UCF Football: UCF’s Defensive Line is Going to See a Remarkable Improvement.
The UCF defensive line last year was shambolic. Yes they were missing Kalia Davis, but Davis was not the sole reason for the awfulness of the defensive line. No the main issue was a lack of fundamentals from the line. It appeared that whatever Shane Burnham had been teaching the defensive linemen was not working. The defensive line was beyond soft last year. They were pushed around countless amount of times. They even looked small. I have no idea what Shane Burnham was doing with the defensive line, but it did not work. This defensive line could not get pressure. But now Gus Malzahn has made two hirings that is going. to change this. The addition of Kenny Martin and Kenny Ingram as defensive end and defensive tackle coach will be a big addition to the staff. The defensive line will improve under them.
The biggest addition is Kenny Martin. Martin is a Orlando native. In fact Martin says that he grew up a UCF fan so he has seen this team go from a also ran program to the top echelon of the G5. Martin will be a fan favorite coach not just because his personality is infectious, but because Martin is a damn good coach. He has a history of developing great defensive lines. Martin helped to transform the defensive line at WKU. Last year, Martin’s defensive line had more sacks than UCF’s defensive line. In fact Martin’s unit was credited with helping WKU defense be one of the best in CUSA. In fact in 2019, when WKU had a top 25 defense, his unit again led the way. Kenny Martin has been one of the top young up and comers for defensive line coaches in the country. Now he’s at UCF. Oh and he used to coach an Orlando high school so he has the connections to be a top recruiter in the area for the Knights. I think this is a very exciting coach to add to the staff.
Kenny Ingram is the other defensive line coach. Ingram has a long and successful history with Malzahn. Ingram has worked for Malzahn on four separate occasions both on the field and off it. Ingram has a reputation for being a good recruiter and developer of talent. Ingram knows exactly what Gus wants from his defensive line. He has an intimate knowledge about this system and will help Kenny Martin install it at UCF. Ingram has worked at Arkansas as well as auburn and Cincinnati. He knows how to develop aggressive defensive lines that can out physical teams. UCF needs this physicality on the defensive side of the ball. This was something that was missing from the team last year. I think that the addition of Ingram who has a history of working with big physical lines will help get UCF back to where they should be in terms of the defensive line.
Both are known recruiters. Ingram, though he was not credited with it because he had off field role, was a grinder for auburn on the trail. Yes his 247 page doesn’t have recruits he pursued , but you look at the auburn message boards and you can see the fans talk about how much of a grinder he was on the trail. He is already doing this at UCF, making contact with these defensive line prospects like Zane Durant, Jamaal Johnson, and Keahnist Thompson. They all have made mention of the fact that Ingram has reached out to them and offered them scholarships. You really did not see this with Shane Burnham last year. Yes, Shane was able to get the likes of Cam Goode on campus, but Ingram is already showing that he can go after the bigger fish and establish better relations with these recruits than Burnham ever did. Ingram is going to be a key in recruiting.
Kenny Martin has already proven his worth as a recruiter. He was highly regarded as a recruiter while at WKU. Plus being a former high school coach, Martin knows these coaches. He can walk into a high school in central Florida and already have respect. That is huge for UCF and something they never had under Heupel. When Martin was hired, Gus raved about his recruiting prowess about how Kenny Martin was going to be huge on the trail for the Knights. In fact Gus said he had tried to bring Kenny to Auburn. Of course he didn’t, but this just speaks volumes about where Martin is viewed not just for his ability to develop talent, but as a recruiter as well. He’s already been key in the Thompson recruitment. He has also helped to bring Jeremiah Alexander, a huge five star, onto campus. Oh and he was one of the first ones to offer Jordan Phillips from Ocoee. Martin has already proven his worth as a recruiter in his short tenure. In fact Martin just brought Ricky Barber Jr, a freshman All American, to Orlando.
It’s not just the addition of the Kenny’s that will improve the defensive line. UCF has a new strength coach, Chris Dawson, who has a stellar reputation in the sport. In fact Bama even interviewed Dawson for their S&C coach. That is how respected the man is. UCF’s last strength coach was not highly regarded. In fact the man was just Heupel’s buddy who should not have been in the job. That showed up especially last year. The defensive line looked really small and not strong. Sure some will blame a pandemic, but it was clear that the guys were not lifting heavy weights. Their muscle gain did not look impressive and it was apparent that the conditioning program was wrong. That was confirmed by Brandon Helwig when he wrote that many in the last UCF strength department did not encourage the players to lift heavy weights. Chris Dawson will change that. We are already. seeing these guys look bulkier and stronger. Now Dawson has more months to get these guys bigger and stronger.
The return of Kalia Davis and the additions of Big Kat Bryant and Ricky Barber are going to also help contribute to the defensive line getting better. These players are the ones we needed. Barber is an absolute monster and showed it last year. He is going to do wonders in this line. Kenny Martin will only continue to develop him like he did at WKU. No one can deny that losing Kalia Davis last year hurt UCF’s defensive line. Now Davis is back and is healthy. He is going to be a big factor. Now adding Big Kat to the mix will only give UCF a Cincinnati esque defensive line. Fans should be excited.
