John Rhys Plumlee will start at QB for UCF football, but who is waiting in the wings?

A mere three weeks separate UCF's football team from, arguably, the most anticipated regular season in its 27-year history since joining the Football Bowl Subdivision.

The Knights kick off their debut Big 12 adventure with a non-conference home date against Kent State at 7 p.m. on Aug. 31. The News-Journal has already previewed each of UCF's 12 opponents this coming fall, but the time has come to examine the Knights themselves.

Each of the team's positional groups will be put under the microscope in the lead-up to the regular season opener — beginning with quarterbacks.

John Rhys Plumlee will be the starter

Not that it really needed confirmation, but Knights coach Gus Malzahn declared Plumlee the starter on July 31, the first day of fall camp. He is one of the team's six captains, and was named to watch lists for the Davey O'Brien Award and the Maxwell Award.

"He's really picking it up vocally; everyone's listened to what he's got to say. … When you know you're the starting quarterback, it's a lot easier to pick up that leadership role, being the alpha dog for the team and saying, 'OK, come with me, match me,'" fellow captain and UCF tight end Alec Holler said.

Plumlee, a 6-foot, 200-pound fifth-year senior from Hattiesburg, Miss., won the job last August against incumbent Mikey Keene, who transferred to Fresno State following the conclusion of the 2022 regular season. Last fall, playing behind center for the first time since 2019 after three seasons at wide receiver for Ole Miss, Plumlee threw for 2,586 yards, 14 touchdowns and eight interceptions, and rushed for a team-high 861 yards and 11 scores.

More: 5 things to know about UCF starting QB John Rhys Plumlee

Named American Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Week three times, Plumlee endured his fair share of struggles against upper-level competition. He completed 53.6% of his attempts for 362 yards with no touchdowns and three picks across three starts against Power Five opponents (Louisville, Georgia Tech and Duke).

Malzahn has repeatedly used the phrase "night and day" to describe Plumlee's development in his second year with the program. Offensive coordinator Darin Hinshaw, hired in January, wants to push the ball vertically and has seen improved mechanics — footwork, in particular — since first working with Plumlee in the spring.

"He knew he had to improve, but he didn't know how," Hinshaw said. "Once it started to click, he (said), 'OK, I see it now, and I understand my footwork, and I understand why I'm throwing the ball off target.' … Towards the end of spring, it started to click. It got to where his confidence level started to (rise), and it led into the last scrimmage and the spring game.

"He made mistakes, but they were very limited versus a bunch of them that was inconsistency. Those mistakes have gotten smaller and smaller and smaller."

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Another major factor to monitor will be Plumlee's durability. He exited three conference games last fall with separate injuries — a concussion against Cincinnati (Oct. 29), shoulder soreness versus Navy (Nov. 19) and a hamstring pull during a second-quarter touchdown run at South Florida (Nov. 26).

Plumlee consistently played through pain, but his lack of mobility was apparent in the AAC championship game against Tulane (nine rushing attempts for minus-7 yards), and a key reason why the Knights fell short of a fifth league title. He will still run the ball on designed calls, Hinshaw said, but the goal will be to avoid as many scrambles and to let plays develop down the field on dropbacks and rollouts.

Timmy McClain likely leading QB2 race

Timmy McClain (6-1, 196, RSo., Sanford, Fla.)

When former South Florida coach Jeff Scott elected to roll with Gerry Bohanon last August, Sanford native McClain entered the transfer portal, moved closer to home and redshirted for the entire season under NCAA rules.

McClain made nine starts for the Bulls in 2021 as a true freshman, completing 55.3% of his attempts for 1,888 yards with five touchdowns and seven interceptions. The 6-1, 196-pounder threw for 222 yards and rushed for a 5-yard TD in a season-ending loss at UCF, but was sacked by Tre'mon Morris-Brash on 2nd-and-goal from the 3-yard line in the dying seconds of regulation.

A four-year starter and state champion at nearby Seminole High, McClain entered the spring third on the depth chart, but true sophomore Thomas Castellanos made a surprising decision to transfer to Boston College. He's ahead of the rest of the QB2 contenders at the moment due to his experience and familiarity with the system after working through spring ball.

"Timmy's got a long way to go to continue to perfect the position and to be an elite quarterback, which he can be," Hinshaw said. "I tell him that, and I'm constantly on him about leadership, all the qualities needed to play the position and communicating better … and he's doing a good job. He's really embracing it."

Xavier Williams highlights the rest of the pack

• Xavier Williams (6-2, 200, RSo., McDonough, Ga.)

• Dylan Rizk (6-2, 205, Fr., Delray Beach, Fla.)

• Gunnar Smith (6-4, 205, RFr., Lake Mary, Fla.)

• Brock Hansel (5-10, 160, RFr., Lake Worth, Fla.)

Once Castellanos departed, UCF was left with just three scholarship quarterbacks on the roster for 2023. Malzahn filled the vacancy with intel from one of his new analysts, former Charlotte head coach Will Healy.

Williams played in six games for the 49ers during a turbulent 2022 campaign, making one start. He recorded the team's longest run of the year, a 67-yard touchdown against William & Mary, and threw for 420 yards in total with two touchdowns and two interceptions.

"We wanted another quarterback to come in here that has played games," Hinshaw said. "You saw him in two drives against Maryland, and scoring against different teams, and he's a quarterback that has the potential to be pretty darn good."

UCF can play Williams — and McClain, for that matter — in mop-up duty without being concerned with burning a redshirt year, an issue that cropped up last season while protecting Castellanos' eligibility.

Rizk stuck by the verbal commitment he made to UCF last April and enrolled over the summer. Hinshaw recruited the Cardinal Gibbons grad while at UAB.

"The way he fires the ball, his attitude, his work ethic, who he is and who his family is. When I heard he committed to UCF, I was like, 'Well, if I'm not going to get him, at least my alma mater got him,'" Hinshaw said.

Smith, similar to McClain, returned closer to his Seminole County hometown after a year at USF — though he does so as a preferred walk-on. Hansel, who steered Park Vista to a 7-3 record with nine touchdown passes as a senior, is in his second year with the Knights.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: UCF Knights football: John Rhys Plumlee leads deep quarterback group