Hudanick excited to see UCF

If all goes well, Tyler Hudanick could be a Knight by the end of the weekend.

Calling UCF his No. 1 school, the offensive tackle from Pennsylvania says he's excited to see it all for himself when he arrives Friday for the beginning of his official visit.

"We have midterms this week, Monday through Thursday, and Friday is like a makeup day so I won't really be missing anything," Hudanick said. "My parents are coming with me. We're all really excited to get out of this PA weather for a weekend."

He attends Seneca Valley High School, north of Pittsburgh, whose residents were greeted today by high temperatures in the 20s. The forecast in Orlando on Saturday is sunny and 72.

"We actually had a two-hour delay (on Monday) for school because the roads were pretty bad," Hudanick said. "We got a good layer of snow last night."

The big news around UCF this week is the coaching shuffles for 2015. Hudanick's recruiter, Allen Mogridge, would be now be his future position coach after coaching tight ends for a year.

"Yeah, Coach Mo became the OL guy," Hudanick said. "He called me after school today and we talked about that. We talked about the visit a little bit. He's pumped. The old OL guy (Brent Key) is the offensive coordinator now, so that's pretty cool."

Out of all of the coaches recruiting him, Hudanick has the longest relationship with Mogridge.

"He was at Temple two years ago when I went to their camp," Hudanick said. "It was after my sophomore season and I was going into my junior year. He loved me there and they ended up offering. Then he left to go to UCF. I guess you could say he's been the first love. He calls me once a week and we message on Twitter every day. Real cool guy."

He was high on UCF already, but Mogridge becoming his position coach makes him like it even more.

"I know what kind of coach he is," Hudanick said. "He gets after it. Gets all the guys going. Real personable. I know the tempo he runs. I'm real excited. I'm glad he's the OL guy. I'm glad to eventually be able to work with him."

This will be his first trip to UCF, though not the first time in Orlando. The family visited Disney World when Hudanick was in elementary school.

"I know the basics," Hudanick said. "I know about their coaches. They had a good year, won the conference championship, but obviously they wanted to go further. Definitely a solid winning football team. Great university. Big university. I'm excited to go check it out and learn a little bit more."

He followed UCF's season as much as he could. He missed seeing the Justin Holman to Breshad Perriman Hail Mary at East Carolina that clinched the conference championship, but obviously saw the replay many times.

"I have a buddy who goes to Central Catholic and he texts me, 'Bro, you should commit after that play.' That was crazy."

A torn meniscus slowed the 6-foot-5, 290-pounder as a senior, but he'll be fully recovered by the time he enrolls at a college next summer.

"I've been seeing a physical therapist to keep the strength up. It's a great place. (Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver) Antonio Brown was walking in tonight as I was leaving. It's not causing me any problems. I'm 95 percent. I'll be ready to go."

Hudanick visited UConn in December, but right now is totally fixated on UCF.

"Right now I'm excited to go check it out this week," he said. "No doubt, UCF is the frontrunner."

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