In the box!

Up in the press box for the UCF Football game vs. Samford. Stay tuned for constant updates.

Rooney signs 21 to 2010 class

After leading his team to a number of program firsts last season, head baseball coach Terry Rooney gave the UCF Baseball team another program mark today: arguably their best recruiting class in school history.

Rooney, who will be entering his second season as head coach of the Knights in 2009, announced the signing of 21 athletes to UCF in his first official recruiting class since accepting the head coaching job before last season.

He considers this crop of recruits as one of the best in the country.

“We are extremely excited about this recruiting class,” said Rooney, who led the Knights to a 22-35 record last season and a program-best nine wins in Conference USA.

“This has been a year long process since we accepted this job this past June.” Rooney said. “This recruiting class, without any question, is one of the top recruiting classes in the country and, in my opinion, I think will go down as the recruiting class that helped turn this program around and bring UCF baseball back to the upper echelon of college baseball.”

Of the 21 players signed, Rooney welcomed in 10 junior college transfers to Orlando.
He noted that it was essential to get some players with college experience to replace the loss of some of the seniors from last season, even when the number of JUCO players that signed is a little high.

“I wouldn’t anticipate in a normal recruiting year to have signed that many junior college players,” Rooney said. “From our standpoint, it was a necessity. When you bring a junior college player in, it’s your hope that they are going to make an immediate impact to some degree.”

“We signed 10 of them and in an average year we might sign two to four of them.” Rooney said. “We signed 10 of them so every single one of those junior college kids brings an outstanding tool to the table from a baseball standpoint.”

One area the Knights struggled in last season was with their pitching staff, but with six of the 10 junior college players being pitchers joining the team, the Knights should look a lot stronger in the rotation. Two of those players, Alex Besaw and Owen Dew, were both drafted in the Major League Baseball Player Draft and decided to sign with UCF over taking a shot in the professional ranks.

Besaw, who was drafted in the 32nd round of the MLB draft by the Tampa Bay Rays, brings a solid resume to the Knights’ pitching staff. He played at Oregon State in the Pac-10 conference before transferring to Skagit Valley Community College as a sophomore, where he went 5-1 with 51 strikeouts in 50.2 innings pitched.

Dew was a part of the Seminole Community College baseball team before being selected in the 33rd round of the MLB Draft by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. He was named to the All-Mid Florida Conference First Team in 2009 after garnering eight wins, four complete games and 81 strikeouts in 14 starts.

“There are some [pitchers] in [the recruiting class] that certainly have had some successful careers,” Rooney said. “I mean, the two drafted pitchers – Owen Dew and Alex Besaw – had a chance to sign and play professional this year and they decided not to. Both [of those guys] are junior college kids and they are both big, right-handed, power arm type pitchers that are 88-92 mph righties. We have some guys that have a chance to be the Friday and Saturday night guys and those are two guys that have been drafted and played at two successful junior colleges.”

Rooney also mentioned some position players that signed with the Knights that will have an opportunity to contribute early, most notably Ronnie Richardson and Darnell Sweeney.
Richardson, the Knights’ top recruit in the class, was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 11th round of the MLB Draft but chose to sign with UCF out of high school.

The centerfielder was listed in Baseball America’s Top 200 Prospects after finishing with a .361 average in his senior season, 31 stolen bases and only striking out three times in 2009. He also contributed on the mound, having an ERA of 2.00 or better in four seasons.
Sweeney also figures to be in the mix to start right away for the Knights. The shortstop was drafted in the 41st round of the MLB Draft by the Florida Marlins after hitting .421 with 24 RBI during his senior season.

“One of the things I think is that everyone out there is going to have to earn their job, but obviously we are excited about the two drafted players, one was Ronnie Richardson and the other was Darnell Sweeney,” Rooney said. “Those guys will have opportunities to play up the middle for us at shortstop [Sweeney] and centerfield [Richardson].”

In addition to the new faces, the Knights did welcome back Shane Brown, who choose to come back to UCF after passing up a pro contract within the New York Yankees Organization. He will be just one of the familiar faces for a totally different looking team for the Knights in 2009.

The Moose is loose: Q&A with Steven Robinson

I caught up with offensive lineman Steven Robinson, otherwise known by his nickname “Moose”, and asked him about his improvements after redshirting last season, being listed at the top of the depth chart and how having a veteran like Cliff McCray behind him helps his game.

How offensive line and himself feels through these first couple days of practice?

“I am not even going to lie, I feel great. We all came out with a positive attitude. It’s a bit of a transition from last year to now because last year we were a little [lax], we weren’t executing assignments and everything and we weren’t really motivated by practice and everything. Now we have coach [Brent] Key and we have coach [Charlie] Taaffe, so things have changed. I feel like the chemistry is 100 times better.”

