FILE - UCF head coach Scott Frost speaks during the Big 12 NCAA college football media days in Frisco, Texas, Tuesday, July 8, 2025. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Scott Frost returned to UCF to find a motto of his first tenure still adorning the walls eight years later.

"Rise and conquer."

Frost coached UCF to its best season in program history in 2017, when the undefeated Knights — snubbed from the four-team playoff — finished the season No. 6 in the AP poll as the only team to receive first-place votes alongside national champion Alabama.

Now competing in the Big 12, and coming off back-to-back losing seasons, the Knights have turned to Frost to restore a culture they've been clinging onto since he left.

“Success is progress,” Frost said. “Sometimes it happens slower than you want, sometimes it happens faster than you want. But we have a saying around here that is still up on the walls when I got back from the first time: ‘Rise and conquer.’”

Frost took over a winless UCF in 2015, turning an 0-12 team into a 13-0 juggernaut in two seasons.

He then left for Nebraska, where he went 16-31 and was fired during his fifth season.

"I think more than anything, he has just grown,” said McKenzie Milton, UCF's quarterbacks coach and a former player for Frost. “That’s what you can do with experiences in life. You can either grow from them or regress from them.”

Finding a starting quarterback

UCF went through four different starters under center last year and attacked the transfer portal to find an answer.

As camp has progressed, it remains a three-player battle between FAU transfer Cam Fancher, Jacurri Brown, and Indiana transfer Tayven Jackson.

“It’s definitely been a healthy competition,” Fancher said. “I would say all the guys in the room are trying to push each other to be the best every day.”

Brown, a junior, started three games last season for the Knights and nearly led them to an upset over Iowa State.

Fancher has the most experience of the three, throwing for 5,294 yards in his career. Jackson has thrown for 1,300 yards in 16 career games.

UCF's revamped roster

When the Knights began their meetings in the spring and summer, the first task was to introduce everybody.

As has become the norm in college football, when a coach departs a program, it begins a mass exodus. The Knights brought in nearly 70 players.

It is a true fresh start for a team that finished 4-8 last season, its second in the Big 12.

“Almost a completely new team, not a lot of expectations, and I really like taking off from that place,” Frost said. “I think our guys have a chip on their shoulders and get to work to prove to people they are better than what they are expecting.”

John Walker’s return

Most of UCF's returning strength is along its defensive line. And the Knights should get a boost from defensive tackle John Walker's return.

Walker missed all of the 2024 season with a meniscus tear after a standout freshman year in 2023, when he recorded 24 tackles and five tackles for loss.

Strength on the ground

Last year, UCF ranked fifth in the nation in rushing yards with 248.1 per game. A lot of that was on the back of RJ Harvey, the program's No. 2 all-time rusher who was selected in the second round of the NFL draft by the Denver Broncos.

The Knights should still be good on the ground with returning back Myles Montgomery (293 yards, four total touchdowns last year), Western Michigan transfer Jaden Nixon (919 yards) and freshman Taevion Swint.

UCF football schedule

The Knights open the season Aug. 28 against Jacksonville State. They will face Bill Belichick and North Carolina in Orlando on Sept. 20. The schedule features a Big 12 opener at Kansas State and home games against Kansas, West Virginia, Houston and Oklahoma State.

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