Milton finally receives clearance
QB gets OK to return after lengthy rehab
New FSU quarterback McKenzie Milton has been cleared by his surgeon at the Mayo Clinic to play full-contact football immediately, his mother confirmed to the Orlando Sentinel.
“The exact words were, ‘If you had a game today, you could play,’ ” Teresa Milton told the Sentinel when asked about her son’s latest evaluation by Dr. Bruce Levy.
“He said he has never had a patient with all these injuries recover like this — especially an athlete.”
Milton recently led the UCF scout team while spending the past two years recovering from a catastrophic knee injury. Shortly after transferring to Florida State in December, he said he was looking forward to getting clearance in January from his surgical team at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.
Milton’s mother posted exuberant videos of the visit Wednesday, documenting the quarterback showing he had full range of motion and strength in his left knee. It was remarkable progress after he sustained nerve and ligament damage during a game against USF in November 2018 that prompted medical staff to rush him into surgery at Tampa General Hospital to repair damage, restore blood flow to his foot and avoid having to amputate his leg.
The quarterback then endured numerous surgeries, grueling rehabilitation work to break up scar tissue, a painful infection setback
and more recovery work while fighting for the chance to play competitive football again.
During an interview with reporters last week, Milton said he’s about 90% recovered from the knee injury.
“Still pushing to get to 100. I feel like, playing football, you’re never truly at 100% anyway,” Milton said. “Range of motion is close. It’s not quite there, but it’s functional and where it needs to be to be able to play, so I’m fully cleared in that
aspect.
“I still want to keep pushing it just to where I’m fully comfortable out there, just being able to do the things I want to do on the football field.”
While Milton could have played in a game before his latest visit to Minnesota, his mother said the doctor was another layer of confirmation Milton can proceed with plans to resume his football career.
“He said he cannot see any reason that McKenzie cannot
return to his sport,” Teresa Milton said, relaying more details from the surgeon’s evaluation. “Although [his] first contact game will be the end of August [or] first part of September, so that is even better.”
She shared videos of Milton hopping side to side on his once-injured leg with a caption that read, “He is cleared for take off! Thank you for every prayer and well wish!!”
And with another video showing Milton doing leg lifts, she wrote,
“God is there even when we don’t see him!”
Milton returned to Tallahassee and continues to get to know his new teammates.
Once apparent he would be able to play at a high level, Milton told UCF coach Josh Heupel he had to transfer rather than force an awkward quarterback battle no one could win with best friend and entrenched starter Dillon Gabriel.
The journey north to FSU presents new challenges, including learning a new playbook and getting acclimated to a new team while battling Jordan Travis, Chubba Purdy and Tate Rodemaker for the chance to lead the Seminoles offense.
FSU coach Mike Norvell, whose teams lost several games to Milton’s Knights while he coached at Memphis, said he was thrilled to land the transfer quarterback.
“For us, it’s all about finding guys that are the right fit for Florida State and what we’re doing moving forward,” Norvell said Tuesday, one day after Milton’s move to FSU became official.
“He’s a tremendous competitor and he has a great deal of talent mentally and physically. I think he’ll be a tremendous asset to this team and this program.”
Milton, who won American Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Year twice, closed his UCF career with 8,683 passing yards, 72 passing touchdowns, 1,000 rushing yards and 20 rushing touchdowns.
He led UCF to an undefeated season and a victory over Auburn in the Peach Bowl to cap the 2017 season. Milton finished among the top 10 in Heisman Trophy voting in 2018.