When Scott Frost left UCF, he was in tears over leaving for Nebraska after the Knights had just completed an undefeated regular season with a 62-55 double-overtime win over Memphis in the American Championship. The Knights were led that day by quarterback McKenzie Milton, who hit 28-of-40 passes for 494 yards and five touchdowns while adding another 68 yards and a touchdown on the ground.
Seven years later Frost is back in Orlando, and so is Milton.
UCF announced Milton as its new quarterbacks coach on Tuesday, the first hire on Frost's new staff.
Welcome Back to UCF @McKenzieMil10 🌴🤙 pic.twitter.com/0YlMu4ucP4
— UCF Football (@UCF_Football) December 10, 2024
Milton's return to Orlando is equal parts tragic and inspiring.
He remained at UCF after Frost left for Nebraska, and in a game the following November a knee injury so catastrophic he suffered "extensive" damage to his arteries and nerves, requiring him to remain in the hospital for a week afterward and delaying reconstructive surgery until January 2019.
Milton missed the entire 2019 and 2020 seasons -- he was replaced in 2019 by a true freshman named Dillon Gabriel -- and returned to the field at Florida State in 2021, throwing 139 passes across five games. Along the way, Milton and Miami quarterback D'Eriq King, now SMU's quarterbacks coach, became two of the very first college athletes to take advantage of new-at-the-time NIL rules.
Milton entered coaching as an offensive analyst at Tennessee in 2023, and UCF will represent his first on-field role.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.