UCF running back Agyeman Addae sets sights high for Knights

UCF running backs coach Jimmy Beal offers nothing but praise for the job Addae did last season.

“His ability to understand the game, his maturity and his approach allowed him to get on the field because he knows his job. He knows the system,” Beal said.

The true freshman made a seamless transition from his days at Miami’s Columbus High School to college football in Orlando.

“It felt so natural,” Addae explained. “Columbus was run like a college. So, when I came here, it was like, ‘Dang, this is just like high school all over again, but just a little bigger.” So I felt comfortable going into it (the season).”

Beal has been so impressed with Addae as a person that he’s reached out to his father, Jahmile, who’s spent more than two decades as a coach and is currently the Miami Dolphins’ cornerbacks coach.

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“I’ve got my son and he’s 10, so I’m asking, ‘How do you do it? I need this knowledge,’ ” Beal said. “AG is kind of like my son. He has the ability, the mindset and a work ethic, and I love it for him.”

“My father is my everything,” Addae said. “My mom, too, but my dad has shown me how to be myself and how to take what he has done in the coaching world and apply it to myself to be a professional and a hard worker. My dad’s a really hard worker, and that’s one thing that’s translated from him to me.”

Father and son communicate frequently, especially about football.

“If I have a question, I’ll just hit him up and be like, ‘Dad, what do you think about this play? Do you think I could have done it better?’ ” Addae recalled.

UCF needed to restructure its running back unit with the departures of Montgomery and Nixon, so the Knights added a pair of transfers in Landen Chambers (Central Arkansas) and Duke Watson (Louisville), coupled with returners Swint, Addae and Chance Nixon. The unit also signed a pair of high school standouts in Kaj Baker and Arthur Lewis IV.

“Is there even a weakness?” Addae said. “We can do everything and that’s what makes our running back group so special. And in fact, the new running backs coming in here are getting it even faster than we did last year.”

Addae hopes to get bigger, stronger and faster before fall camp opens in August. Either way, he wants to do whatever is necessary to win games.

“I could do whatever you need,” he said. “I could throw the ball or run it in … I can do it all.”

Please find me on X, Bluesky or Instagram @osmattmurschel. Email: mmurschel@orlandosentinel.com. Sign up for the Sentinel’s Knights Weekly newsletter for a roundup of all our UCF coverage.