Former Auburn football HC Gus Malzahn named former Tigers target John Rhys Plumlee the starting quarterback for UCF in 2022 (Photo by Alex Menendez/Getty Images)
Auburn football: Gus Malzahn names John Rhys Plumlee UCF QB1
Former Auburn football HC Gus Malzahn has named a starting quarterback for his second season roaming the UCF sidelines as the Knights’ leading play-caller — that’d be former Tigers target John Rhys Plumlee, who transferred to Central Florida this offseason after three years in Oxford.
During his time with Ole Miss, Plumlee converted from a QB his freshman season to a receiver the following two to facilitate the ascension of Matt Corral to a Second-team All-SEC signal-caller who led the Rebels to a 10-win season.
Plumlee had 16 all-purpose touchdowns to just three interceptions during his lone campaign as a quarterback under Matt Luke. When Lane Kiffin came along, Plumlee became a receiver who wasn’t targeted much his sophomore year but reeled in 19 receptions for 201 yards in 2021.
Plumlee was high on the opportunity to become a QB once again after spending two years away from the position:
“That’s where my heart’s always been growing up. It’s always what I loved to do. To be able to do it again and to be able to get back behind center, it’s truly a blessing and something I love to do.”
The former Auburn football championship QB coach for Cam Newton, Gus Malzahn, tweeted out the announcement of John Rhys Plumlee being UCF’s QB1
Excited to announce @PlumleeJohn as our starting quarterback! #ChargeOn
— Coach Gus Malzahn (@CoachGusMalzahn) August 21, 2022
Plumlee beat out sophomore signal-caller Mikey Keene, who threw for 1,730 yards, 17 touchdowns and six interceptions on 63.6% passing during the 2022 campaign in the wake of Dillon Gabriel’s season-ending injury.
Plumlee ran for 92 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries while also completing 11 of 21 passes in Ole Miss’ 20-14 loss to Auburn football at Jordan-Hare Stadium back in 2019.
The Hattiesburg product has a massive chance to be the QB that leads UCF into the Big 12 in 2023 should he decide to exercise his extra COVID year of eligibility — a near certainty considering he became a Knight in order to start under center once again.
