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MIKE READLINGAlonso LB is ready to help turn around Golden Knights program.
TAMPA - There is one comforting thought in Leger Douzable's mind as he heads to a reeling Central Florida program to play football next season.
He has been here before.
Douzable, who signed his letter of intent to join the Golden Knights on Wednesday morning during a ceremony at Alonso High, knows what it is like to join a team with a sub-par record. After all, when he joined the Ravens varsity team it was coming off an 0-10 season.
Alonso went 2-8 his junior year, then 8-3 this season, including the school's first trip to the regional playoffs. Now he hopes to spread a little Ravens magic around Orlando. UCF was 3-9 this season, fired its coach with two games remaining and finished on a four-game losing streak. If anyone could use someone with experience in that type of situation, it is the Knights.
"It's nice to know you've done it before," said Douzable, a 6-foot-5, 270-pound defensive tackle.
Douzable had been talking to Florida A&M, Gannon (Pa.) University and South Florida but decided on his only campus visit that Central Florida was the place for him.
He said there was no one thing that put UCF over the top - including the $7-million, state-of-the-art strength and conditioning center to be completed next year - it was just an overall sense.
"You know when you walk around somewhere and it just feels right? It just felt right," Douzable said. "I said this is the place I'm going to go."
It didn't hurt that Douzable was almost exactly what new coach George O'Leary was looking for.
"I think No.1 that, when we looked at the class when we got here in January, I thought the areas of concern to me were offensive line, defensive line and the corner position either through attrition or graduation with this senior class coming up," O'Leary said. "That's where we spent the bulk of our scholarships. We are very pleased with that."
While Douzable seemed to fly under the radars of most colleges, Alonso coach Mike Heldt said when you saw him on film he jumped out. Of course, his height didn't hurt either.
"You gotta remember this is a pretty big individual we're talking about here. Coaches see 6-5 on a roster and they call," Heldt said. "He has got so much potential. His size, his playing ability. He is a guy who can be the nucleus of a defense because there's no quit in him."