In January after the dust settled with the transfer portal, Scott Frost's new staff shifted their focus to high school recruiting.

Quarterbacks coach McKenzie Milton evaluated players all over the country and honed in on Kane Archer of Greenwood, Ark., who received UCF's first 2026 QB offer.

"I remember Coach KZ hit my cell, I think it was January 17," Archer recalled. "He came out here during the winter and it really felt like I was important because he was one of the first ones to come and see me. He'd only been there for like two or three weeks. He had just left Tennessee and was moving his family back to Florida, but he took the time to fly out and visit me. The relationship has been really, really good."

Conversations continued and plans were made for Archer and his father to visit UCF this past week, March 13-14.

"I absolutely loved it," Archer said.

The itinerary was almost official-visit like, with meetings set up so Archer could get the full UCF experience from academics to football. He essentially shadowed UCF's quarterbacks, sitting in on meetings and then observed Friday's spring practice.

"We got to the facility on Friday at 7:45 where we were able to sit in on QB meetings for about 45 minutes before heading out to the field," Archer said. "I stood by Coach KZ basically for the entire practice out there on the field. He was talking me through stuff. I was just trying to get a feel for how it would be if I was there.

"I was highly impressed with what I saw. The offense is really balanced. And as far as everything else, UCF has the most complete campus I've been too. I really like UCF a lot."