UCF football coach Scott Frost addressed the media Thursday, providing his thoughts on how the Knights did with their recent transfer portal acquisitions. Overall, the second-year coach, in his second term at UCF, said was happy with the talent UCF is bringing in.
Frost likes to joke about his relationship with first-year UCF general manager Trent Mossbrucker, with whom Frost said he has a great relationship. He and Mossbrucker worked hand-in-hand to build UCF’s current roster with the addition of 31 new transfers, along with 14 incoming freshmen signees.
“Him and I have to be in lock-step,” Mossbrucker said of his working with Frost. “He doesn’t want to handle the contractual side of this … that’s where I come in, so he can focus on his team and his players and build those relationships.”
This year’s portal opportunity was only a two-week window in comparison to last year’s two portal slots, so the process was much more harried.
“I’m really happy with how everything went. It was a really fast process this year,” Frost said. “The way they had it this year, I think, is about as good as they’re gonna get. … Once the portal opened, it was a race for everybody to fill their rosters and for kids to find their spots.
“You’re not always going to bat .1000 with everything you are looking for, but we wanted to get older, we wanted to get more experience … high-character guys who have played a lot of football.”
The name that jumps off the list is former James Madison quarterback Alonza Barnett III, who guided JMU to a 12-2 record in 2025 and a berth in the College Football Playoff. Barnett threw for 2,806 yards and 23 touchdowns as a redshirt junior. He also ran the ball for 589 yards and 15 touchdowns.
Frost and Mossbrucker are both excited about Barnett.
Meet the new Knights players from transfer portal: UCF adds quarterback
“What I love more than anything about Alonza is that he’s a winner and a proven winner,” Frost said. “I’m just really impressed with his demeanor and excited about the level of toughness and leadership that he brings.”
UCF, having lost all five of its roster quarterbacks from a year ago, brings in three transfer QBs with Barnett, senior Keyone Jenkins from FIU and redshirt-freshman Kaleb Annett from Boise State. Those three will join high school signees Rocco Marriott from Kansas City, Mo., and Dante Carr from Minersville, Pa.
Frost talked about the importance of the quarterback position and knowing immediately that they were going to target Barnett, whose status at JMU became more flexible when UCLA hired away coach Bob Chesney.
“There are a lot of skill players, that, when you talk to their agents … one of their first questions is ‘Who’s the quarterback going to be,’ ” Frost said. “That made that a priority for us for more reasons than the obvious. I think that’s certainly one of the personnel moves that needed to fall in order for us to move on.”
Another transfer player whom both Frost and Mossbrucker are excited about is running back Duke Watson, a transfer from Louisville, where he rushed 755 yards on 116 carries with 8 touchdowns. He played a limited role for the Cardinals last year, carrying the ball just 49 times for 158 yards.
Mossbrucker, formerly the recruiting coordinator at Louisville, recruited Watson out of Forsyth (Ga.) Mary Person High in the 2024 class.
“I have a special place in my heart for Duke Watson. I watched every one of his high school games and recruited him at the last place I worked,” Mossbrucker said. “I know what he can do, talent-wise.”
Frost is excited to see how these new transfers can mesh with the existing players on the roster as UCF tries to poise itself for better positioning in the Big 12 Conference.
“[We] did a really good job of retaining the type of kids and players off last year’s team we wanted to keep and those guys are certainly gonna have to set the standard for what we’re expecting and teach the new guys that,” Frost said.
Mossbrucker talked about the challenges of negotiations with agents and how the process was actually pretty smooth when it came right down to talking NIL numbers with various player representatives.
“I know there is a narrative out there about agents, but I will say this … there are some really, really great people that take care of these young men and have their best interests,” Mossbrucker said. “I enjoy dealing with them and we have healthy discussions.”
Mossbrucker also said that even though the transfer-portal era has taken center stage, it’s still important to build rosters from the foundation with high school recruiting being a priority.
“We’re always gonna high school recruit, because, philosophically, I think it’s easier to build a philosophy with guys who you bring in from high school and you build up for four or five years,” Mossbrucker said.
Chris Hays can be found on X.com @OS_ChrisHays.