HUNGRY FOR MORE
Eager to improve, Milton caps busy summer with AAC stop
NEWPORT, R.I. – As McKenzie Milton passed by the Heisman Trophy on display at the American Athletic Conference football media event Monday, a thought crossed his mind.
“It was a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be,” the UCF quarterback joked.
When asked about the award, Milton said, “Obviously that’s something you dream about as a kid.”
Milton is coming off a career-best season where he passed for 4,037 yards with 37 touchdowns and led the Knights to a perfect 13-0 season that included a conference championship and a win over Auburn in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. His performance earned him AAC Offensive Player of the Year honors in 2017.
In an effort to capitalize on the hype surrounding Milton, the school kicked off a Heisman campaign this summer. The HIsman campaign is a nod to the junior’s Hawaiian roots and plays off the award’s name.
“They came to me in the summertime, our media guys, telling me they were thinking about launching a Heisman campaign. I didn’t tell them not to because it means a lot having a school that supports you in that sort of way and wants to see you do great,” said Milton, who finished eighth in last
year’s Heisman voting. “But at the same time, no individual success comes without team success. We’ve got to go out there and perform if that’s even going to be a possibility for me but at the end of the day, I just want this ballclub to win games.
“If we win the conference and we go 1-0 each week, we’ll be sitting pretty.”
It’s been a busy summer for Milton, who has participated in several national quarterback camps across the country.
“I got to go out to the Elite 11 Finals with Trent Dilfer and those guys. I also got to check out the Manning [Passing Academy] camp and getting to meet the Manning family: Archie, Eli, Cooper and Peyton was a lot of fun and those guys were so down to earth and class acts,” he said.
“Peyton and Eli gave us some advice on how to watch film, how to get ready for the draft process and how to approach things in the NFL. Just getting those insights from two of the best quarterbacks of all time is huge for me and all the other quarterbacks who were there.”
New UCF coach Josh Heupel sees camps like the Manning Academy as a great opportunity for players like Milton.
“They get a sense of what it takes to be the elite of the elite. The type of work ethic, the focus, the mentality, the attitude that you have to have to continually hone your profession and find a way every single day to get better,” Heupel said. “… Hopefully, it propels him to want to compete every single day when he goes into the weight room, when he goes into the meeting room, when he goes out and works on his fundamentals.”
Despite Milton’s phenomenal season, Heupel believes his young quarterback can improve in 2018.
“Every player needs coaching. Tom Brady still takes it and accepts it. Drew Brees, Tom Brady those guys are constantly looking for the avenue or angle that’s going to make them better,” Heupel said. “For McKenzie, he’s so young in his development and he played fantastic last year. [He’s] just a dynamic player. And when we went back and watched the video of him from this past season, [we asked,] ‘What are the things he does really well and how do we improve on those, and what are the things that you didn’t do great and how do we continue to get better on those?’ ”
Five Knights named to team
Five former UCF players were among 30 named to the American Athletic Conference’s Fifth Anniversary Team released by the league Monday. Tight end Jordan Akins, linebacker Shaquem Griffin, cornerbacks Jacoby Glenn and Mike Hughes; and safety Clayton Geathers earned spots on the team, which was voted on by fans, local and national media and conference member schools.