Anderson: 'UCF is everything I want'
Otis Anderson laughed and said it was a coincidence that his commitment fell on St. Patrick's Day.
Nonetheless, the Jacksonville (Fla.) University Christian running back feels lucky to have the opportunity to further his career at UCF.
"UCF has a great coaching staff," Anderson said. "I had a big interest in them ever since I got the offer. I know they're going to take us places we haven't been. The offense just fits me perfectly. It's everything I really want in a college."
The Knights had been his leader for several weeks. After talking it over with his family, he decided now was the perfect time to announce. It just so happened that he's also UCF's first commit for 2017.
"I knew I was going to commit, but I didn't want to rush it," Anderson said. "The coaches didn't want me to rush either. They wanted me to take my time. That's one of the reasons I liked them so much. I had talked it over with my dad. He wants what's best for me. I decided that's where I want to be. My mom is ecstatic. She's been on social media all day, more than me. My dad is happy also. I think it was a pretty good move for me to make."
Anderson said he took the coaches by surprise when he called this morning. Sean Beckton, his recruiter, was busy in a special teams meeting so he connected with Ryan Held, who will be his running backs coach.
"I told him that I needed to call and tell him something," Anderson said. "He made sure Coach (Scott) Frost was around. He put the phone on speaker and I told them. I heard a lot of clapping in the background. They were excited."
At that point Frost picked up the phone and congratulated him on his decision.
"He was happy," Anderson said. "He said he really sees me excelling his this offense. He said they're lacking one thing on offense and that's speed. It's giving him a sense of not stressing as much now that he knows I committed. He knows there's going to be several more commitments coming up soon now that I've broken the ice to kick start the recruiting."
Anderson made a pair of visits to UCF in recent weeks. The first was on a Saturday after participating in the Rivals camp. He returned the following Friday as he was set to be in Orlando for a track meet.
"I didn't get to meet Coach Frost the first time because he was getting ready for his wedding," Anderson said. "On the second visit he was there and made sure to sit down and talked with me about stuff. He told me how important I was and why I'm so high on their list of recruits. It was a good day to finally meet him. I knew he was cool, but it gave me more assurance in how he was a players' coach."
Now that he's on board, Anderson is embracing the role of becoming a recruiter for UCF.
"I've been trying to pull Willie Wright and get him to commit," Anderson said. "I've been talking to him about it. He's going to take it into consideration. I know UCF is after a couple of my teammates. If they do offer, I know they'd be joining me in Orlando."
He'll likely return soon to attend a spring practice and maybe the spring game on April 16.
His focus now is on track and in a few weeks will begin his own spring football practice.
"Track is going pretty good," Anderson said. "I've been shaving down my times at every meet. I don't want to peak too early in the season. I'm working down. I'm in the 10s now. I'm trying to make sure I drop my time every race."
His personal best in the 100 meters is 10.88 seconds.
A future major could be sports medicine.
"I'm really looking at physical therapy," Anderson said. "Our football trainer graduated from UCF and he knows a lot about it. He told me UCF is pretty good. I can tell. I think that would be a good fit for me."
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