NFL veteran Kirk Cousins inspires UCF Football with his powerful "hard to kill" mantra, fueling their comeback after a challenging season.
Whistles blowing, teammates roaring and the rattling sound of weights are all in the day's work of UCF football, including receiving a visit from NFL quarterback Kirk Cousins, as it prepares for the 2026 season.
The 37-year-old veteran gave the Knights squad a speech on persevering through tough times and becoming "hard to kill."
"Everyone of you has faced an incredible amount of adversity to get to this point, but I really do believe that tough times don't last, but tough people do," Cousins said. "And so again the ability to say 'Great, I faced some adversity, but I'm coming back because I'm hard to kill. And if I'm hard to kill, it means that you're going to have to try again.'
UCF had a rough 2025 season, finishing 5-7 (2-7 Big 12) and missing a bowl game for the second consecutive year. It was an injury-riddled season, especially in the quarterback room, and the departure of many significant players due to the expiration of eligibility or transferring to another program.
The future looked bleak for coach Scott Frost's roster, but he turned it around by recruiting and signing young, talented and experienced players to revamp his team and build a new culture.
UCF football's X account posted a hype video including Cousins' "hard to kill" message with players lifting weights and participating in drills.
Cousins' speech also included some moments of his adversity to strengthen the message he was delivering.
"And if you just keep coming back and keep getting back on the horse and keep having good habits and keep getting up on that Tuesday in the spring even if you don't feel like it and saying 'I'm coming back for more,' what I found was in doing that there were a lot of times where I was against the ropes career wise," Cousins said. "[I] got benched, tore my Achilles, [I] kind of thought that maybe I'm going to be a career backup or maybe I'm going to be done. But I wouldn't let them kill me, and so I said, 'I'm just going to come back and see what happens.' It was amazing by doing that and fighting through that adversity, how you look back and go 'Wow, I'm still standing, all because I just got back on the horse, each time I fell off.'
Cousins tore his Achilles tendon in Week 8 of the 2023 season with the Minnesota Vikings, sidelining him for the season. He returned the following season as the Atlanta Falcons starter.
He threw for 3,508 yards, 18 touchdowns and 16 interceptions on 66.9% completion rate, which prompted former Falcons coach Raheem Morris to bench him for rookie Michael Penix Jr.
Cousins played 10 games in the 2025 season, throwing for 1,721 yards, 10 touchdowns and five interceptions. Now, he's expected to be released by the team in March to search for a new home.
His 'hard to kill' mantra is what kept him present during tough times, and Cousins aimed to share that same message, which resonated with the program.
"I feel like the people we added to the team, like, I feel like they want it bad," wide receiver Waden Charles said on the UCFast Cast podcast. "That's definitely good because the guys we kept, the guys that are still in the program, they still want it bad too."