UCF Flips Four-Star EDGE, Florida Commit Isaiah Nixon
UCF flipped a Florida commit on national signing day, as four-star edge rusher Isaiah Nixon announced he would commit to the Knights for the Class of 2023.
Hayes Fawcett of On3.com broke the flip.
UCF is one of four schools that is preparing to make a move to the Big 12 Conference on July 1, 2023. The others are Cincinnati, BYU, and Houston. All four are recruiting off their impending membership in the Big 12 for the second straight recruiting cycle. The four schools agreed to join the league last September, in the wake of Oklahoma and Texas announcing they would move to the SEC no later than the 2025 football season.
Flipping Nixon is significant for the Knights, based in Orlando and set in one of the top recruiting hotbeds in the nation. The Knights are surrounded by name-brand Power 5 schools — Florida, Florida State, and Miami (FL).
Nixon, a 6-foot-4, 215-pound edge rusher out of Lakewood High School in St. Petersburg, Fla., had plenty of options. He was committed to Florida in the summer but changed his mind on Wednesday.
“I had a way better relationship with the coaches at UCF than I did at Florida,” he told Fawcett.
Nixon was considered a four-star player by On3 and a three-star player by 247Sports.com. Andrew Ivins at 247Sports.com projects Nixon as a Power 5 Starter, calling him a “lean edge defender that uses his elite short-area quickness to redirect and make plays behind the line of scrimmage.”
UCF, led by head coach Gus Malzahn, went 9-4 in its final season in the American Athletic Conference. The Knights lost to Tulane in the ACC title game and will play Duke in the Military Bowl on Dec. 28.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard
