Last season, he took over the starting job as a true freshman. Last season, he became the first true freshman that George O'Leary let talk to the media in his tenure at UCF. Last season, he led the Knights to a division title, conference title, and an upset win over the Georgia Bulldogs in the Liberty Bowl.
This season, he struggled to adjust to the loss of three senior wide receivers and the loss of NFL tackle Jah Reid protecting his blindside put started all 12 games while redshirt freshman Blake Bortles came in for relief during most of the second half of the season. As quick as Jeff Godfrey's star rose at UCF, it flamed out as the athletic dual-threat became more of a square peg in the round hole of the UCF offense and is now leaving campus for good.
The Orlando Sentinel's Iliana Limon confirmed with Godfrey's father that his son will not be returning to UCF as the school granted him his conditional release with the condition being he could not transfer to a school in Conference USA or the Big East. At the same time, UCF sent out a press release stating Godfrey was ineligible for the spring semester amid rumors that he was struggling academically in the fall.
Quarterback play has been anything but consistent in the O'Leary era at UCF. 2012 will see redshirt sophomore Blake Bortles open the season as the starting quarterback marking the fifth straight season a different quarterback has been the opening weekend starter (Israel, Calabrese, Hodges, Godfrey, Bortles). Bortles was very effective in relief duty of Godfrey this year as a taller pocket passer in an offense designed more for a pocket passer than the mobility that Godfrey's game was built around.
Godfrey's transfer leaves UCF short-handed at quarterback entering the spring with Bortles and Calabrese the only quarterbacks with experience that return and Calabrese is coming off a second knee injury. The team recently lost a commitment from quarterback prospect Kedric Bostic who decided to de-commit from UCF in order to accept an offer from Princeton to pursue both his athletic and academic interests. This further stressed the depth chart as highly-rated recruit Damarcus Smith never qualified and has recently committed to Louisville.