Gus Omnibus

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Gus lands verbal from KJ

By Pete Nakos

Arkansas transfer quarterback KJ Jefferson took nearly a month to officially enter the transfer portal.

The process of finding his next school went significantly faster. Jefferson has committed to UCF, heading to Orlando to play for Gus.

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Gus reacts to Nick Saban's retirement, sends message to former rival
Parker Gillam | 2 minutes ago

Gus took to social media on Wednesday to react to the announced retirement of legendary Alabama head coach Nick Saban.

Malzahn wished his former Iron Bowl foe well in retirement, calling it an honor to coach against Saban.


Follow Coach Gus Malzahn@CoachGusMalzahn
·

It was a true honor to coach against you throughout the years. Enjoy your retirement!



Malzahn went 3-5 against Saban in his 8 seasons as Auburn's head coach. The three victories took place in 2013, 2017 and 2019, all of which occurred at Jordan-Hare.

From the "Kick Six" to Jarrett Stidham's heroics to a missed field goal, Malzahn delivered some of Auburn's best moments in recent memory against Saban's Crimson Tide. Long known to save some of his more creative, unique play calls for his matchups with Alabama, Malzahn is also known to be generally friendly with Saban.

While Malzahn was highly successful within the friendly confines of Jordan-Hare, he did not have nearly as much success in Bryant-Denny...

Overall, Gus will be known as one of the coaches that had the most success against Saban. Les Miles is the only man to also have beaten the former Alabama coach on three occasions, although he lost three times as well.

Malzahn has completed 3 seasons at UCF since leaving The Plains. He has a 24-16 record with the Knights.

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Washington transfer linebacker transfer Ethan Barr flips to UCF

by:
Justin Rudolph
•

We now know the landing spot for former Vanderbilt-turned-Washington Huskies linebacker Ethan Barr. After already having jumped into the NCAA Transfer Portal from Vanderbilt and landing at Washington, Barr hit the portal again after the departure of former head coach Kalen DeBoer. It has been revealed that Barr has committed to UCF.



This was the second time this offseason that the Flower Mond native (chose) to find a new home courtesy of the transfer portal.

He racked up over 200 tackles during his time with the Commodores. He was a team captain this season for the 'Dores

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Gus hiring @Tim Harris as OC

by Dan Morrison

UCF Knights are making more changes to their coaching staff. Reportedly, head coach Gus is hiring Tim Harris as the team's offensive coordinator.

Harris spent the 2023 season with the Miami Hurricanes as a running backs coach. Prior to holding that role with Miami, Harris was the running backs coach at UCF. There, he helped the Knights put together the ninth-ranked rushing attack during the 2022 season. In total, he spent two seasons with UCF, joining Malzahn's staff when he first took over in Orlando.

During his first stint with the Knights, Harris also held the position of co-offensive coordinator

Gus announces hiring of Ted Roof as new defensive coordinator

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Gus announces hiring of former Auburn staffer, alum Trovon Reed as new CB coach

by:
Steve Samra

Gus is bringing one of his former players from Auburn to UCF to join the Knights' coaching staff.

On Friday, Gus took to X:



Reed bounced around NFL practice squads and XFL teams before moving into an off-field role for Auburn. Now, he'll be on the sidelines for the first time, working with the coach who played a huge role in his football career.

UCF hiring Miami running backs coach Tim Harris as offensive coordinator...

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Gus reveals how he discovered Mike Norvell, Drink

by:
Nick Schultz
•

When Gus left Arkansas to become the assistant head coach at Tulsa, he wanted to take Rhett Lashlee with him. The two worked together at Springdale (Ark.) High School, and Malzahn was hoping to hire Lashlee as a graduate assistant at Tulsa.

However, plans changed, and Malzahn had to go in another direction. He turned to Don Struebing, another former assistant at Springdale, to find a name. Struebing led Malzahn to a graduate assistant at Central Arkansas who ended up accepting the position as he kicked off his coaching career.

It was Mike Norvell.

