UCF Start Rebuild Off With 20 Signees

Expectations weren't very high for Scott Frost when he took the head coach position at the University of Central Florida in December of 2015, especially coming off an 0-12 season. With only a few months until National Signing Day, a solid class would have been just fine to help start the movement back towards success.

Frost's signing of 20 players should have Knights fans very giddy that despite a coaching change and porous play in the past they have attracted the fourth-best class in the American Athletic Conference.

Highlighted by nine top 1000 players, many of the Knights needs will be filled at the end of the day.  Offensive lineman Aaron Dowdell, Jordan Johnson, Christian Beard and Bowman Swanson will immediately bolster a line that gave up 23 sacks last year.

Three of the four linemen come in ranked in the top 50 in their position. Beard, a JUCO transfer out of Trinity Valley Community College, comes in as the 12th best guard in the class. Dowdell is ranked as the 21st best guard and 39th best player in his home state of Georgia. Johnson, who was projected to sign with Rutgers, ranks as the 26th best guard.

The Knights also picked up four of highly ranked defensive ends during the day. Chris Mulumba was picked by 247sports.com as the ninth best strong side defensive end in the nation. Mulumba is joined by Josh Odigie, Joe Sanders and Eric Mitchell.

Ogidie is the 19th best SDE in the nation, while Mitchell is the 69th best weak side defensive end in this year's class. Sanders, who is ranked as the 21st best SDE, flipped his commitment after originally committing to the Arkansas State Red Wolves.

McKenzie Milton is the lone quarterback in this year's class, and may be what UCF sees as a potential centerpiece to their offense. Ranked as the ninth best player in his home state of Hawaii, Milton looks like their potential quarterback of the future.

Dredrick Snelson may be the biggest prize on the offensive side of the ball for the Knights. The three star recruit decommitted from Minnesota during signing day and joined UCF after noon. Snelson ranks as the the 52nd best player in the state of Florida and is ranked so well he pushed the Knights into the top three in AAC Recruiting.

UCF looks to have wrapped up their signing day with their 20 signings, but there's no telling if there will be more players coming. Having no seniors on roster last year, the Knights will be one of the youngest teams in the FBS when fall rolls around. If this is what Frost can do with only a couple of months of prep, imagine what he'd be able to do in a full year.

All of the Knights' signees are listed here. Stay tuned for more updates as National Signing Day goes on.