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Gus Malzahn, UCF announce bizarre NIL approach to ID players during spring game

275133747_4796292347117549_592518599057046758_nby:Jonathan Wagner•04/15/22•

Jonathan Wagner

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Andrew Bershaw/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

When the UCF Knights take the field for their spring game on Saturday, they will have a unique look. UCF announced on Friday that in the spring game, players will be donning custom QR codes on the back of their jerseys in place of the traditional number. The QR code will link back to the player’s profile on the UCF athletics website.

On the UCF website, each player will have links to their social media profiles. This innovative approach to the spring game further emphasizes the changing times across college athletics in the NIL era.

This approach is not the first of its kind for UCF in the NIL era. Last spring, UCF geared up for its spring game with different looking unforms, just like this year. Last spring game, though, Knights players had their Twitter handles on the back of their jerseys on their nameplates.

Guz Malzahn on UCF’s unique approach to their spring game uniforms

Things obviously look drastically different right now across college sports than they did a couple of years ago. With players now able to profit off of their Name, Image, and Likeness, the game has been completely changed. UCF head coach Guz Malzahn has seen those changes come by firsthand.

UCF has tried to embrace the evolving times under Malzahn, and now these types of things are par for the course in college sports.

“Last year, we put Twitter handles on our jerseys. I was like, ‘What the heck am I doing?’” Malzahn said, via Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger. “We wanted to be the school that embraced it. At the old traditional schools, there’s a lot of dynamics. Yeah, they’re for it but really, they’re not for it. We are a school that can fully embrace it—the young school, social media. It fits with us.

“It was a little weird early on. Now it’s not. Now it’s part of the job description.”

Last season was the first for Malzahn at UCF. In his first year, he led the Knights to an overall record of 9-4, including a 5-3 mark against AAC opponents. UCF wrapped up the season with a victory over the Florida Gators in the Gasparilla Bowl.