For four seasons, McKenzie Milton poured his blood, sweat and tears onto the football field for UCF.
As the Knights’ quarterback, Milton helped guide the program to new heights. UCF won two straight American Conference titles, appeared in back-to-back New Year’s Six bowl games and put together a magical 2017 campaign that featured a school-best 13-0 record.
Yet, when he’s with his family, Milton is just dad.
“The other day, I’m putting on UCF jammies on my oldest son, Madden, and I was like, ‘You want to be a UCF Knight like your daddy?’ He’s like, ‘No, I want to be Madden,’” Milton said. “They have no clue (of what I did). I kind of took it as a lesson. Everybody be their own self. So, I’m learning from my kids, too.”
Milton, 29, first stepped onto the UCF campus as a freshman in 2016, coming from Mililani High School in Hawaii. A decade later, he returned to the spotlight.
On Friday night, Milton joined a handful of former UCF athletes who entered the school’s Hall of Fame during a ceremony at the Celeste Hotel. He joined Marissa Diggs (soccer), Octavious Freeman (track and field), Mike Kruczek (football), Emily Mottola (volleyball), and BJ Taylor (basketball) in the 2026 class.
“I bleed black and gold,” Milton said of being inducted into the hall of fame. “It’s the greatest honor any UCF athlete could have. The biggest thing is that I wouldn’t be here without my teammates.”
Milton led the Knights to a 27-6 record as the starting quarterback. Had UCF coach Scott Frost not come to Central Florida, Milton might have gone to Oregon.
Frost was Oregon’s offensive coordinator when he started recruiting Milton.
“I remember talking to (Oregon) coach Mark Helfrich and watching him just operate a game,” Frost said of Milton. “He was making quick decisions and zipping them all around while running around.”
When Frost left for UCF in 2016, one of his first calls was to Milton.
“When I came down here, my first call, honestly, was out to Hawaii to get him on a visit here,” said Frost. “I thought this was a really good fit for him. Our offense was a good fit for him and I’m really glad he decided to come here.”
Two games into the 2016 season, Milton found himself UCF’s starting quarterback. He helped lead the team to the Cure Bowl at Camping World Stadium, where the Knights lost to Arkansas State 31-13.
“His freshman year, there were a lot of ups and downs,” Frost said. “That’s what you’re going to have when you’re playing an 18-year-old quarterback. His freshman-year experience probably had a lot to do with our success and his success the following year.
“I remember being at the Cure Bowl that year. He got booed, and people in the stands chanted for a different quarterback. The next year he changed everybody’s mind. Some people will run from that criticism; KZ (Milton) didn’t. It made him work even harder and it certainly worked out for him and for us.”
“I’m just grateful Coach Frost took a shot on me and gave me opportunity and through a rough first year, he still saw me through it and in Year 2, it just clicked,” added Milton.
Milton was named American Conference Offensive Player of the Year in 2017 after helping guide the Knights to a program-best 13-0 record, including a Peach Bowl win over Auburn.
Milton finished seventh in the 2017 Heisman Trophy voting and sixth in 2018.
He suffered a catastrophic knee injury in the regular-season finale in 2018, forcing him to miss the 2019 and 2020 seasons.
After graduating from UCF and completing a long road to recovery, Milton transferred to Florida State to close out his college campaign. He appeared in six games for the Seminoles, throwing for 775 yards and three touchdowns while throwing six interceptions, and he made four starts.
Milton retired from football in 2022 and became a full-time assistant coach at Tennessee under former UCF coach Josh Heupel in 2023-24. A year later, he reunited with Frost on Frost’s new staff at UCF, serving as the team’s quarterback coach.
Milton has had a busy week preparing his team to host No. 2 BYU on Saturday, but he still found time to prepare his induction speech.
“My parents asked me, ‘Have you got your speech memorized?’ and I’m like, ‘No, I’ve been getting ready for a football game,’” Milton said. “It’s hard to thank everybody. I’m probably going to get some water in the eyes, thinking about everybody that has helped along the way.”
Throughout it all, Milton remains humbled by his experience.
“It’s not the destination; it’s the journey,” he said. “It’s the people along the way that help you get there and it’s something I’ve reflected on the last 10 years. I definitely brought some water to my eyes the last week of just every little cog in the wheel that has helped me and my family get to this point.”
Please find me on X, Bluesky or Instagram at @osmattmurschel. Email: mmurschel@orlandosentinel.com. Sign up for the Sentinel’s Knights Weekly newsletter for a roundup of all our UCF coverage.