Texas RB Frankie Arthur commits to UCF

UCF just landed their second boom of August.

Frankie Arthur, regarded as one of the top running backs in Texas, committed to the Knights on Monday. He had visited in late July for UCF's Knight Splash recruiting event.

Arthur, who attends Oak Ridge High School in Conroe near Houston, has a long offer list that includes Baylor, Georgia Tech, Houston, Indiana, Kansas, Louisville, Memphis, Missouri, Oregon, SMU, TCU and Texas Tech.

His top three included UCF, Oregon and Mizzou.

"I'm taking my talents to University of Central Florida," Arthur said in his announcement video posted to his Twitter account.

As a junior, Arthur carried the ball 159 times for 1,445 yards and 18 touchdowns. His brother also happens to be one of the best ever to play the position: Adrian Peterson.

Arthur's recruiter was UCF running backs coach Kam Martin, who is originally from Port Arthur, Tex. At UCF's recent Media Day, Martin spoke about strategically recruiting the Lone Star State.

"I'm a Texas kid," Martin said. "Broke records down there in Texas in track. Obviously going to the Big 12 helps us out with getting Texas guys. You gotta recruit Florida. Florida is where it's at. You get Florida and Texas kids on your team, the talent level will be out the roof."

UCF now has a trio of top running back commits between the next two classes - four-star Stacy Gage and Arthur in the 2024 class and four-star Taevion Swint in the 2025 class.

Without specifically referencing individual players, Martin spoke about his recruiting philosophy.

"When I first got here, I told Coach (Gus) Malzahn I'm going after the best guys in the country," Martin said. "I don't care if they have such and such offers or how many stars they have. We're gonna go get the best running backs in the country. I feel I've done a good job of getting the right guys here on campus and showing them the plan we have for them. I think we're doing a really good job. It's only going to get better. I'm super excited."

Arthur becomes UCF's 15th commitment in the Class of 2024.