Is there a chip on the shoulder of the offensive lineman after last season?

“I can tell you, we have something to prove. I feel like we owe it to the team to step it up this year. Last year, there was a lot on the offense and we didn’t step our game up and the defense was dominating so we feel like we owe it to team, and for ourselves more than anybody, to go out there and have a much better year this year. We are trying to go undefeated. That’s the goal, a championship.”

What do you feel are your improvements in your game from last season?

“The No. 1 thing is my mental toughness has skyrocketed. Being a young freshman last year, it’s kind of hard, but now I have a feel for everything. I am ready to come out, play and compete and go out there and make a name for myself and represent the school, of course. I feel like I have gotten better and a lot stronger, because I was always an upper body kind of guy but I didn’t develop that strength in my legs until now so it’s a lot easier out there on the field for me.”

Does it feel good going into camp knowing you have the starting job?

“Yes, and not only that, but I have a vet behind me in Cliff [McCray]. He came back this year and he is a senior and a really good offensive lineman so I think they did it on purpose to try to keep me going. It’s working because I don’t want to lose my spot, but it feels great. I feel like I have a better sense of the game on this level.”

What has Cliff helped you with now that he has come back?

“Cliff, he keeps me going hard every play. If you have somebody behind you that really is not up to your level, you’re not going to practice as hard because you know the position is yours. I kind of felt that’s what happened to me in spring. I was starting in spring and I kind of got a little lax, but now Cliff is here so we are working each other hard.”

First practice is in the books!

The UCF Football team began it's first pre-season practice today in front of media and fans alike. The practice, which lasted just over two hours, included 7-on-7 skeleton drills and numerous individual positional drills. Here are some of the notes I garnered from today:

• It was QB Brett Hodges first offical practice in a Knight uniform today. The Wake Forest transfer looked good in individual drills, showing promise with a strong arm and accurate throws. I interviewed him after practice and he said he is getting comfortable learning the offense and the playbook and has had a lot of help from Rob Calabrese and Joe Weatherford. To me, he looked impressive today, but it's Calabrese's job to lose.

• Calabrese looked very calm and compoised in the huddle, something he struggled with last season. He made a lot of accurate throws and didn't miss any of his recievers, something he did often last season. From high fives to his teammates to clapping it up in the huddle, Calabrese looked a lot more comfortable and more like a leader to his teammates, something needed from a No. 1 starter.

• There was one position change to note, as Wes Tunuufi Sauvao switched from offensive line back to defensive line, which is where he played last season. O'Leary talked about the change after practice, stating he needed to bulk up the defensive line and Wes was able to provide depth.

• Brynn Harvey had some pretty smooth cuts and showed good speed in the open field in practice. The question was who was going to be his backup with Latavious Murray transfereing to Syracuse. It looks to be like Ronnie Weaver will assume that role, with him getting a majority of the snaps with the second team offense.
  

• All the guys battling injury last season looked 100 percent in thier respective drills. I spoke to A.J. Guyton after practice and he said that him, along with the other guys who suffered injuries from the recieveing corps last season, were feeling good after practice.

• There was some trickery in the Knights' offense in the scrimmage, with a play that resulted in a long touchdown from Calabrese to Kamar Aiken. The question is whether the Knights will continue to use those kinds of plays during the regular season.

That's pretty much the gist of what I got today. Media Day is tomorrow, so I should get some solid info from there. Full pads will begin on Monday.

Two days till UCF Football pre-season camp

UCF Football begins it's pre-season football camp on Thursday afternoon to begin preparing for the upcoming season. As the new Sports Editor of the CFF, I will have your coverage of every practice and media day coming up. Stay tuned to the blog for updates...

TSR returns Tuesday! UCFTV on the horizon?

Hey all,

I'm happy to inform you all that The Sports Report will resume this Tuesday, June 30, during it's normal time of 4-6 p.m. The website (www.knightcast.org) is back up and running, which means the stream works to start broadcasting. I am working on fixing my website (www.thesportsreportonline.com) so please stay tuned for that.

The guests that I will be contacting Tuesday to join me will be former UCF guard Jermaine Taylor and Detroit Lions' running back Kevin Smith. ESPN and SportsCenter anchor Dari Nowkhah is good to go for the show as well.

In other news with TSR, there could be some incredible new opportunities with the show heading into the Fall. Knightcast is currently in discussions with UCFTV for a time slot to broadcast my show LIVE. That means not only could you hear the show online on WKNT, but you could also watch us live in studio on UCFTV, which broadcasts on Bright House Networks Digital Cable, as we bring you the best that Knightcast has to offer. I'll keep you posted about this as discussions comtinue to move forward, but that would be a HUGE step for the radio program.

Thanks for being patient, guys and I can't wait to get back on air!

