Scott Frost must be a fan of suspense because the UCF coach isn’t willing to tip his hand when it comes to who will start at quarterback for the Knights against visiting North Carolina on Saturday.
There is good news, however, as the Knights could have the services of injured quarterback Cam Fancher.
“He’s cleared to practice,” Frost said on Monday. “I don’t know how close he is to 100% yet. We’ll figure that out as the week goes along.”
Fancher opened the season as the starting quarterback but has been out of action since suffering an injury at the start of the second quarter of the season opener against Jacksonville State. He was replaced by Tayven Jackson, who led the Knights to wins over the Gamecocks and North Carolina A&T.
Jackson has completed 64% (29 of 45) of his passes for 471 yards and 2 touchdowns. He also rushed for two scores in the win over the Aggies.
Pro Football Focus has Jackson graded (74.6) as the 10th-best quarterback in the Big 12 behind such players as Cincinnati’s Brendan Sorsby (92.1), TCU’s Josh Hoover (91.2) and Texas Tech’s Behren Morton (86.1).
Fancher, meanwhile, was 5 of 9 for 32 yards while also rushing for 39 yards on 4 carries.
Jackson and Fancher were part of a three-man quarterback competition along with Jacurri Brown throughout spring and fall camps. Brown also saw action in UCF’s win over the Aggies, rushing for 106 yards and two touchdowns in 16 snaps.
Frost has noted that Jackson has made significant progress during his brief time as quarterback, particularly in two key areas.
“The grit and toughness that he’s played with since he got another chance and his preparation last week was a lot better than I’d seen before,” said Frost. “He needs to keep doing those things.”
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What is UCF expecting from UNC’s defense?
North Carolina coach Bill Belichick established a reputation for having one of the toughest defenses in the NFL during his tenure as head coach of the New England Patriots. After three games, the Tar Heels rank 53rd in the nation in scoring defense (19 points per game) and 69th in total defense (337 yards per game).
“They’re big; they’re physical,” Frost said. “They’re multiple and they’ve got really smart guys between [defensive coordinator] Steve [Belichick] and Bill and others running the show, so it’s going to be a challenge for us.”
The Knights are coming off season-highs in scoring (68 points) and total offense (560 yards) against North Carolina A&T. The team ranks in the top 25 in scoring (42.5 ppg.), rushing offense (232 yards) and total offense (491 yards).
“He’s [Bill Belichick] going to try to take away what you do best in every game and it’s going to look a little different in every game,” Frost said. “And because of that, we need to be ready against multiple things and be ready to adjust during the game.”
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How does UCF plan to distribute the ball among Jaden Nixon and Myles Montgomery?
UCF is coming off a season-high 356 rushing yards against North Carolina A&T. Still, the majority of those yards were by running back Nixon (156) and quarterback Brown (106) on 11 combined carries.
Montgomery, meanwhile, has the bulk of the carries (29) but has just 114 total yards.
Frost looks forward to giving both Nixon and Montgomery plenty of chances to carry the ball against the Tar Heels.
“Hopefully, we have the ball a lot so we get a lot of chances to give it to them,” Frost said.
What is the status of safety Jayden Williams?
The Knights could have the injured redshirt senior back against the Tar Heels on Saturday, at least according to Frost.
“He’s going to be able to be ready to go. He’s probably going to have a small splint on his thumb, but nothing that will hinder him from playing the way he can play,” said Frost.
Williams started the opener against Jacksonville State and came up with a crucial stop on a fourth-and-inches late in the fourth quarter, but he suffered a small fracture in his thumb that kept him out of the North Carolina A&T game.
The Florida native arrived in the offseason via the transfer portal after spending four seasons at FAU.
Redshirt junior Demari Henderson stepped up in his absence, registering three tackles.
UCF enters the game relatively healthy after a bye week.
“There is nothing really new to report. As far as long-term injuries, we’ve got some, some bruises and nicks like everybody else, but we’re expecting everybody to be ready,” added Frost.
Find me on X, Bluesky or Instagram @osmattmurschel. Email: mmurschel@orlandosentinel.com. Sign up for the Sentinel’s Knights Weekly newsletter for a roundup of all our UCF coverage.
