5 takeaways from Scott Frost, UCF football GM after transfer portal

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ORLANDO — Scott Frost slept just a little easier through the madness of January’s transfer portal season this time around. It helped that most of the work with regards to UCF‘s roster retention and scouting potential additions was done in the background.

Frost added Trent Mossbrucker to his staff last July, appointing the 36-year-old former Iowa kicker as general manager of football player personnel, acquisitions and roster management.

The Knights kept hold of 11 starters (four offensive, seven defensive) — including top receivers Duane Thomas Jr. and Dylan Wade, leading tackler Lewis Carter and four regulars in the secondary. Since the portal opened Jan. 2, UCF has added 31 players to its squad, headlined by former James Madison quarterback Alonza Barnett III.

“I’m really happy with how everything went,” Frost said during a joint press conference with Mossbrucker on Thursday, Jan. 29. “It was a really fast process this year. The portal was different this year. Last year, it seemed like it stretched out forever, and then we had a spring portal beside. I don’t think there’s a perfect place to do it or put it. The way they did it this year is about as good as it’s going to get.”

Here are five things we learned with regards to constructing the current Knights and the outlook for future recruiting cycles.

Proven production, experience valued across UCF roster

In addition to “elite athletic traits” and “high-character guys,” Frost and Mossbrucker sought proven production in their portal approach — especially in the Group of Five and Football Championship Subdivision. Of the 31 transfers, 19 arrive from lower-level programs.

Barnett won Sun Belt Player of the Year honors in guiding the Dukes to the College Football Playoff. Wide receiver Josh Derry was chosen as an AP FCS All-American after catching 76 balls for 1,123 yards and 13 touchdowns at Monmouth. Landen Chambers achieved an all-conference nomination with 1,273 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns at Central Arkansas.

All four newcomers along the offensive line — Tyler Gibson (Charlotte), Henry Tabansi (Buffalo), Cooper Terpstra (Michigan State) and Brady Wayburn (UConn) — measure at least 6-foot-4 and 305 pounds, and each finished 2025 as starters at their previous schools.

“You’re not ever going to bat 1.000 with anything you looking for or trying to do, but we wanted to get older, we wanted to get more experience, we wanted more proven production. With high-character guys that have played a lot of football, I think inevitably you’re going to get some tougher guys,” Frost said. “Just walking around the building and feeling the difference in the type of person that’s in the building right now says a lot to me about how we did.”

Scott Frost values Alonza Barnett’s leadership, dual-threat ability

Various agents and skill-position recruits routinely asked Frost about his plans at quarterback for the upcoming season. UCF provided a near-immediate answer, revealing Barnett as the school’s first confirmed transfer signee on Jan. 4.

Barnett powered James Madison to a top-10 national finish in scoring (37.8 points per game) in 2025. Over the last two seasons, the 5-foot-11, 210-pound North Carolina native has thrown for 5,404 yards with 49 touchdowns and 12 interceptions and added 1,031 rushing yards and 22 touchdowns on the ground.

More importantly, James Madison won 21 of 27 games with Barnett behind center.

“What I love more than anything about Alonza is he’s a winner, a proven winner,” Frost said. “When you’re a really good team, you have really exceptional leadership from that position. You have somebody that’s tough at that position that other people want to get behind, play for and believe in. Not even speaking about the talent that he brings, I’m just really impressed with his demeanor and excited about the level of toughness and leadership that we should get from him.

“I think he plays courageously, stands in the pocket when he needs to make throws and takes off when he needs to. He’s probably a better athlete than some people realize. He was able to accomplish a lot of great things at James Madison, and hats off to them. We expect the same kind of production at this level.”

UCF shifts focus to high school recruiting for 2027 class

Though its transfer signing class doubles its high school counterpart, UCF will still place an emphasis on finding players via Florida’s prep ranks — as it did with Under Armour All-American wide receiver Tyren Hornes from Sarasota Booker.

Hornes signed with the Knights in December but waited until the event — held Jan. 3 at DeLand’s Spec Martin Stadium and broadcast on ESPN — to publicly declare his commitment. He initially chose UCF in April but flipped in favor of Michigan State after a June official visit and reopened his recruitment again in October as the Spartans sputtered, ultimately firing second-year head coach Jonathan Smith.

“In this day and age, recruiting’s not over until it’s over. We’re not going to give up on anybody that we really like and want on our team, no matter what happens through the process,” Frost said.

UCF’s portal business is mostly done, so the focus shifts back to the high school ranks with the 2027 graduating class in mind. Assistant coaches hit the road when the contact and evaluation period resumed Jan. 15. Inviting top targets to spring practices and scheduling official visits for the summertime will follow in due course.

“We’re always going to high-school recruit because it’s easier to build a philosophy with guys who you bring in from high school and build up through four to five years within your program,” Mossbrucker said. “Those older guys can tell the younger guys the stories of, ‘Hey, they asked me to do these things and they took care of me, contractually, at the end of the day.”

UCF has not signed players to multi-year contracts … yet

While there are some restrictions to structuring contracts, Mossbrucker mentioned several options for negotiating with athletes and their representation, including multi-year deals and performance incentives.

Mossbrucker said UCF has held internal conversations over multi-year agreements, but not signed any to this point.

“It’s what fits the kids, and what fits the program, at the end of the day,” Mossbrucker said.

Duke reportedly signed quarterback Darian Mensah to a two-year contract, though he was able to enter the portal and commit to Miami after reaching an out-of-court settlement. A Big Ten GM told CBS Sports’ Chris Hummer, “Signed contracts mean nothing.”

Asked about that notion, Mossbrucker replied, “I think signed contracts do mean something; it depends on what is in the contract and what your legal team and university is comfortable with putting in the contract. … You’re never going to be able to stop certain things that happen within the portal. All we can do is control the relationships that we have in the building with our players — talking to them, communicating with them, having open lines of communication. If something ever comes up in our building and we’re surprised by it, odds are we weren’t doing a good enough job communicating with them. And that’s our job.”

UCF GM details how Horace Lockett Jr. withdrew from portal

Defensive tackle Horace Lockett Jr. made a somewhat surprising choice to withdraw from the portal Jan. 5, an important move for the Knights after losing John Walker (Ohio State), Derrick LeBlanc (Maryland) and Rodney Lora (Purdue) along the interior.

Lockett made an impact in four games before suffering a season-ending pectoral tear. The 6-foot-6, 355-pound Atlanta native registered 13 tackles, three TFLs, one sack and two pass breakups.

On3 reported that Lockett took visits to Nebraska and Notre Dame, and lined up future trips for Ohio State, Ole Miss and South Carolina. Instead, he canceled those plans and re-signed with the Knights.

“I talked to his mother on Christmas Eve. We had a lot of phone calls and a lot of positive communication,” Mossbrucker said. “Horace’s goal is to play in the NFL. For him, continuity in Coach (Kenny) Martin and Coach (Alex) Grinch’s defense is a major piece of that — to go out and know what’s expected of him on a daily basis instead of guessing what’s expected of him by going to a different school.”

Lockett has two years of eligibility remaining; he missed the entire 2024 campaign at Georgia Tech with a hand injury. So the situation could arise again next January, but UCF will gladly kick the can down the road with the tradeoff of welcoming back a valued player at a premium position.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: UCF Knights football: Takeaways from Scott Frost, Trent Mossbrucker

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