McKenzie Milton

McKenzie Milton (born October 10, 1997) is an American football quarterback for the Florida State Seminoles of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

McKenzie Milton
Milton being interviewed at the trophy presentation for the 2017 American Athletic Conference Championship
Florida State Seminoles
PositionQuarterback
Class
Redshirt
Senior
Career history
College
  • UCF (2016–2020)
Bowl games
High schoolMililani High School (Mililani, Hawaii)
Personal information
Born: (1997-10-10) October 10, 1997
Kapolei, Hawaii
Height5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Weight185 lb (84 kg)
Career highlights and awards

College career

Milton was a three-star dual-threat quarterback from Mililani High School in Mililani, Hawaii. He chose UCF because of new head coach Scott Frost, the former offensive coordinator of Heisman winning quarterback Marcus Mariota, whom Milton had idolized in high school.[1] Milton started 10 games his freshman year leading the Knights to a 6–6 regular season record and an appearance in the Cure Bowl. The previous year, the Knights had gone 0–12. In his Sophomore year, Milton led the Knights to a 12–0 regular season record, winning the AAC[2] and eventually the Peach Bowl against the SEC runner-up Auburn Tigers.[3] Milton was named the AAC offensive player of the year.[4] Milton placed 8th in the Heisman vote for 2017. Milton was named the offensive MVP in the 2018 Peach Bowl,[5] despite not reaching a 50% completion rating (he had only been below 60% once for the entire 2017 year, and never below 50%),[6] Milton threw for two touchdowns and went 13/18 in the second half. He ended the game 16 of 35 with 242 yards, 2 touchdowns and no interceptions. Milton also excelled with his legs, picking up 116 yards on the ground and scoring a touchdown, which led all UCF rushers.[7] This was UCF's first ever Peach Bowl win, and second New Years Six win in four years. Following the game, the school claimed a national championship.[lower-alpha 1]

Injury and aftermath

On November 23, 2018, UCF played the last game of the regular season against in-state rival University of South Florida. Early in the second quarter, Milton pulled the ball on a belly option and ran right. He was tackled by two USF players with one player hitting him right below the knee. This caused Milton to dislocate his knee.[11] He was carted off the field and then rushed to nearby Tampa General Hospital. Upon arrival, doctors found extensive damage to the arteries and nerves in his right knee. Emergency surgery was undertaken to restore arterial blood flow;[12] this involved taking the saphenous vein out of his left leg and transferring the vessel to the right leg to restore blood flow to that limb.[13] The surgery was successful. Two more surgeries followed over the course of several days. Milton was discharged from the hospital on November 30. Milton underwent reconstructive knee surgery in January 2019.[14]

In an interview he gave for ESPN's Andrea Adelson as the second anniversary of his injury approached, Milton publicly revealed for the first time that he had to undergo two subsequent operations. He was walking again in the late spring of 2019, but in July woke up with what Adelson described as "searing pain" in the rebuilt knee and was unable to walk. He immediately saw a physician who put a needle in that knee, drawing out pus. The doctor told Milton that he needed an immediate surgery to keep him from losing the cadaver tissue that had been used in the initial reconstruction. After that surgery, Milton had a peripherally inserted central catheter installed for daily antibiotics, but an MRI revealed a pocket of pus behind the rebuilt knee, leading to another surgery near the start of the 2019 season. In the 2020 interview, Milton estimated that the infection set his recovery back six months. He was eventually cleared to resume football activity during the summer of 2020, and ran UCF's scout team in that season.[15]

In a video posted by UCF Football on December 3, 2020, Milton announced that he will be seeking a transfer for the 2021 college football season.[16] Milton stated in the video that he believes "It's Dillon Gabriel's team now", and how he would not want to remove Gabriel from the spotlight.[17] On December 13, 2020, Milton announced that he would be transferring to Florida State University under Coach Mike Norvell. [18]

College statistics
Year Team GP Cmp Att Pct Yards TDs Int
2016 UCF 10 194 366 57.7 1983 10 7
2017 UCF 13 265 395 67.1 4037 37 9
2018 UCF 11 171 289 59.2 2663 25 6

References
  1. Hummer, Chris (November 2, 2017). "In McKenzie Milton, Scott Frost has molded another Hawaiian QB sensation". 247sports. Retrieved November 29, 2017.
  2. "American Athletic Conference - All Sports Conference Standings". theamerican.org. Retrieved November 29, 2017.
  3. Wittry, Andy (January 1, 2018). "Peach Bowl 2018: UCF holds off Auburn to cap perfect 13-0 season". NCAA.com. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  4. Green, Shannon (November 29, 2017). "UCF's Scott Frost named AAC coach of year, McKenzie Milton also earns top honors". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved November 29, 2017.
  5. "Central Florida completes perfect season with defeat of Auburn in Peach Bowl". USA TODAY. Associated Press. January 1, 2018. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  6. "McKenzie Milton". ESPN.com. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  7. "StatMonitr Stat Feed". stats.statbroadcast.com. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  8. "2017 Rankings, Week 17". Colley Matrix. Retrieved May 29, 2019.
  9. "Football Bowl Subdivision Records" (PDF). NCAA. p. 109. Retrieved January 10, 2018.
  10. Seeley, Andy (January 10, 2018). "Knights Ranked No. 1 - UCF" (Press release). UCF Athletics. Archived from the original on March 22, 2018. Retrieved January 18, 2018.
  11. "Mckenzie Milton Injury". CBS. Retrieved December 1, 2018.
  12. "Mckenzie Milton out of Hospital". ESPN. Retrieved December 1, 2018.
  13. Milton, McKenzie (April 18, 2019). "UCF QB McKenzie Milton's journey, in his own words: 'I got hurt for a reason'". ESPN.com. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
  14. "Mckenzie Milton Update". Sporting News. Retrieved December 1, 2018.
  15. Adelson, Andrea (November 24, 2020). "UCF's McKenzie Milton takes one more step toward improbable comeback". ESPN.com. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
  16. "UCF QB Milton enters portal, seeks starting job". ESPN.com. December 3, 2020. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
  17. @ucf_football (December 3, 2020). "Mahalo, McKenzie #10hana" (Tweet). Retrieved December 3, 2020 – via Twitter.
  18. "QB McKenzie Milton is transferring to FSU".

Notes
  1. UCF claims a national championship for the 2017 season, and the team was ranked number 1 by the Colley Matrix, an NCAA-recognized selector of national champions.[8][9][10]
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