Fans filed into CFE Arena Friday afternoon to kick off the Knights fall football campaign.
Officially the season begins on August 30th in Dublin, Ireland against Penn State but with the bagpipers, Irish step dancers and leprechauns the Kick-Off Luncheon brought the Irish tradition and hopefully luck home early to Orlando.
“Well I don’t know about that Irish luck, I think you make your own luck but I was trying to get the fans excited about the game in Ireland,” UCF Football coach George O’Leary said.
“Most of these people are probably going over to it and stuff so you know, I thought it was great. The dancers have been great and the whole theme has been outstanding.”
The luncheon was just the first event of the day to celebrate the Knights stretch to opening day—later tonight the team will be hosting a Fan Fest from 6:00pm-9:00pm at Bright House Networks Stadium.
“It’s very exciting to come here and see all these people who really want to see you succeed,” senior wide receiver J.J. Worton said. “It means a lot for us players to come out and see all these people—that really care about you"
"All we want to do is come out and represent UCF the best we can to show them all their support isn’t going unnoticed.”
Click on the video link to hear more from Coach George O'Leary, Center Joey Grant and WR J.J. Worton.