
Malzahn talks about UCF competing for championships, first at the conference level but eventually in the College Football Playoff. Mohajir believes there is a legitimate pathway for UCF to emerge as a championship contender.
“I think consistency and playing championship-level football [and] recruiting,” Mohajir said when asked about the pathway to reaching Malzahn’s championship goals. “I think having a consistent championship program, meaning winning [conference] championships.
“I think we can absolutely get there. Now, with the path with the 12-team playoff. I think you’re going to see some more teams get into that top echelon because of the new opportunities.”
From We’re Coming to We’re Here: How the Big 12 Saved Itself From Extinction
A quick look on the Google machine shows plenty of Big 12 obituaries when news broke regarding Texas and Oklahoma’s impending exit to the SEC. In the end, it was the Pac-12’s pretentiousness that led to its demise, something the Big 12 took advantage of a little more than a year after the West Coast based conference scoffed at a potential merger.
Like Mohajir, Sanders told the college football world the Buffaloes were “coming” upon his arrival in Boulder, Colo. but few expected this would happen in the Big 12. Roc Nation CEO turned Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark channeled his inner Jay-Z treating the Pac-12 like Nas as the conference slowly crumbled.
Colorado became the tipping point as a lack of an appealing Pac-12 television contract eventually led to Utah, Arizona and Arizona State following suit. The Big 12 may not be the best conference but it certainly became the most fun, especially if you like high-powered offenses.
All eyes are on the ACC to see if the conference can outlast a disgruntled Florida State and potentially expand with the remaining Pac-12 teams. Yormark is sure to pounce if the ACC also implodes and appealing schools suddenly are looking for a new conference home.
UCF Head Coach Gus Malzahn on Joining the Big 12: ‘[Top Players] Want the Ability to Play on the Biggest Stages’
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GettyUCF players wore jerseys with QR codes linking to their social media accounts during the 2022 spring game.
For now, the Big 12 is a bit of an awkward blended family as Oklahoma and Texas begin their farewell tour this fall before joining the SEC. As these legacy schools exit, the four Pac-12 schools will join the Big 12 in 2024.
This season, UCF is headed for a step up in competition with a schedule that includes Oklahoma, Kansas State, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech. For Malzahn, he views the challenging annual schedule as a recruiting advantage as UCF begins life in the Big 12.
For the past decade, UCF has been as visible as possible for a Group of Five program. Malzahn wants UCF to be part of the weekly college football conversation moving forward.
“I think it’s week in and week out, just your program being more visible,” Malzahn remarked on the difference between the Big 12 and AAC. “Of course, I’m always thinking recruiting and that’s what [the] top players want. They want the ability to play on the biggest stages and if they play well to be the talk of college football for a weekend and help their brands and everything with that. So, that’s the big thing for us.
“Last year, we played pretty good football, but there was probably only a couple games that were really relevant as far as the college football world late in the season, playing for a conference championship. So, the difference is now, week in and week out, if we play well, we’ll have big games. It helps everybody.”
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