mind copying and pasting this article on KZ?
any The Athletic members?
- Thread starter Poolside Knight
- Start date
Amid all the firsts at UCF, McKenzie Milton finds a second home
Chris Vannini 3h ago
ORLANDO, Fla. — UCF has done whatever it can to make sure people remember the Knights went undefeated in football last season. There has been a parade, national championship rings, press box signage and even graphics on the sides of police cars.
Quarterback McKenzie Milton sparked the dream season more than any other player, a feat made more notable by the fact that months before the perfect campaign began, a homesick Milton wasn’t sure he wanted to be there for it.
An up-and-down true freshman season in 2016 weighed on Milton, nearly 5,000 miles away from his native Hawaii. He was used to nothing but winning. He had grown accustomed to a fully supportive group of family and friends always around him. When he went home to Hawaii after spring football in 2017, he didn’t know if he’d return to Orlando.
“We had a family meeting,” his mother, Teresa Milton, told The Athletic. “He told my husband, ‘If you want me to go back to Florida, maybe you should come, too, because it’s hard. I’ve been home nine days in almost two years. I’m not happy.’
“We had no idea. We were caught off-guard.”
Teresa had spent the 2016 season living in an apartment in Orlando so she could attend McKenzie’s games. What if the two of them lived together in Orlando?
After the family had deep conversations with head coach Scott Frost, McKenzie decided to go back, and Teresa went with him.
Milton returned to find everything he needed. The support was around him, and the Knights experienced nothing but winning. He finished near the top nationally in most major passing stats. And although he has a new coach in Josh Heupel, he’s expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy again in 2018.
“It’s all coming to fruition,” Milton told The Athletic. “I definitely don’t think I’d have had the year I had without (Teresa) being here. Everything happens for a reason. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Milton’s childhood centered around sports. He took his share of losses, but the competitiveness drove him, even before he was old enough to play. The youngest of four brothers, he would often be found wearing his brothers’ uniforms or equipment around the house.
“The older brothers didn’t let him watch Barney or that kind of thing,” Teresa said. “It was super competitive with the brothers always. He was always driven with sports and was quiet. … When we finally let him play, he would sleep in his uniform. He was always prepared to play. He was very competitive, just special, his effort. When games end in Hawaii, they have potlucks, and he’d start a baseball game.”
Teresa and her husband Mark moved to Hawaii in their early 30s and became University of Hawaii football season-ticket holders.
“We took our newborn kids to games. We were not the best parents,” Teresa joked.
The Miltons ran a youth football league on the islands for nearly two decades, and all four Milton boys played in it growing up. Their father often was their head coach, and he coached McKenzie from fourth grade through eighth grade.
When McKenzie got into football at 5 years old, he started out at running back and played on defense. Five years later, with his father as coach, his team’s quarterback was a young boy named Tua Tagovailoa. But when Tagovailoa’s father took his son to another team after fifth grade, they needed a quarterback. McKenzie slid in to replace him, and his football career took off.
As a baseball catcher, young Milton developed a quick release that translated to playing quarterback on the football field. (Courtesy of Teresa Milton)
Like his brothers, McKenzie also played basketball, baseball and golf. Baseball especially suited him, and playing catcher trained him to get the ball out quickly as a quarterback.
“He’s got the quickest release I’ve seen,” Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo told The Athletic. “The ball comes right from his ear.”
But his baseball career ended abruptly, on his own terms. In middle school, McKenzie’s team won a national tournament on the mainland that took up much of his summer. He caught five games over two days to secure the title before telling his dad that he was done with baseball.
“My legs were killing me,” McKenzie said. “I could barely walk after that. We won the tournament, so I was fine with going out on a high note. That was it for me with baseball. The legs started hurting, and it was time to call it quits.”
He moved more into football, basketball and golf as high school came, but football proved to be his best sport.
As a sophomore at Mililani High School in 2013, Milton took his team to the state championship game. The next year, it won the state title, and he was named the Hawaii offensive player of the year. As a senior, Milton missed much of the season because of a shoulder injury, but he returned late to guide his team to the semifinals and still earned all-state second-team honors.
The first-team QB that year? Tagovailoa, at Saint Louis School. Milton’s team beat Saint Louis in 2014, but Tagovailoa beat Milton in the 2015 state tournament, spurring a friendly rivalry between them.
“He and McKenzie are good friends,” Teresa said. “There’s no animosity.”
The friendly rivalry has continued to college, where, a week after Milton capped a perfect season at UCF, which labeled itself a national champion, Tagovailoa led Alabama to an overtime victory in the College Football Playoff national championship game.
