Travis Williams talks transfers: 'We're bringing these guys in to play'
UCF defensive coordinator Travis Williams is excited about their spring transfer class, which includes four players that will play on his side of the ball: safety Koby Perry, defensive tackle Lee Hunter, linebacker Terrence Lewis and buck K.D. McDaniel.
Opening statement:
"I just want to start off with the four guys we signed from the portal. I'll start out with Koby Perry. He's a safety for us. Really good football player. Was the player of the year in the OVC. What was really impressive about him is the coaches that were there were calling us about him, saying how hard he works on the practice field. How he loves football. That he'll be a great addition for us. That's always good to get that type of feedback. We're excited to have Koby. Looking for him to do some great things here.
"The next person is Lee Hunter. Big defensive tackle from Mobile, Alabama. I've been recruiting him since ninth grade. Got a good history with him. I know his family pretty well. Very excited about him. He's a big human being. He'll give us a big body up front. You can't have enough of those guys, defensive tackles that can cover guys up so we can make plays and play in the back field. Very excited about Lee Hunter.
"Terrence Lewis. He was a highly-recruited linebacker from out of Miami. We have a history with each other as well. I recruited him when I was at another school. Built a relationship then, so once he got into the portal we just kind of jumped back on that relationship. He had a lot of schools recruiting him and he chose to come here. Excited to have him. Brings speed to the room. Brings explosion to the room. Really excited to have Terrence.
"KD McDaniel is coming from Kentucky. He gives us some juice off the edge, that pass rusher that we need losing Big Kat. We're getting a guy that can generate some pass rush. He's a guy we're very excited about from South Georgia. He's a guy that you watch his film, has a really good skill set, can bend off the edge and get to the quarterback. Very excited about him. He has time on task. A veteran guy. He played 30 snaps in the bowl game.
"Again, very excited about all four guys we're bringing in. We're bringing these guys in to play. Obviously you've got to compete. We don't hand anything out. When we bring guys in, it's a position of need. We feel really good about bringing those four guys in."
How has the transfer portal changed recruiting in evaluation and filling out classes?
"It changed for everyone. It changed for colleges and it changed for the high school kids. It's really one of those deals that you have to adjust with time. Our head coach, coach Gus Malzahn, he does a great job of knowing exactly what we want to do. How many high school numbers we want, how many portal numbers we want. How many we're going to keep leftover. Even after the spring there's going to be other guys. You've got to adjust with him. You've got to adjust. It's big on relationships. Guys are going to guys they know. What I like about it as far as the portal, it makes you have a genuine relationship with guys. It makes you keep your word. Now guys can just leave and go other places. That's what I do like about it. Also, you've got to have the other side of it of sticking out and fighting through. That sort of deal. It's still life lessons. But again, it's the portal and we've got to adjust to the times. I'm not going to complain about it. I'm going to find some players."
Both Lee Hunter and Terrence Lewis were highly-rated high school recruits, but they didn't really pan out their freshman season. Terrence is coming off a knee injury as well. Is that a concern or do you trust what you saw in high school?
"I trust what I saw in high school. I wouldn't say pan out. If you've got an ACL, you can't play football. You can't say a kid didn't pan out. He was injured. Then Lee Hunter, I did my research and talked to a lot of guys even at Auburn. They say he's a really good football player. The times of the portal. When I played, guess what, Travis Williams was redshirted. Redshirt freshman year I was running out on kickoffs. Redshirt sophomore year, the third year, that's when I started linebacker. So I don't know about the whole didn't pan out. You've got to develop them and give them time. But both those guys, we're looking forward to those guys being able to help us."
How different is this team going to look next year? You've lost guys to the transfer portal, gained guys in the portal and the incoming freshmen, so an entirely different group.
"Not to switch subjects, but I'm watching basketball last night. I was watching different teams. Kentuckys and Auburns of the world, all their guys are transfers and they're top 10 teams. You've got to adjust to the times. You still have to have your high school guys as far as your foundation, but you want to plug in positions of need so you can continue to grow your team. I think that's what we're doing here. That's Coach Malzahn's vision. Get a position of need. We turned guys away. There were really good players, but we're not just piling on. We're good at certain positions and there are positions of need."
Great football is played at every level. Bryson Armstrong came to you from FCS and some top players in the NFL played FCS. So you're getting Koby Perry from Austin Peay, talk more about him and what he can provide as an older, more experienced player in the secondary.
"When he walks in the room, he brings that energy. He loves football. He's working out and you can tell who he is because he's talking and he loves ball. We did our research on him. Everybody said this kid loves football. Very excited to have him. Again, it's a position of need. He's played a lot of ball at Austin Peay. Player of the year. I like the kid. I like being around him. He's high energy like myself. I'm glad we got him."
In your experience, is this an unusual signing day since no high school players were signed and is this the new norm going forward?
"It's pretty much the new norm. We signed all our guys in December. There's a couple guys signing a couple guys, but for the most part guys are signing in December and a lot of guys are enrolling early. We did a lot of our work at the beginning of it in December. That's why it helps us to go out in January and really focus on the '23 class because the '22 class was already signed. That was the advantage for us, so when we were out, we were getting a jump start on getting information on the '23s instead of doing home visits for '22s and doing different things. We got that done in December, so it was an advantage for us."
You mentioned you had a long relationship with a couple of these guys. When you're recruiting high school kids now, do you mention that UCF will be a place for you even in the future?
"I want to get them like right now. But I want to build a strong enough relationship that if he goes somewhere and it doesn't work out, my relationship from the past, if it's a kid we still want us, that can help us. It's all about relationships. If you don't have a relationship, you're going to be behind the eight-ball."
You mentioned KD McDaniel from Kentucky. He's been listed as a linebacker in the past. You described him more as an edge in that Big Kat type?
"He's going to be a buck for us. He's an edge rusher for us. He's a guy that can generate some pass rush for us. He is an outside linebacker."
You talked about focusing on '23s. You just had a big event this past weekend, Hometown Hero. It seemed like hundreds of guys were on campus. How does that set the stage for what you want to do in this next class?
"It was huge. Hats off to Dave Shumate and Leah Cunningham. We just hired her. She's doing on-campus recruiting as well. The way they had it organized. We had hundreds. We literally have over 300 kids come through, including the 7-on-7. It might be 500. 7-on-7 and the invites for the Hometown Hero. It's always good to get those guys on campus. Then when they get here, it's like this is awesome. We wanted to keep it exclusive, then we were like you know what, let them come. It was real deal players here. It's always good to get those types of guys on campus."
Coach Malzahn talks about UCF being the future of college football. You're going to the Big 12 next year, But beating Florida in the bowl game, that's a little more recent, how much of an impact did all those things have when you talked to guys this past weekend?
"It's huge. Talking to Coach Malzahn, we are the state champs. That goes a long way. Beating a team like Florida and being able to compete on a high level, on big-time TV with people watching us, that's always huge. Us going to the Big 12, we're pushing that out there. This '23 class, their first year, will be in the Big 12. We've got a lot of things to sell here. Just a great area. The only football school in the area. There's so much. The weather. It was cold for like three days last week, but now we're back to 80 degrees. There's so much to sell here. Coach Malzahn's vision, the future of college football. He really believes it. We believe it. We know this right here is a goldmine. We're looking forward to the future."