CFF Feature: Volleyball coach focused on program growth

Here is my feature story from today's edition of the Central Florida Future:

Todd Dagenais doesn’t know too much about running a country.

The UCF Volleyball head coach is more of a builder. He knows how to lay the foundation, place the bricks and mold them together.

He’s aided in building programs before as an assistant coach at both USC and Michigan State, but he’s finally the man in charge at UCF.

“What we are is we are like a fledgling country,” said Dagenais, who spent eight seasons as an assistant at both USC and Michigan State before coming to UCF last season. “We just adopted our constitution. We have our government. Now it’s time to start standing on our own, and I really think that’s the next step.”

That next step would have been an afterthought had Dagenais not led the 2008 UCF Volleyball team to one of its best seasons in half a decade in his first year as head coach.

He finished the season having led the Knights to a 15-17 record, the largest win total since 2003, and tied for the most wins in program history in Conference USA play with six.

The Knights jumped from No. 244 to No. 113 in the NCAA Women’s Volleyball RPI rankings from the start of the season to the end.

“On paper, it was a losing record, and we weren’t in the top 100,” Dagenais said. “There were so many things that were unfulfilling, but literally hours after going through those emotions, you go wait, we started at 244 and ended at 113.”

It was a historic jump for Dagenais’ squad. One of the best in NCAA Volleyball history.

“People say hey, your movement is one of the top 25 movements of all time in NCAA volleyball,” Dagenais said. “Wow, that’s a pretty big deal. Somebody else says, well the movement is one of the top five all time for a first year coaching staff.”

In building anything, there is going to be successes and setbacks. Dagenais’ task is no different, but he does regret one thing: overlooking the present for the future.

“I never prepared the team to have success.” Dagenais said of his team’s early accomplishments last season. “You know, you prepare the team to have a foundation for success, and we did that. Then all of the sudden we find ourselves 5-1 in conference and playing UAB in first place. I didn’t prepare them for that moment, and maybe my fault is that I didn’t think that we were going to need to.

“I was more concerned with making sure we had a good foundation for three years, that when we had success in the first year, I didn’t teach them a good job of how to handle that success.”

But with any successful country you need to assemble the right pieces together to keep it running smoothly. For Dagenais, that’s recruiting the right athletes for his system.
This offseason, Dagenais nabbed four players who could take this program to the next level.

He announced the signing of Angelica Crump, Victoria McCutcheon and Nichole Riedel and also welcomed transfer Brittany Wallace.

There’s one common connection between those four players — they are all big, athletic and exactly what Dagenais needs to have his team compete in one of the top conferences in the nation.

“For us to compete in Conference USA, especially against the top teams, who are loaded with very high caliber foreign players, we had to get bigger, stronger and more athletic … so we have got some really nice athletes coming in,” Dagenais said.

To build this program into a powerhouse, Dagenais knows that preparation is not just for the upcoming year. He is already recruiting for years down the road.

“We are recruiting the 2010s, 2011s and 2012s,” he said. “Actually, our 2010 class is almost done. We are recruiting the 2011 and 2012 classes right now, and that’s three to four years down the road.

“It takes three years to recruit a class, and people don’t understand that.”

A country needs its followers, and that’s where Dagenais’ community outreach comes into play.

He wants to mold this community into a volleyball hotbed. He envisions Orlando as a place that breeds a strong foundation and love for college-level volleyball.

“For us right now, to take the program to the next echelon, we are trying to do things with booster clubs, things in the community and public appearances,” Dagenais said. “Just anything we can do to help the community get invested in collegiate volleyball in this area.”
Dagenais wants his team to be a face of the community.

Orlando will host the FIVB Women’s Volleyball World Championship qualifiers in the UCF Arena from July 6-8, something the head coach raves and tweets about, because it brings the national attention to his domain.

“We have been doing a great job of trying to build that foundation,” Dagenais said. “That takes years. That takes some schools six to eight years to get to where they want to be, and I think we can probably do it in three.”

Inspiration isn’t far from Dagenais. All he has to do is look at UCF Women’s Basketball head coach Joi Williams and how she led a young program to a conference championship in two years. He knows three years is a tangible timeframe.

“Is three years realistic? I think it is,” Dagenais said. “I honestly believe that in the third year, we will be prepared to jump on the national scene.

“Now, will we succeed (on the national scene) in the third year? I don’t know, but it’s going to be the first year where we could. I think what you will see in that third year is a team that is just about ready to break through.”

Dagenais is slowly learning how to run his new country. Now he just has to focus on continuing to build and making sure the pieces that have already been set remain in place.

“What I think we have done is we have kind of laid the bricks,” Dagenais said. “Now we have to put the mortar between those bricks to make sure they don’t fall apart.”