“I expected nothing less from him,” McKenzie said. “He’s been doing that since he was a little kid. He just did his thing, and it was special to watch. That was awesome.”
A change back in fifth grade youth football would end up changing the fate of two college football teams’ seasons nearly a decade later.
One day when the Miltons were in the process of moving their boys to another house, Teresa pulled out a ceramic sculpture that McKenzie had made when he was younger. It was a stadium. Looking closer, she realized it was Autzen Stadium at Oregon.
“What’s this in the middle?” she asked her son. He replied, “It’s me. I’m the quarterback.”
Oregon was McKenzie’s dream school. Former Ducks quarterback Marcus Mariota has become a hero to a lot of Hawaiian kids. In high school, McKenzie won MVP at a quarterback camp in Eugene run by then-Oregon offensive coordinator Scott Frost.
But Oregon only had one remaining spot for a quarterback in its recruiting class, and it went to another under-recruited passer, Justin Herbert, with a late offer. Teresa told McKenzie they’d pay for him to walk on if he really wanted to go to Oregon. But when Frost became the head coach at UCF a couple months later in early December, Teresa told McKenzie, “If he really wants you, he’s going to offer you when he gets there.”
A few days later, Frost did.
“I just couldn’t stop watching him,” Frost told The Athletic. “He was just in control. He was always a step ahead. He was athletic and got the ball out quick, but more than anything, he just had the ‘it’ factor.”
But it wasn’t enough. Milton had already committed to Hawaii and opted to stick with that.
“At first, I wanted to play at home and stay with my friends,” he said.
Still, other schools wanted him, especially the military academies. Teresa said Boise State offered and rescinded an offer multiple times.
“Navy kept coming over, calling, showing up,” Teresa said. “They really wanted him.”
Niumatalolo being a Hawaiian added to Milton’s interest, and Navy offensive coordinator Ivin Jasper had played at Hawaii. On Christmas morning, McKenzie told his mom he wanted to visit Navy.
The distance between Hawaii and Annapolis, Md., is nearly 5,000 miles. If the Miltons were going to travel that far, they thought they might as well visit Frost at UCF, too. McKenzie loved Navy on his visit, and Teresa appreciated that it would provide a career outside football. They bought Navy shirts at a campus gift shop.
“We felt we had a good chance of getting him,” Niumatalolo said. “Until Scott Frost got involved.”
The moment the Miltons got off the plane in Orlando, things changed. McKenzie established an instant rapport with quarterbacks coach Mario Verduzco.
“They’d never met, but in five minutes, they were nestled in each other,” Teresa said. “I knew from the minute we got here that that was it. I looked at him when we were eating lunch and was like, ‘You’re coming here, aren’t you?’ He shook his head. It was done. He wanted to play for Scott.”
Milton didn’t expect to play as a true freshman. Nobody expected him to, especially with two seniors ahead of him on the depth chart.
But after the seniors each went 3-for-11 in a 51-14 loss at Michigan in Week 2 of 2016 and one was injured, Frost decided to make a change. Milton, who hadn’t played much the previous two years because of his senior year injury in high school, debuted at Maryland and went 21-for-36 for 260 yards, three total touchdowns and an interception in an overtime loss.
Milton passed for nearly 2,000 yards, with 13 total touchdowns and seven interceptions in a season filled with ups and downs. The Knights had gone 0-12 the year before, but with Frost and Milton, they finished 6-7, although it wasn’t all so positive.
“It was a big jump, but I know our team felt we should have won three or four more,” Milton said. “We were good enough.”
Frost and Milton led UCF from winless to six wins and a bowl in their first season together in 2016. (Kim Klement / USA TODAY Sports)
The losses were an adjustment for Milton, who didn’t deal with many growing up. The boos from fans hurt, especially after the Cure Bowl loss to Arkansas State in Orlando. The hits he took were a lot harder than high school ball, too.
There also were divisions within the team. Milton didn’t always have the support from older players brought in by the previous coaching staff.
“You bring in a guy from Hawaii, he’s the new coaching staff’s guy, so automatically we kind of labeled him,” Jason Rae, UCF’s senior starting center that season, told The Athletic. “It was bad on a couple of our parts, but we kind of labeled him with the guys that are gonna replace us. After a while, I think it kind of took a toll on him when we weren’t winning, which it does on everyone.”
As Teresa put it, Frost “took over a team with personal agendas,” and was still in the process of turning the collection of players into a singular group. Still, running back Adrian Killins, who came in as a freshman with Milton, thought the quarterback adjusted well to the speed of the game.
