UCF running back Agyeman Addae sets sights high for Knights
Agyeman Addae doesn’t need to look far when it comes to what he wants to accomplish this season. The UCF running back points to a banner hanging in the Nicholson Fieldhouse that proudly commemorates the program’s three appearances in New Year’s Six bowl games.
“I want us to go back,” he said. “I want us to go even further than that … to go to a national championship.”
It’s been nearly seven years since the Knights’ last appearance in the 2019 Fiesta Bowl, but anybody who knows Addae wouldn’t be shocked by his bold prediction.
The 5-foot-9, 190-pound Addae has been proving people wrong throughout most of his life.
As a true freshman walk-on, Addae stepped up to the plate after Taevion Swint faced a season-ending surgery for a meniscus injury in fall camp and Stacy Gage went under the knife for a lower-leg injury he suffered against West Virginia on Oct. 18.
Addae quickly found himself on the field helping out as starters Jaden Nixon and Myles Montgomery , especially later in the season.
Although he finished with just 12 carries for 50 yards throughout the season, it was in the season finale at BYU on Nov. 29 that Addae truly shone. The Miami native delivered a standout performance with five receptions for 62 yards, including a 20-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter.
But it was a 4-yard touchdown pass to quarterback Tayven Jackson late in the third quarter that left people stunned.
“(I threw) a little bit in Little League, but not in high school,” Addae said of the pass.
“It was fun to get in there and show them what I could do and show the world what I could do, but that was just a flash of it and I hope to do more of it this year and in the coming years,” Addae added about last season.
UCF running backs coach Jimmy Beal offers nothing but praise for the job Addae did last season.
“His ability to understand the game, his maturity and his approach allowed him to get on the field because he knows his job. He knows the system,” Beal said.
The true freshman made a seamless transition from his days at Miami’s Columbus High School to college football in Orlando.
“It felt so natural,” Addae explained. “Columbus was run like a college. So, when I came here, it was like, ‘Dang, this is just like high school all over again, but just a little bigger.” So I felt comfortable going into it (the season).”
Beal has been so impressed with Addae as a person that he’s reached out to his father, Jahmile, who’s spent more than two decades as a coach and is currently the Miami Dolphins’ cornerbacks coach.
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“I’ve got my son and he’s 10, so I’m asking, ‘How do you do it? I need this knowledge,’ ” Beal said. “AG is kind of like my son. He has the ability, the mindset and a work ethic, and I love it for him.”
“My father is my everything,” Addae said. “My mom, too, but my dad has shown me how to be myself and how to take what he has done in the coaching world and apply it to myself to be a professional and a hard worker. My dad’s a really hard worker, and that’s one thing that’s translated from him to me.”
Father and son communicate frequently, especially about football.
“If I have a question, I’ll just hit him up and be like, ‘Dad, what do you think about this play? Do you think I could have done it better?’ ” Addae recalled.
UCF needed to restructure its running back unit with the departures of Montgomery and Nixon, so the Knights added a pair of transfers in Landen Chambers (Central Arkansas) and Duke Watson (Louisville), coupled with returners Swint, Addae and Chance Nixon. The unit also signed a pair of high school standouts in Kaj Baker and Arthur Lewis IV.
“Is there even a weakness?” Addae said. “We can do everything and that’s what makes our running back group so special. And in fact, the new running backs coming in here are getting it even faster than we did last year.”
Addae hopes to get bigger, stronger and faster before fall camp opens in August. Either way, he wants to do whatever is necessary to win games.
“I could do whatever you need,” he said. “I could throw the ball or run it in … I can do it all.”
Please find me on X, Bluesky or Instagram @osmattmurschel. Email: mmurschel@orlandosentinel.com . Sign up for the Sentinel’s Knights Weekly newsletter for a roundup of all our UCF coverage.
