Dr. Phillips class of 2023 offensive tackle Payton Kirkland had 40 college football scholarship offers heading into this week. One school that had, surprisingly, not offered the 6-foot-8, 315-pound prospect was UCF.
Enter new UCF head coach Gus Malzahn and everything changed. One of the first things Malzahn did Monday after his introductory news conference was get in touch with Kirkland.
Tuesday, Malzahn made it official. The Knights became the 41st offer for Kirkland, who earned another later in the day from Oregon to give him 42, so far.
“I’ve been talking to Coach Malzahn since they first announced he was going to be head coach,” said Kirkland, who posted the offer to his Twitter account at about 10 p.