ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) – Now in the final week of spring practice, Monday morning marked the final time in full pads for the Knights before Saturday's UCFastival, and the competition was at an all-time high.
"It was offense versus defense," UCF head coach Scott Frost said. "We were trying to get them in situations to embrace competition. It was the best our team has embraced it [this spring] and it was fun to watch."
"I thought we were locked in," sophomore quarterback McKenzie Milton said. "Both offense and defense competed well. I thought today was a good practice for us as we get ready for Saturday."
Saturday's UCFastival and Spring Game will be an all-day event starting at 11 a.m. and will include food truck wars and a Lauren Alaina concert. The Knights will kick off at 6:30 p.m. inside Spectrum Stadium and they're ready to get after it in front of their fans.
"The best way to stay healthy is to go full speed, so we're going to be live in the spring game and we're going to get after it," Frost said.
"We're ready," Milton added. "We've put a lot of work in the film room and a lot of work on the field during the spring, so I think we've made a lot of strides and we'll be ready to show it off to the fans on Saturday."
Building off of the energy from last week, Frost praised the offense's improvement again on Monday.
"Today it was the same thing. The offense is competing better," he said. "We had a bunch of guys on defense last year who loved to compete. We have them again this year, but we're starting to find them on offense [as well]. If we can do that as a whole team, we're going to be a better team."
"We have more of an edge to us when we take the field," Milton said of the offense. "We have a purpose. We know our assignments, so now it's just about moving full speed and doing our jobs. When we can do that we're a really good offense."