The UCF Golden Knights just landed a major piece in their 2021 defensive game plan. A few weeks ago we saw Big Kat Bryant decommit from Tennessee due to Jeremy Pruitt’s firing. Now he plans to reunite with his old head coach Gus Malzahn down in Orlando, Florida.
Big Kat’s transfer process began after Auburn let go of Gus Malzahn back in December. He had originally announced his decision to transfer to the University of Tennessee for his final year of eligibility. Then came the recruiting scandal and the firing of Jeremy Pruitt, and replacing him with Josh Heupel (UCF’s head coach). The Golden Knights would end up replacing Heupel with Malzahn and, now we are here, with Bryant and Malzahn meeting again to finish what they started at Auburn. The Golden Knights also landed former Auburn player and four-star wide out Nate Craig-Myers.
During his time at Auburn, Bryant has managed to become an All-SEC edge rusher. He was recruited to Auburn as a four-star defensive end in the class of 2017. He would rotate in and out of the line up at Auburn due to the stacked amount of talent they had. In four years he was able to manage 10 sacks, and three interceptions for the Tigers.
Despite having a higher ranked class than last season, the Golden Knights 2021 recruiting class still finished 4th in the AAC. They were able to land the No. 3 player in Hawaii, Titus Mokiao-Atimalala, as well as Mikey Keene from Chandler High School. It will be interesting to see the talent that does flock down to Orlando, and just how quickly Malzahn can turn the ship around.
