Never in their history have the Knights faced an SEC team on their home turf.
All that changes in 2013, which is the announced year for a home-and-home series between U. Central Florida and South Carolina. The Gamecocks will travel to Orlando on Sept. 28 to take on the Knights.
The State, a Columbia newspaper, first reported the agreement Friday. USC associate athletic director Charles Waddell likes to move for the Gamecocks.
“To get Coach back down there, other than in Gainesville, had some appeal for the people there at Central (Florida),” Waddell told the paper, referring to Gamecocks head coach Steve Spurrier. “Coach was OK with doing the game, and it fit with what we were trying to do.”
UCF will then play against the Gamecocks on their home turf on Sept. 26, 2015. The Knights last played South Carolina back in 2005, when they lost 24-15 in Spurrier’s first game as head coach.
Prior to that, the Knights also dropped the previous two meetings with the Gamecocks, falling 33-31 in 1997 and 33-14 in 1996.
The South Carolina game is one of two games already slated for the 2013 season, with the Knights also expected to travel down to FIU to face the Golden Panthers.
Football recruiting
The Knights made moves for on the field as well this weekend, locking up two big recruits for the 2011 signing class.
New Jersey tight end Kevin Miller committed to the Knights on Thursday. The 6-foot-4, 241-pound athlete played both ways in high school.
According to the Orlando Sentinel, Miller also received offers from Maryland, West Virginia and Rutgers.
“We took a little time,” Miller told the Sentinel. “They offered me over spring break. We took a few months to think about it because it’s a huge decision. I feel like UCF was the school where I clicked.
“I clicked with the coaches the best. I know it’s a school where I’d get a great education. I thought about it and realized that no matter who else offered me a scholarship, I really wanted to go to UCF.”
Another player that set his sights on enrolling at UCF in the summer of 2011 was Lake Brantley’s Joey Grant.
The 6-foot-4, 255-pound defensive end had offers from schools like Colorado State, Navy and Conference USA rival East Carolina, but he decided to stay local and play for the Knights.
“I’ve been talking to [UCF] for a while, visited over there a couple of times. I really like the coaches and the players, coaches’ interaction with the players,” Grant told the Sentinel.
“Just the whole atmosphere.”