Gus Malzahn Talks Seizing the Moment at Media Day

UCF held its annual football media day on Thursday afternoon. Key players, assistant coaches, and head coach, Gus Malzahn, were open for questions from the media. Coach Malzahn covered a range of topics from team building, to NIL, to the budding quarterback competition. But the overarching theme for Malzahn all came back to the team’s motto, “seize the moment.”

Coming off a 9-4 season in 2021, Malzahn and his staff have brought in a top 50 recruiting class, one of the best to date, and 16 players from the transfer portal. UCF has all the pieces in place to have a big season, and those around the program understand that this is a significant year for the Knights, with this being their final season in the AAC before moving into the Big 12. Malzahn and his staff were rocking the Big 12 logo on the sleeve of their UCF polos, but the head coach made sure to note that despite all the excitement around the program’s future, the focus of his players and staff is going to be on the upcoming season. Malzahn said, “We got to seize the moment on the field…everything is set up, we just got to win. We got to win on the field, and our guys understand that.”

When talking about the potential for distraction within the program regrading their future in the Big 12, Malzahn added, “They’re focused on this season. They’re focused on the first game and its one game at a time. We’re not going to be distracted by anything, as far as next year.” It’s safe to say the UCF coaching staff and players will be putting all their energy into finishing off strong in their final season as members of the AAC.

Photo credit: Cameron Robertson/FAAZ Sports