Mark Pszonak contributed to this report.
The transfer portal never stops grinding. UCF linebacker Eriq Gilyard, who had been a starter and had played in 35 games with the Knights, surprisingly entered the portal on Wednesday.
Recruiting: Gilyard took official visits to UCF and NC State during his senior season before committing to the Knights a week after returning home from Orlando in October. He also considered Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan and Virginia Tech.
At UCF: Gilyard totaled 197 tackles, 19 tackles for a loss, one sack, two interceptions and three forced fumbles during his UCF career. In four games this fall he had 23 tackles and .5 tackles for a loss.
Potential landing spots: Considering Gilyard's production at UCF, it should come as no surprise that several schools quickly reached out. In the early stages, USF, Tennessee, SMU, Texas Tech, South Carolina and East Carolina are a few of the schools to keep an eye on.
Farrell’s Take: Gilyard isn't the tallest or longest linebacker but he's very physical and has shown the ability to make a ton of tackles including many behind the line of scrimmage. As a former Florida high school player he will likely end up in the Southeast but a Power Five destination like Tennessee or South Carolina is certainly not out of the question.
Impact Meter: 7.8 out of 10
IMPACT METER
The Transfer Portal continues to change the way college football programs recruit and manage their rosters so we here at Rivals.com continue to evolve our coverage. Each time a player of note enters the portal, we will examine their potential impact on the college football landscape and assign an impact rating, both when they enter the portal and when they choose a destination. The scale is from 1-10 and the description below explains the scoring scale.
1.1-4.0 — Not a big impact expected, likely a non-starter and down the bench depth player.
4.1- 6.0 — A solid impact can be expected in the right scenario and has the potential to battle for a starting job.
6.1-9.0. — A high impact player who won’t change a program but will certainly be a very good contributor and starter.
9.1- 9.9 — A very high impact player who should start the moment he steps on the field and will change the outlook of a program immediately.
10 — A franchise transfer who has a chance to be an All American and one of the elite players in college football.
