UCF coach Gus Malzahn announced Sunday that the transfer of Ole Miss John Rhys Plumlee will start the season as the Golden Knights’ starting quarterback after playing as a wide receiver for the Rebels last season. Plumlee last started the game as a quarterback in 2019 as a freshman at Ole Miss, and he moved to UCF with the aim of reinstating his position.
To win the job, Plumlee will have to beat second student Mikey Keene, who started 10 games last season for the Knights following an injury starring Dillon Gabriel in game three of the season. Gabriel has since moved to Oklahoma, where he reunites with former UCF offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby. Keene hit 1,730 yards, 17 touchdowns and six interceptions on 63.6% passes while filling in for Gabriel, but he lacked the mobility Malzahn usually likes from his signalman during his eight-year run as head coach of Auburn.
Plumlee, on the other hand, is known for her athleticism, which she demonstrated while running 1,023 yards and 12 touchdowns from the Rebels position in 2019. Plumlee also plays on the field for the Ole Miss baseball team and is also listed on the UCF baseball roster.
UCF finished 9-4 in 2021 during Malzahn’s first year, closing the season with a Gasparilla Bowl win over Florida. The Knights were selected to finish third in the AAC in the 2022 league pre-season media poll but received seven of 24 possible first place votes and finished just behind Houston and Cincinnati in the poll.
Below are some takeaways as Plumlee returned in the bottom half to help potentially lead the Knights to the top of the league in 2022.
Comfortable choice
While Keene filled in quite admirably as a freshman last season following Gabriel’s injury, the former three-star prospect is not a Malzahn player. Keene signed with UCF under former coach Josh Heupel in December 2020, roughly two months before Malzahn was introduced. Read also : Travel to Hawaii should be slow now. Why isn’t it?. Plumlee, meanwhile, has had a relationship with Malzahn and UCF offensive coordinator Chip Lindsay since her recruitment as a member of the 2019 class. Plumlee initially committed to Georgia after Auburn Malzahn’s staff offered her a beneficiary.
Although the Tigers reportedly started changing their perception of Plumlee to see him as a quarterback later in his recruitment, he ended up at Ole Miss as a quarterback. Malzahn took a close look at Plumlee’s ability in 2019 position as Auburn won 20-14 over The Rebels. Plumlee ran 92 yards and a touchdown on 17 carry while also completing 11 of 21 passes in a 20-14 win in the game.
Back to the comfort zone
As Keene learns now, coaching changes that require significant changes in offensive schemes can change the calculus of where certain players fit in the depth chart. This may interest you : 2022 NBA offseason grades for all 30 teams: Celtics put on a masterclass; Lakers under siege; Wolves swing big. Such is the story of Plumlee in the midst of Ole Miss’s coaching transition from Matt Luke to Lane Kiffin after the 2019 season.
Although Plumlee had shown promise as a double-threat quarterback in his first season under Luke, Kiffin chose Matt Corral as the program’s starting quarterback. Plumlee backed Corral in the 2020 season until a full-time move to receivership ahead of the program’s 26-20 Outback Bowl win over Indiana that season.
Plumlee caught five passes for 73 yards in that game in a sign that perhaps his future could be bright in that position. But he struggled to carve out a regular role in 2021, finishing the year with 19 receptions for 201 yards. Now, Plumlee, is going back to her comfort zone in the position she likes.
“That’s where my heart has always grown,” Plumlee said in the spring. “That’s always what I love to do. To be able to do it again and to be able to come back to center back, it’s really a blessing and something I love to do.”
