Osceola duo John Walker, Ja'Keem Jackson headline UCF's first 2023 official visit weekend

UCF will roll out the red carpet for recruits starting Friday, its first weekend of official visits for the graduating class of 2023.

Four of the Knights' six verbal commits — a class currently ranked 29th in the nation by 247Sports' composite scores — booked their trips to Orlando. In addition, several top targets will waste no time checking in with the impending Big 12 program, perhaps most notably a pair of potential "hometown heroes" from Kissimmee Osceola.

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Defensive lineman John Walker and defensive back Ja'Keem Jackson have been heavily scouted by the Knights throughout this spring. Osceola will enter the fall as one of the prohibitive state championship favorites in the reconfigured 4S (Suburban) classification.

Walker, a consensus four-star prospect, would be the highest-ranked recruit in program history — holding a 247Sports composite grade of 0.9556, the 92nd overall player for the '23 class.

UCF cracked Walker's top-5 list back in December and remains near the top of his list of preferred schools. The 6-foot-3, 310-pound force of nature will take trips to USC, Michigan and Ohio State this month.

Walker attributes the connection he has made with defensive line coaches Kenny Martin and Kenny Ingram as one of the primary reasons for his interest in the Knights.

"We have a good bond," Walker said. "I'll just be over there (on unofficial visits) hanging out with them sometimes because they're like 30 minutes up the road. We talk about football and life. They're some good dudes."

For context's sake, UCF has signed a total of 15 four-star recruits over the past two decades, according to 247Sports records — most recently Apopka cornerback Nikai Martinez last December. DeMarcus Johnson, signed in 2002 out of Southwest (Miss.) Community College, still stands as the Knights' top-ranked athlete ever (0.9333).

Jackson, meanwhile, has seen his stock skyrocket since shifting into the secondary from wide receiver. Blessed with ball skills and tantalizing length, Jackson (6-1, 180) also plans to take official visits to Penn State, Iowa State and Tennessee.

"It was a long process, but every time I saw them before they offered me, it was like family," Jackson said. "I was happy when they came out and offered me, but they contacted me every day. They just said they needed to see me in person."

Gus Malzahn and his staff repeatedly struck gold in their backyard during the 2022 class. The Knights landed nine players within a roughly 2-hour radius from campus, including Martinez, the Seminole trio of Demari Henderson, Ja'Cari Henderson and Kam Moore, Buchholz wide receiver Quan Lee, Berkeley Prep running back Xavier Townsend (Iowa State flip) and Lakeland defensive end Keahnist Thompson.

Malzahn stated his intentions from his opening press conference to compete for elite players from and establish strongholds in Florida, Georgia and Alabama. So far, five of their six commits hail from those three states and the lone exception — Kernersville (N.C.) East Forsyth tight end Jayvontay Conner — attended Opelika High in Alabama in 2021.

Of course, UCF has more to offer than ever before. The Knights are joining the Big 12 Conference as early as next year and, according to a report in the Orlando Business Journal, could soon spend up to $4.8 million to start design for its proposed $125 million, multi-phased renovation of the Bounce House and its surrounding facilities.

According to UCF's media guide, only five players in program history call Kissimmee their hometown. Chad Mascoe is the last known Kowboy to suit up for the Knights on scholarship, though he — like DeMarcus Johnson — attended Southwest C.C. first.

Landing either or both of Walker and Jackson would not only be a coup for the Knights from a talent perspective, but potentially also the establishment of a pipeline for a long-ignored program on the fringes of Orlando.

Here is a full list of expected attendees for the Knights' opening weekend of official visits.

Commits

• Apopka edge rusher Kaven Call

• Kernersville (N.C.) East Forsyth tight end Jayvontay Conner

• Savannah (Ga.) Calvary Day linebacker Troy Ford Jr.

• Cardinal Gibbons quarterback Dylan Rizk

Targets

• Cartersville (Ga.) offensive lineman Johnathan Cline

• Kennesaw (Ga.) North Cobb offensive lineman RJ Grigsby

• Fairburn (Ga.) Langston Hughes defensive lineman Joshua Horton

• Osceola defensive back Ja'Keem Jackson

• Miami Central wide receiver Lamar Seymore (Miami commit)

• Osceola defensive lineman John Walker

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Kissimmee Osceola duo John Walker, Ja'Keem Jackson taking official visit to UCF on June 3 weekend