photo by: AP Photo/John Raoux

UCF quarterback Cam Fancher warms up before the first half of an NCAA college football game against North Carolina, Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025, in Orlando, Fla.

Kansas and UCF are about to face off for the second time ever, and both matchups have featured considerable intrigue at quarterback for the Knights.

When they made their inaugural trip to the old David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium to take on the Jayhawks in 2023, the big question was whether quarterback John Rhys Plumlee would make his return from injury.

He did, only to land awkwardly and exit the game after a few plays, try to come back in and then leave again. Timmy McClain took the reins for UCF in what turned into a blowout 51-22 win for the Jayhawks.

Two years later, the two teams are set to meet again, this time at the Acrisure Bounce House, and UCF has an even more muddled quarterback situation.

Florida Atlantic transfer Cam Fancher won the starting job out of training camp, but he got knocked out of the Knights’ season opener against Jacksonville State on Aug. 28 after an illegal hit that gave him a back injury and leg pain. Indiana transfer Tayven Jackson took over, led UCF to a rain-delayed 17-10 victory over the Gamecocks and served as the Knights’ starter in successive victories over North Carolina A&T and North Carolina.

But then on Saturday in Manhattan, Jackson sprained his AC joint in the first half, and his replacement, Jacurri Brown, threw an interception and an 82-yard touchdown on his two pass attempts before suffering the same injury.

UCF coach Scott Frost said that he expected Fancher to lead the Knights out of halftime, but instead Jackson — who had been seen in a sling on the sideline after his injury — returned to the game. Jackson finished 12-for-24 for 115 yards and an interception in UCF’s 34-20 loss to Kansas State, the Knights’ first defeat of the season.

The question now is who takes snaps for the Knights when they welcome KU to town on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. Central time.

Frost was asked on Monday about the statuses of Brown and Jackson after their injuries.

“That’s kind of TBD and I’m not trying to give you the runaround,” he told reporters. “I got to see how they operate this week. It’s great that we have Cam ready to go again too. So we’ll figure that out as the week goes along.”

Frost said he went to Brown rather than Fancher against K-State because of Brown’s greater number of reps in practice during the previous week. He added of Fancher that he’s “ready to go again” but didn’t say anything definitive about what the season-opening starter’s role would look like this week.

“You just kind of prepare for all three,” KU defensive coordinator D.K. McDonald said. “All three have a unique skill set, which is challenging, it really is. Then you’re also dealing with a right-hander, a left-hander, different things like that, but those are things you just got to prepare for in getting ready.”

It won’t be the first time this season that KU faces a team with a platoon of quarterbacks. West Virginia came to Lawrence with five potential options at the position and ended up playing three of them with little success.

Brown has been more of a rusher than a passer. In just 33 snaps this year, the former Miami quarterback, who stuck around at UCF after a coaching change to Frost from Gus Malzahn, has thrown the ball five times and run it 16 times for 142 yards and two touchdowns. His 154-yard rushing performance last season in a game at Iowa State helped the Knights come within three points of a major upset on the road.

Fancher, a lefty, has seen the least action of the three passers this season because of the early back injury, but he’s by far the most experienced overall. In four years spent between Marshall and FAU, he threw for 5,294 yards with 27 touchdowns and 23 interceptions.

An Indiana native who started his career with Tennessee, Jackson is the purest passer of the three and doesn’t have a lot of scrambling in his background. In his previous two seasons with the home-state Hoosiers before he joined UCF, Jackson started six games with six touchdowns and six interceptions. He’s 66-for-101 for 809 yards with three touchdowns and an interception for the Knights this year.

Big 12-mandated player availability reports over the course of the week, which begin on Wednesday night, could potentially provide some clarity about the Knights’ approach.

“It’s a challenge for sure, but we’re going to keep preparing for their offense,” KU defensive tackle Blake Herold said. “Doesn’t matter who’s running it, for real.”

Indeed, McDonald said that it makes it somewhat easier to prepare that UCF runs a similar scheme regardless of who is playing quarterback.

“It’s not like they’re running a whole different offense like some teams do when they bring in just a guy who can run, or they just got a guy who can throw,” he said. “They really run what they run.”

photo by: AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

UCF quarterback Tayven Jackson looks to pass during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Kansas State, Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025, in Manhattan.

photo by: AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack

UCF quarterback Jacurri Brown (11) scrambles for yardage past North Carolina defensive lineman Smith Vilbert, center, and defensive lineman CJ Mims, right, during the second half of an NCAA football game, Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025, in Orlando, Fla.