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Knights coach George O'Leary talks about his UCF football team Watch »

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TAMPA — For Central Florida coach George O’Leary, 2008 will be a season of moving forward.

The Knights were rocked by the death of former Lely High standout Ereck Plancher during an offseason workout.

On the depth charts, UCF running back Kevin Smith, who set the Conference USA career rushing record last season with 4,864 yards, left school early for the NFL Draft, and last season’s starting quarterback, Kyle Israel, graduated, leaving UCF searching for answers on offense.

"I don’t know if you can replace Kevin. ... I’ll go back to what I do most times and go back to two or three running backs that can go out there and do what needs to get done," O’Leary said Thursday morning at his Florida Sports Writers Association college football media day press conference. "I think that Kevin had a lot to do with putting UCF on the map, especially last season."

While O’Leary is confident a running back by committee approach will work for him this season, he plans to make a definite decision in the preseason as to which signal-caller will be taking the snaps when the Knights open Aug. 30 at home against South Carolina State.

"I think that everyone talks about Kyle Israel and a lot of people remember the bad things, but he won 10 games for us last season, but we have two guys coming up in the ranks in Mike Greco and Joe Weatherford that have the ability to do the same thing," O’Leary said. "I don’t like double-quarterback situations, I think once you make a decision on your quarterback, I think that has to be your guy chemistry-wise."

Defensively, UCF hopes to be just as strong as it was last season with standout cornerback Joe Burnett returning to anchor the secondary and Naples High grad Cory Hogue maintaining the linebacker corps. Burnett is second all-time on the UCF career interceptions list with 12 heading into his senior season, while Hogue figures to call the shots in the middle on defense and may spend some time on the weak side as well.

After winning the Conference USA title last season, the Knights’ 2008 conference schedule doesn’t seem overwhelming, but UCF plays rival South Florida in the second week of the season, followed by Boston College and Miami within four weeks of each other.

O’Leary, who had high hopes for the program when he took it over four seasons ago, thinks that even with the transition in the offensive backfield, UCF has earned a place in the conversation with Florida’s elite teams.

"I think that we are getting better; maybe not by yards — by feet, but I think the big thing is that we have to continue to win," he said. "It’s not one good year then down again. I think it’s one year and keep climbing, and I think that is what good teams do is they reload."