O’Leary shows confidence in Calabrese to be starter

In a press conference Tuesday, Head Coach George O'Leary, along with seniors Bruce Miller and Jah Reid, addressed the media about the upcoming season and the opener against South Dakota, Saturday.

After a competitive period of fall practice, O'Leary feels his team is ready to head into the regular season.

"We're coming off a good preseason as far as production is concerned, injuries, and chemistry of the football team," O'Leary said. "Obviously, they are at the stage where they are tired of hitting themselves and want to hit a different color jersey. They're looking forward to the weekend."

The weekend ahead pits the Knights against an Football Championship Series opponent in South Dakota.

The Coyotes were 5-5 in 2009. They have not played an FBS opponent since Wyoming in 1984.

"[South Dakota is] a good football team," said Miller. "One thing that we picked up on when we were watching film was that they're a lot of the same team we are. They bring effort, especially with their special teams and offense ... we've seen a lot of ‘effort guys' on the field that want to make plays."

The past two season openers have not been easy for UCF, each against FCS programs like South Dakota.

In 2008, the Knights won a 17-0 game against South Carolina State and last year they escaped with a 28-24 victory over Samford. Reid addressed what might need to happen in this upcoming matchup to avoid a similar slow start.

"Coaches always say don't go out there and be shocked when everything is flying by," Reid said. "It's game speed. It's faster than a practice and they want us to come out, start strong and finish strong."

Several position battles were waged throughout fall camp, perhaps none more hyped than the quarterback battle between Rob Calabrese and Jeffrey Godfrey. O'Leary named Calabrese the opening-day starter in a Conference USA media teleconference Monday, but insists both signal callers will see the field.

"(Jeff) is going to play. There will be two or three quarterbacks hopefully we'll get into the game," he said. "I said early I thought he would be in the game plan. Whether Rob is doing real well or not doing well, Godfrey will be in the game."

One particular competition was created due to injury. Despite a quick offseason-recovery for running back Brynn Harvey, the junior is still expected to be out until mid-September. Sophomore Brendan Kelly started camp on top of the depth chart, but sophomore Jonathan Davis has risen to the top spot at RB heading into Saturday.

"He's become more of a leader out there," said Reid. "He's a great athlete and he's so motivating out there on the field. I love it when he's in the huddle. He's so up-tempo. He just wants to run the rock."

Overall, Coach O'Leary has been pleased with the competition that has led to the roster shakeup.

"I think part of a coach's job is to create competition," he said. "You want guys looking over their shoulder. I think the big thing is you create competition at every position because you know the old saying you either get better or you get worse. I think when you have competition, they are going to get better or their going to get replaced."

O'Leary certainly doesn't like the prospects of playing an opponent as severe an underdog as South Dakota is. With the experience of the last two years under most of the players' belts, they know not to overlook their opening matchup.

Miller knows that they are a long way away from the end of the season.

"We do know that if we look ahead that it can come back and bite us."