UCF quarterback battle: Gus Malzahn offers latest on KJ Jefferson, Jacurri Brown

UCF Knights head coach Gus Malzahn shared that quarterback Jacurri Brown will take the first team reps in practice this week. This comes after Malzahn made the decision to bench KJ Jefferson against Cincinnati.

Despite that, Malzahn also made it clear that the quarterback position is undetermined moving forward.

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UCF brought in KJ Jefferson as a transfer from Arkansas this offseason. He has plenty of experience, having played in 44 games while with the Razorbacks and finding plenty of success there. However, it’s been a struggle at UCF, and in five games this season he’s completing 59.3 percent of his passes for 1,012 passes and seven touchdowns to four interceptions. He’s also rushed for 193 yards and two touchdowns.

Amid a difficult stretch for UCF and with the offense struggling to score or consistently pass the ball, Gus Malzahn chose to start freshman EJ Colson. However, after he struggled early, he was benched for Jacurri Brown.

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Brown played fairly well in relief of Colson, completing 13 of 20 passes for 207 yards and a touchdown. He also ran for 84 yards. However, that was in a losing effort with the Knights falling after a difficult week that had been impacted by Hurricane Milton.

UCF has now lost three games in a row and has fallen to 3-3 overall on the season. In their last two games, they’ve failed to score more than 13 points and are averaging just 15.6 points per game during that stretch.

The Knights are currently 90th in passing offense in FBS football. That’s right between former AAC foes Tulsa and Temple in the rankings. They’re averaging just 205.8 passing yards per game.

Jacurri Brown, like KJ Jefferson, is a transfer into the UCF program. He came from Miami where he spent two seasons, using one year of eligibility. Coming out of high school, he was a four-star recruit in the Class of 2022 according to the On3 Industry Ranking. He was the 18th-ranked quarterback in that cycle.

EJ Colson is a three-star recruit from the Class of 2024, who reclassified into that cycle from the Class of 2025. At 17 years old, he became UCF’s youngest starting quarterback in history in the game against Cincinnati, though it was a brief performance. Also on the roster are Dylan Rizk and Riley Trujillo. Rizk made an appearance this season, though both of those quarterbacks are young without much in-game experience.

Next up is going to be a major test for UCF and they travel to Ames for a game against Iowa State.