“Everyone is different in your freshman year. Some can dive into the system and get in games. Some aren’t ready,” Killins said. “As he played his role, he picked up on the offense and did what the coaches wanted him to do.”
After spring ball in 2017, Milton went home to Hawaii, unsure if he would return to UCF. His father, always the optimist in the family, told his son he should finish what he starts. In conversations with Frost, the coach spoke of his experience transferring from Stanford to Nebraska as a player.
“Frost sat him down, prayed with him, shared his testimony of his own failure, booing, people not being for you and rising above it,” Teresa told The Athletic last December. “That’s how he coached him, spiritually.”
When Milton was thrust into the starting job as a freshman, his parents had to figure out how to get to his games. They didn’t expect it to happen so quickly.
Teresa went to Orlando in the fall of 2016 and stayed in a hotel. But after five weeks, they’d already spent around $10,000. She came up with another idea: What if they rented an apartment for $14,000 a year and used it when they needed it? The constant family presence would make a world of difference for McKenzie, especially when he was unsure if he wanted to stay after his freshman year.
The apartment became Teresa’s new home, and McKenzie moved in with her in the summer of 2017. The Miltons own a marketing business, so she’s able to work remotely in Orlando while Mark stays in Hawaii most of the time.
McKenzie and Teresa later moved into a bigger apartment about 20 minutes from campus, and it allows McKenzie his privacy when he needs it. It also allows him to take much better care of himself. He eats better. He gets more sleep.
“For an athlete, that’s an ideal situation,” he said. “It’s like high school again. It’s great to have that support, knowing what they’re sacrificing. It’s been a blessing to have her here.”
When the 2017 season came around, everything clicked.
Milton was more relaxed off the field and comfortable in Frost’s system, as was the rest of the team. The Knights started 10-0, winning eight of those games by at least 25 points. Milton sat near the top of the country in most passing statistics. A day-after-Thanksgiving win against rival USF put the Knights in the American Athletic Conference championship game. Then they beat Memphis at home in double overtime to finish a perfect regular season.
“I don’t have as much respect for guys until they’ve been through something hard in their life,” Frost said. “Usually, the guys that persevere and stick through those hard times come out the other end a more refined product. McKenzie had to go through a little bit of that, and once he got confidence and once he really trusted himself and put everything together off the field, when he was on the field he took off.”
As a sophomore, Milton led UCF to a perfect record and a Peach Bowl win over Auburn. (Brett Davis / USA TODAY Sports)
Milton finished eighth in the Heisman race. He finished second behind Heisman winner Baker Mayfield in quarterback rating and yards per attempt (10.2). He finished in the top five in completion percentage (67.1) and passing touchdowns (37), and he finished No. 7 in passing yards (4,037).
The Knights’ hope for a Playoff spot fell short, but a Peach Bowl win against Auburn led to a self-proclaimed national championship parade.
“It was awesome. A lot of great memories I’ll look back in 10, 20 years, tell my kids about,” Milton said. “It’s enjoying every moment with the guys, a brotherhood that’ll last a lifetime, a bond with coaches that will last a lifetime, even when they go to Nebraska. Living in the moment, it was cool. To go from where we were to where we got was special, never done before going 0-12 to undefeated in a two-year span. We did the impossible.”
Mere hours after UCF’s win against Memphis, Nebraska named Frost its head coach. In reality, he’d all but accepted the job weeks earlier.
Given Milton’s doubts the previous offseason, it wasn’t unreasonable to wonder if he’d transfer and follow Frost to Lincoln. He admits it crossed his mind.
“But no. I can’t leave these guys,” Milton said. “The bond we have is something special. Football is just a game, but you build relationships that last a lifetime.”
The Milton family teased McKenzie over the idea of transferring.
“We made it clear to him that if he wasn’t going to stay here and if he went to Nebraska, we are not moving to Nebraska,” Teresa joked. “We teased him so bad. It was funny.”
Frost describes Milton like a son. The quarterback describes the coach like an older brother or a father. They expect to keep in touch for a long time.
“It hurts that he’s not here anymore, but I’m forever grateful for him,” Milton said. “I wouldn’t be here without him. I know 10, 20 years from now, we’ll be sitting together eating with our families, because that’s the kind of bond we have. I’m in debt to him, the sacrifices he made for me.”
With Heupel, Milton goes from one coach who was a national championship-winning quarterback to another. Frost won a share of the 1997 title at Nebraska, and Heupel won the 2000 BCS title at Oklahoma and finished second in the Heisman vote. Frost coached Mariota to the 2014 Heisman, and Heupel coached Sam Bradford to the 2008 Heisman.
Both emphasize tempo in their offenses, but Frost’s system revolved more around getting the ball out quickly, for which Milton’s release fit perfectly. Heupel’s offense is different.
“I think there’s more vertical passing in this one, more receiver-option routes, which I like and I think we have the playmakers for,” Milton said. “A lot of it is ‘My player is better than your player, and we’re going to expose that.’ It’s been awesome.”
The vertical game also could suit Milton well. Pro Football Focus calculated that Milton’s 1,812 passing yards on deep balls last season (30-plus yards downfield) were the most in the FBS and the most by anyone since it began calculating the stat.
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Heupel said Milton came through his office plenty of times in the winter to get to know his new coach, and the two are clicking.
“His attention to detail is great, his ability to communicate,” Heupel said. “During the transition, part of what you’re trying to do, it’s Year 1 under our staff, but we’ve done things to not make it Year 1 for the players. Whether that’s using some of their calls and terminology in all three phases, it’s to help the players transition and make the adjustment as quickly as possible.”
Milton has his eye toward coaching when his playing career is finished. He said Frost has offered a graduate assistant role whenever he wants it. Whatever happens in his playing career, he wants a backup plan.
But after last season’ success as a true sophomore, the chance to play professionally down the road is real. In February, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League selected Milton’s rights, if he ever chooses to play in the league. A year from now, he’ll be eligible for the NFL Draft.
“That’s something you dream about as a kid, but I have a long ways to go, a lot to learn,” he said. “When that time comes, two years from now, a year from now, when I’m ready I’ll be ready. If it works out, it works out. I’m not going to hang my hat on playing football for 10 years. You’ve got to have a Plan B.”
For now, Milton is enjoying college life and his teammates, and his mother is doing the same. In March, the two went back to Hawaii during UCF’s spring break. They could have gone on a vacation, but Milton wanted to go back home, to his support system in Hawaii. He visited his high school and his friends, many of whom traveled to UCF games last fall as the wins piled up.
To most people, Hawaii is a once-in-a-lifetime vacation. To the Miltons, it’s more than that, and McKenzie will always carry his home.
“Hawaii is definitely a state that takes care of their own,” Milton says. “I always have a big support system playing games and when I go home. I love my home state. I always carry Hawaii on my shoulders.”
At UCF, he almost left before a dream became a reality. But he found himself, he grew, and he realized the mission to create something special has just begun.
so UCF was dangerously close to a Dinovo led Boca Bowl team?
Teresa Milton
Teresa Milton
Fire frostso UCF was dangerously close to a Dinovo led Boca Bowl team?
Lurking Huskers Thank You for booing Frost as a Player! Helped us keep KZ #GBR
That and momma Milton refusing to make the move to Nebraska when the thought of transferring crossed his mind.
It's funny what people take away from the same information. My takeaway was we, as fans, let KZ down during his freshman year. I was one of them them. I'll own that. Our reactions really do effect these players. And if not for Scott Frost, KZ is probably gone and we don't have 13-0.
Not my first and foremost takeaway, but I also felt bad about letting KZ down.
Agree that fans were too hard on him. It was a rebuilding year, we had a new coach, and Holman wasn't working out (also supposedly had a hamstring injury) so it was a good time to get Milton some experience under the lights in hopes of doing better next season. In his first few games Milton demonstrated an amazing ability to improvise but fans didn't give him any credit. Towards the end of the Cure Bowl fans cheered "Jus-tin Hol-man" and SF put JH in where he couldn't do any better. It was embarrasing to me and I was disappointed in our fans inability to keep the whole situation in context.
Holman was/is a super star. He'll be back. Belichick will figure out how to use his talents.
I hope everyone read what I said after 2016.
Understand I defended Holman a lot in 2014, even saying he had more talent than Bortles.
But by 2016, with Holman a senior, it was time to throw KZ into the fire, and stick with him, as he was our future.
I was really PO at how much hate was being thrown at Milton.
The kid was a Freshman, not even the named starter, didn't have the reps in the pre-season.
I couldn't believe what people wanted out of such a young man of barely 18 years of age.
Even Bortles redshirted, and wasn't the named starter his Sophomore year either.
Understand I defended Holman a lot in 2014, even saying he had more talent than Bortles.
But by 2016, with Holman a senior, it was time to throw KZ into the fire, and stick with him, as he was our future.
I was really PO at how much hate was being thrown at Milton.
The kid was a Freshman, not even the named starter, didn't have the reps in the pre-season.
I couldn't believe what people wanted out of such a young man of barely 18 years of age.
Even Bortles redshirted, and wasn't the named starter his Sophomore year either.
Definitely join. The writing is superb, and has a dedicated NCAA Football section with enough G5 coverage. You can find 25-50% off coupons regularly, so it's $2.50-3.75/month. You get a crapload more than the sports section of a more costly newspaper or other periodical.
Without anyone going back and figuring out what I wrote about KZ two years ago, shame on you.
I in no way, expected his sophomore season to be like that. There has got to be some sacrificed chickens and goats in his dorm room.
Side bar. The article said cop cars in Orlando have references to the national championship in the area - is that true??
Unfortunately he was just released from the Allouettes in the CFL. I hope he finds a home
I'll admit I could be reading this wrongly, but this "“But no. I can’t leave these guys,” Milton said. “The bond we have is something special. Football is just a game, but you build relationships that last a lifetime.”" doesn't mean to me he every seriously considered transferring after the 13-0 success. I'd guess the dad's "You finish what you start" had more to do with it.
At least we have a number of fans here that admit their mistake on getting on a Freshmen who was thrown into the fire. It's never about "I told you so" or "you were wrong." It's about learning not to judge people early, especially an 18 year-old young man who still has a long career ahead of him, and not scaring him away from the fanbase. That's how we all move forward, and not make the same mistakes.
In any case, I never had the strength and determination of our players at age 18. If I was given their talents and opportunities, I probably would have been arrogant, emotional and squandered my opportunities. Glad we have such fine young men in our program.
In any case, I never had the strength and determination of our players at age 18. If I was given their talents and opportunities, I probably would have been arrogant, emotional and squandered my opportunities. Glad we have such fine young men in our program.
Awesome article!!!!! He almost didn't come back. These guys are so young! Luv MiltonAmid all the firsts at UCF, McKenzie Milton finds a second home
Chris Vannini 3h ago
ORLANDO, Fla. — UCF has done whatever it can to make sure people remember the Knights went undefeated in football last season. There has been a parade, national championship rings, press box signage and even graphics on the sides of police cars.
Quarterback McKenzie Milton sparked the dream season more than any other player, a feat made more notable by the fact that months before the perfect campaign began, a homesick Milton wasn’t sure he wanted to be there for it.
An up-and-down true freshman season in 2016 weighed on Milton, nearly 5,000 miles away from his native Hawaii. He was used to nothing but winning. He had grown accustomed to a fully supportive group of family and friends always around him. When he went home to Hawaii after spring football in 2017, he didn’t know if he’d return to Orlando.
“We had a family meeting,” his mother, Teresa Milton, told The Athletic. “He told my husband, ‘If you want me to go back to Florida, maybe you should come, too, because it’s hard. I’ve been home nine days in almost two years. I’m not happy.’
“We had no idea. We were caught off-guard.”
Teresa had spent the 2016 season living in an apartment in Orlando so she could attend McKenzie’s games. What if the two of them lived together in Orlando?
After the family had deep conversations with head coach Scott Frost, McKenzie decided to go back, and Teresa went with him.
Milton returned to find everything he needed. The support was around him, and the Knights experienced nothing but winning. He finished near the top nationally in most major passing stats. And although he has a new coach in Josh Heupel, he’s expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy again in 2018.
“It’s all coming to fruition,” Milton told The Athletic. “I definitely don’t think I’d have had the year I had without (Teresa) being here. Everything happens for a reason. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Milton’s childhood centered around sports. He took his share of losses, but the competitiveness drove him, even before he was old enough to play. The youngest of four brothers, he would often be found wearing his brothers’ uniforms or equipment around the house.
“The older brothers didn’t let him watch Barney or that kind of thing,” Teresa said. “It was super competitive with the brothers always. He was always driven with sports and was quiet. … When we finally let him play, he would sleep in his uniform. He was always prepared to play. He was very competitive, just special, his effort. When games end in Hawaii, they have potlucks, and he’d start a baseball game.”
Teresa and her husband Mark moved to Hawaii in their early 30s and became University of Hawaii football season-ticket holders.
“We took our newborn kids to games. We were not the best parents,” Teresa joked.
The Miltons ran a youth football league on the islands for nearly two decades, and all four Milton boys played in it growing up. Their father often was their head coach, and he coached McKenzie from fourth grade through eighth grade.
When McKenzie got into football at 5 years old, he started out at running back and played on defense. Five years later, with his father as coach, his team’s quarterback was a young boy named Tua Tagovailoa. But when Tagovailoa’s father took his son to another team after fifth grade, they needed a quarterback. McKenzie slid in to replace him, and his football career took off.
As a baseball catcher, young Milton developed a quick release that translated to playing quarterback on the football field. (Courtesy of Teresa Milton)
Like his brothers, McKenzie also played basketball, baseball and golf. Baseball especially suited him, and playing catcher trained him to get the ball out quickly as a quarterback.
“He’s got the quickest release I’ve seen,” Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo told The Athletic. “The ball comes right from his ear.”
But his baseball career ended abruptly, on his own terms. In middle school, McKenzie’s team won a national tournament on the mainland that took up much of his summer. He caught five games over two days to secure the title before telling his dad that he was done with baseball.
“My legs were killing me,” McKenzie said. “I could barely walk after that. We won the tournament, so I was fine with going out on a high note. That was it for me with baseball. The legs started hurting, and it was time to call it quits.”
He moved more into football, basketball and golf as high school came, but football proved to be his best sport.
As a sophomore at Mililani High School in 2013, Milton took his team to the state championship game. The next year, it won the state title, and he was named the Hawaii offensive player of the year. As a senior, Milton missed much of the season because of a shoulder injury, but he returned late to guide his team to the semifinals and still earned all-state second-team honors.
The first-team QB that year? Tagovailoa, at Saint Louis School. Milton’s team beat Saint Louis in 2014, but Tagovailoa beat Milton in the 2015 state tournament, spurring a friendly rivalry between them.
“He and McKenzie are good friends,” Teresa said. “There’s no animosity.”
The friendly rivalry has continued to college, where, a week after Milton capped a perfect season at UCF, which labeled itself a national champion, Tagovailoa led Alabama to an overtime victory in the College Football Playoff national championship game.
“I expected nothing less from him,” McKenzie said. “He’s been doing that since he was a little kid. He just did his thing, and it was special to watch. That was awesome.”
A change back in fifth grade youth football would end up changing the fate of two college football teams’ seasons nearly a decade later.
One day when the Miltons were in the process of moving their boys to another house, Teresa pulled out a ceramic sculpture that McKenzie had made when he was younger. It was a stadium. Looking closer, she realized it was Autzen Stadium at Oregon.
“What’s this in the middle?” she asked her son. He replied, “It’s me. I’m the quarterback.”
Oregon was McKenzie’s dream school. Former Ducks quarterback Marcus Mariota has become a hero to a lot of Hawaiian kids. In high school, McKenzie won MVP at a quarterback camp in Eugene run by then-Oregon offensive coordinator Scott Frost.
But Oregon only had one remaining spot for a quarterback in its recruiting class, and it went to another under-recruited passer, Justin Herbert, with a late offer. Teresa told McKenzie they’d pay for him to walk on if he really wanted to go to Oregon. But when Frost became the head coach at UCF a couple months later in early December, Teresa told McKenzie, “If he really wants you, he’s going to offer you when he gets there.”
A few days later, Frost did.
“I just couldn’t stop watching him,” Frost told The Athletic. “He was just in control. He was always a step ahead. He was athletic and got the ball out quick, but more than anything, he just had the ‘it’ factor.”
But it wasn’t enough. Milton had already committed to Hawaii and opted to stick with that.
“At first, I wanted to play at home and stay with my friends,” he said.
Still, other schools wanted him, especially the military academies. Teresa said Boise State offered and rescinded an offer multiple times.
“Navy kept coming over, calling, showing up,” Teresa said. “They really wanted him.”
Niumatalolo being a Hawaiian added to Milton’s interest, and Navy offensive coordinator Ivin Jasper had played at Hawaii. On Christmas morning, McKenzie told his mom he wanted to visit Navy.
The distance between Hawaii and Annapolis, Md., is nearly 5,000 miles. If the Miltons were going to travel that far, they thought they might as well visit Frost at UCF, too. McKenzie loved Navy on his visit, and Teresa appreciated that it would provide a career outside football. They bought Navy shirts at a campus gift shop.
“We felt we had a good chance of getting him,” Niumatalolo said. “Until Scott Frost got involved.”
The moment the Miltons got off the plane in Orlando, things changed. McKenzie established an instant rapport with quarterbacks coach Mario Verduzco.
“They’d never met, but in five minutes, they were nestled in each other,” Teresa said. “I knew from the minute we got here that that was it. I looked at him when we were eating lunch and was like, ‘You’re coming here, aren’t you?’ He shook his head. It was done. He wanted to play for Scott.”
Milton didn’t expect to play as a true freshman. Nobody expected him to, especially with two seniors ahead of him on the depth chart.
But after the seniors each went 3-for-11 in a 51-14 loss at Michigan in Week 2 of 2016 and one was injured, Frost decided to make a change. Milton, who hadn’t played much the previous two years because of his senior year injury in high school, debuted at Maryland and went 21-for-36 for 260 yards, three total touchdowns and an interception in an overtime loss.
Milton passed for nearly 2,000 yards, with 13 total touchdowns and seven interceptions in a season filled with ups and downs. The Knights had gone 0-12 the year before, but with Frost and Milton, they finished 6-7, although it wasn’t all so positive.
“It was a big jump, but I know our team felt we should have won three or four more,” Milton said. “We were good enough.”
Frost and Milton led UCF from winless to six wins and a bowl in their first season together in 2016. (Kim Klement / USA TODAY Sports)
The losses were an adjustment for Milton, who didn’t deal with many growing up. The boos from fans hurt, especially after the Cure Bowl loss to Arkansas State in Orlando. The hits he took were a lot harder than high school ball, too.
There also were divisions within the team. Milton didn’t always have the support from older players brought in by the previous coaching staff.
“You bring in a guy from Hawaii, he’s the new coaching staff’s guy, so automatically we kind of labeled him,” Jason Rae, UCF’s senior starting center that season, told The Athletic. “It was bad on a couple of our parts, but we kind of labeled him with the guys that are gonna replace us. After a while, I think it kind of took a toll on him when we weren’t winning, which it does on everyone.”
As Teresa put it, Frost “took over a team with personal agendas,” and was still in the process of turning the collection of players into a singular group. Still, running back Adrian Killins, who came in as a freshman with Milton, thought the quarterback adjusted well to the speed of the game.
“Everyone is different in your freshman year. Some can dive into the system and get in games. Some aren’t ready,” Killins said. “As he played his role, he picked up on the offense and did what the coaches wanted him to do.”
After spring ball in 2017, Milton went home to Hawaii, unsure if he would return to UCF. His father, always the optimist in the family, told his son he should finish what he starts. In conversations with Frost, the coach spoke of his experience transferring from Stanford to Nebraska as a player.
“Frost sat him down, prayed with him, shared his testimony of his own failure, booing, people not being for you and rising above it,” Teresa told The Athletic last December. “That’s how he coached him, spiritually.”
When Milton was thrust into the starting job as a freshman, his parents had to figure out how to get to his games. They didn’t expect it to happen so quickly.
Teresa went to Orlando in the fall of 2016 and stayed in a hotel. But after five weeks, they’d already spent around $10,000. She came up with another idea: What if they rented an apartment for $14,000 a year and used it when they needed it? The constant family presence would make a world of difference for McKenzie, especially when he was unsure if he wanted to stay after his freshman year.
The apartment became Teresa’s new home, and McKenzie moved in with her in the summer of 2017. The Miltons own a marketing business, so she’s able to work remotely in Orlando while Mark stays in Hawaii most of the time.
McKenzie and Teresa later moved into a bigger apartment about 20 minutes from campus, and it allows McKenzie his privacy when he needs it. It also allows him to take much better care of himself. He eats better. He gets more sleep.
“For an athlete, that’s an ideal situation,” he said. “It’s like high school again. It’s great to have that support, knowing what they’re sacrificing. It’s been a blessing to have her here.”
When the 2017 season came around, everything clicked.
Milton was more relaxed off the field and comfortable in Frost’s system, as was the rest of the team. The Knights started 10-0, winning eight of those games by at least 25 points. Milton sat near the top of the country in most passing statistics. A day-after-Thanksgiving win against rival USF put the Knights in the American Athletic Conference championship game. Then they beat Memphis at home in double overtime to finish a perfect regular season.
“I don’t have as much respect for guys until they’ve been through something hard in their life,” Frost said. “Usually, the guys that persevere and stick through those hard times come out the other end a more refined product. McKenzie had to go through a little bit of that, and once he got confidence and once he really trusted himself and put everything together off the field, when he was on the field he took off.”
As a sophomore, Milton led UCF to a perfect record and a Peach Bowl win over Auburn. (Brett Davis / USA TODAY Sports)
Milton finished eighth in the Heisman race. He finished second behind Heisman winner Baker Mayfield in quarterback rating and yards per attempt (10.2). He finished in the top five in completion percentage (67.1) and passing touchdowns (37), and he finished No. 7 in passing yards (4,037).
The Knights’ hope for a Playoff spot fell short, but a Peach Bowl win against Auburn led to a self-proclaimed national championship parade.
“It was awesome. A lot of great memories I’ll look back in 10, 20 years, tell my kids about,” Milton said. “It’s enjoying every moment with the guys, a brotherhood that’ll last a lifetime, a bond with coaches that will last a lifetime, even when they go to Nebraska. Living in the moment, it was cool. To go from where we were to where we got was special, never done before going 0-12 to undefeated in a two-year span. We did the impossible.”
Mere hours after UCF’s win against Memphis, Nebraska named Frost its head coach. In reality, he’d all but accepted the job weeks earlier.
Given Milton’s doubts the previous offseason, it wasn’t unreasonable to wonder if he’d transfer and follow Frost to Lincoln. He admits it crossed his mind.
“But no. I can’t leave these guys,” Milton said. “The bond we have is something special. Football is just a game, but you build relationships that last a lifetime.”
The Milton family teased McKenzie over the idea of transferring.
“We made it clear to him that if he wasn’t going to stay here and if he went to Nebraska, we are not moving to Nebraska,” Teresa joked. “We teased him so bad. It was funny.”
Frost describes Milton like a son. The quarterback describes the coach like an older brother or a father. They expect to keep in touch for a long time.
“It hurts that he’s not here anymore, but I’m forever grateful for him,” Milton said. “I wouldn’t be here without him. I know 10, 20 years from now, we’ll be sitting together eating with our families, because that’s the kind of bond we have. I’m in debt to him, the sacrifices he made for me.”
With Heupel, Milton goes from one coach who was a national championship-winning quarterback to another. Frost won a share of the 1997 title at Nebraska, and Heupel won the 2000 BCS title at Oklahoma and finished second in the Heisman vote. Frost coached Mariota to the 2014 Heisman, and Heupel coached Sam Bradford to the 2008 Heisman.
Both emphasize tempo in their offenses, but Frost’s system revolved more around getting the ball out quickly, for which Milton’s release fit perfectly. Heupel’s offense is different.
“I think there’s more vertical passing in this one, more receiver-option routes, which I like and I think we have the playmakers for,” Milton said. “A lot of it is ‘My player is better than your player, and we’re going to expose that.’ It’s been awesome.”
The vertical game also could suit Milton well. Pro Football Focus calculated that Milton’s 1,812 passing yards on deep balls last season (30-plus yards downfield) were the most in the FBS and the most by anyone since it began calculating the stat.
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Heupel said Milton came through his office plenty of times in the winter to get to know his new coach, and the two are clicking.
“His attention to detail is great, his ability to communicate,” Heupel said. “During the transition, part of what you’re trying to do, it’s Year 1 under our staff, but we’ve done things to not make it Year 1 for the players. Whether that’s using some of their calls and terminology in all three phases, it’s to help the players transition and make the adjustment as quickly as possible.”
Milton has his eye toward coaching when his playing career is finished. He said Frost has offered a graduate assistant role whenever he wants it. Whatever happens in his playing career, he wants a backup plan.
But after last season’ success as a true sophomore, the chance to play professionally down the road is real. In February, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League selected Milton’s rights, if he ever chooses to play in the league. A year from now, he’ll be eligible for the NFL Draft.
“That’s something you dream about as a kid, but I have a long ways to go, a lot to learn,” he said. “When that time comes, two years from now, a year from now, when I’m ready I’ll be ready. If it works out, it works out. I’m not going to hang my hat on playing football for 10 years. You’ve got to have a Plan B.”
For now, Milton is enjoying college life and his teammates, and his mother is doing the same. In March, the two went back to Hawaii during UCF’s spring break. They could have gone on a vacation, but Milton wanted to go back home, to his support system in Hawaii. He visited his high school and his friends, many of whom traveled to UCF games last fall as the wins piled up.
To most people, Hawaii is a once-in-a-lifetime vacation. To the Miltons, it’s more than that, and McKenzie will always carry his home.
“Hawaii is definitely a state that takes care of their own,” Milton says. “I always have a big support system playing games and when I go home. I love my home state. I always carry Hawaii on my shoulders.”
At UCF, he almost left before a dream became a reality. But he found himself, he grew, and he realized the mission to create something special has just begun.
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***UCF making a push for transfer committed elsewhere***- Latest: NascarSteve