Arizona State, Arizona, UA Huntsville, Iowa State, U Mass, Tennessee, University of Cincinnati, Miami of Ohio, Mizzou. Are they better than UCF or USF? Perhaps. Some of the engineering departments at these schools are very good and so is the potential for merit. Your son has decent stats and many schools are willing to “reward” the students. Many of the tops schools do not have to do that, but in some cases, some schools will offer Merit based on the simple fact that being from a different state will give them some geographic diversity.
Basically, he will have to apply to say UF as his number 1 choice. Then you have to have the what if scenarios and the merit jackpot which is the unknown with UCF and USF as the financial fit but maybe not the ultimate fit.