ORLANDO—The 2025 Jax State football season begins where the previous one closed.
 
The Gamecocks open up the year in Orlando, Fla. with a contest against UCF on Thursday at 6 p.m. Central on ESPN+.
 
A total of 51 players will suit up in the Red and White that were not part of the group that won the 2024 Conference USA Championship and earned a trip to the StaffDNA Cure Bowl.
 
Additionally, Charles Kelly makes his head coaching debut with the program that gave him his first full-time coaching position under Bill Burgess 31 years ago.
 
On offense, sophomore Bubba Grayson returns at guard and additional experience returns in receivers Michael Pettway, Brock Rechsteiner, running back Andrew Paul, and tight end Pearson Baldwin. That group will blend with a group of newcomers including quarterback Gavin Wimsatt, running back Cam Cook, and receivers Deondre Johnson and Caleb Coombs.
 
Cook has already garnered attention as a candidate for the Doak Walker Award after leading TCU in rushing last season. Against UCF last season, Cook had 45 total yards on 15 touches.
 
Of the 51 new players on the roster, 13 are in the secondary but Travis Franklin Jr., Malcolm Jones, and Chase Alexander return. Two players that played under Kelly previously join the team at safety in Rod Elston and Trevor Woods.
 
There is plenty of new on the opposite sideline with 63 new players dressing for UCF tonight under Scott Frost, who led the Knights to an unbeaten season in 2017 before accepting the head coaching position at his alma mater of Nebraska.
 
The Knights have four players that started six or more games for UCF last season.
 
This is one of three games UCF will play against a coach in his first year at the program and the first of four such games for Jax State.