"When I went to Tulsa, I was going to try to take Rhett with me to be the GA," Malzahn told Andy Staples on Andy Staples On3. "Well, Rhett was going to get married, so he stayed northwest Arkansas. So I said, 'Hey, Don, who do you got?' He said, 'Man, Mike Norvell would be a great GA.' So that's how that whole thing."

Norvell met Struebing at a camp, and he stayed after just to make sure he shook his and made the connection. From there, the chain of events led him to Malzahn, and Norvell wound up getting his first head coaching job about 10 years after joining Tulsa when Memphis hired him. After that, he headed to Florida State, where he turned the Seminoles around over the last few years and won the ACC Championship (though he did not make the College Football Playoff).

If Norvell didn't meet Struebing, though, Malzahn doesn't think he'd have gotten the Tulsa graduate assistant position.

"Mike, smart guy," Malzahn said. "That's just the way Mike is. He always thinks about the little things. ... Don said, 'Man, I just know this guy is going to be a great coach for you. He'll be just like Rhett and all this.' It worked out.

"That's exactly right. I said, man, Rhett, you gotta meet with him, you got to show him exactly how we do it. So they got together and Mike hit the ground running."

Springdale HS also helped connect Gus Malzahn and Eli Drinkwitz
Gus Malzahn's staff at Springdale also included another future Power Conference coach. Eli Drinkwitz served as a volunteer assistant in 2004 and ended up returning to the program after Malzahn left for Arkansas. A former Alma (Ark.) High School star, the two connected when the head coach – Frankie Vines –

As Drink got into coaching, Malzahn remembered him, and brought him aboard at Springdale.

"I was the offensive coordinator of the all-star team, which that was as good as it gets back in the day," Malzahn said. "And his head coach was a legend, and the head coach got to bring the manager. There was a sophomore linebacker named Eli Drinkwitz. So he was my GA or whatever back then, we got to know each other. When he graduated, [he said] 'Hey, Coach, can I come volunteer for you at Springdale High School?' Sure, man.

"He made a good impression for me. So that's how it went down."

In 2010, three years after leaving Springdale, Auburn hired Malzahn as offensive coordinator. He quickly built out his staff, and he found himself again in need of a graduate assistant. That's when he called Drinkwitz –

He went to his house to ask him in-person.

"I went to college, [Drinkwitz] moved up and he was the offensive coordinator and I think in 2009, we needed a GA," Malzahn said. "So I made an in-home visit with him and his wife and talked him into coming to Auburn for $12,000 to be a GA, and he got a chance to help with Cam Newton.

"The rest is history."

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4-star safety Tony Williams commits to UCF

by:
Hunter Shelton
•

Palm Beach (Fla.) Central four-star safety Tony Williams has committed to UCF.

He chose the Golden Knights over the likes of Miami, Penn State, Arkansas and Iowa.

Williams is the No. 154 overall prospect and No. 14 safety in the 2025 cycle

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Lake Mary '22 RS-FR QB Gunnar Smith entered the transfer portal.


https://www.on3.com/db/gunnar-smith-47222

[Blue-Chip]

Makes sense..  They have a Previous Hogville Preseason Heisman Candidate QB.   

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UCF CB Jarvis Ware enters NCAA Transfer Portal

by: Wade Peery
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UCF cornerback Jarvis Ware officially entered the NCAA Transfer Portal on Friday evening, On3's Pete Nakos reported. He started his career with the Missouri Tigers. In 2022, he racked up 41 total tackles with the Knights.

He appeared in 28 games as a defensive back at Missouri. Ware snatched his first career interception at Florida in 2020, taking it back 59 yards for the score.

Ware had 33 tackles his sophomore year, taking over one of the Tigers' two cornerback slots. In the 2018-2019 season at Mizzou, he also made first year SEC Academic Honor Roll.

He played his high school football at Wekiva High (Apopka).

UCF finished 6-7 overall this year, falling 30-17 in the bowl game. They had a five-game losing streak in the middle of the season, but rebounded nicely to win three of their last five. Their best win of the season may have come when they delivered a 45-3 thrashing of the then 15th-ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys.