Former UCF and Florida State quarterback McKenzie Milton has joined the Tennessee staff as an offensive analyst, the program announced Thursday.
Milton started as a true freshman after arriving from Hawai'i, then the Knights' "national championship" team of 2017 and the club's undefeated regular season in 2018. He suffered a catastrophic knee injury in UCF's regular-season finale.
The injure and subsequent setbacks forced Milton to miss the entire 2019 and 2020 season before returning in 2021 as a transfer at Florida State. Displaying a tremendous amount of grit and determination, Milton played in six games that season, throwing for 775 yards on 139 attempts.
"McKenzie represents everything that is great about college football," said Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel, who coached Milton at UCF. "His perseverance, determination and leadership are attributes that made him successful as a player and will no doubt translate to him being an outstanding future coach. He's always been a student of the game and understands the why behind what we do. We are thrilled to welcome McKenzie, Jany and Madden to Rocky Top."
In addition to winning two AAC offensive player of the year awards before the injury, Milton won the ACC Piccolo Award, the Mayo Clinic Comeback Player of the Year award, and the FWAA-Orange Bowl Courage Award.
He now joins an ascendent Tennessee program looking to capitalize on its best season of the 21st century. Milton will learn the ropes of the profession under Heupel, himself a former quarterback, and coordinator Joey Halzle, who also played quarterback under Heupel.
"I couldn't be more excited about starting my coaching career at Tennessee and reuniting with Coach Heupel," Milton said. "I am grateful to Coach Heupel and Director of Athletics Danny White for giving me this opportunity. Their leadership makes a difference. I look forward to helping the program in any way I can."
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