Milton takes rest
Heupel holds Knights’ starting QB out of practice to heal up
UCF coach Josh Heupel said injured quarterback McKenzie Milton is "doing OK" but didn't take any reps with the team during practice Wednesday. He offered no insight into Milton's potential to play against Temple next week.
Milton sat out the Knights’ 37-10 win over East Carolina Saturday due to undisclosed health issues.
Heupel said Milton didn’t take any warm reps in practice Wednesday and the team would continue to monitor his progress the rest of this week and into next.
“I don’t know, we’ll talk to the medical staff here later,” Heupel said when asked if he thought Milton would practice later in the week.
UCF is currently on a bye week and Wednesday was the first time the team returned to the practice field.
“I don’t have an official status right now,” he added when pressed on his quarterback’s availability for next Thursday’s game against the Owls at Spectrum Stadium.
Before missing Saturday’s game against the Pirates, Milton had started 27 consecutive games going back to 2016.
Heupel said after the ECU game that the decision to sit Milton was based on health and was made after pregame warmups.
The junior quarterback had been banged up during the past couple of games, including wins over SMU and Memphis. So the bye week couldn’t have come at a better time for the Knights.
“We had one earlier in the year, unfortunately,” Heupel said referencing having the North Carolina game canceled due to Hurricane Florence in September. “This one comes at a good time to get a chance to kind of heal some guys up that have the inevitable bumps and bruises that happen during the course of the season.”
Evans’ big moment: Nothing stood in Nate Evans’ way except an expanse of green, green grass as the UCF linebacker traveled 94 yards unencumbered toward his first college touchdown Saturday night.
It capped another stellar performance for the junior, who finished with 10 tackles, a sack and a fumble recovery for a score during the Knights’ win over East Carolina.
But the moment would be somewhat bittersweet for Evans.
“My mom, her and my grandma usually make every game and they didn’t come to this game and it just so happened I score a touchdown,” Evans said after practice Wednesday.
Evans’ mother, Sorielle Vance, and his grandmother were both back home in New Orleans this past weekend. Both have been regulars to UCF games, decked out in the familiar No. 44 jerseys, but they weren’t able to make last week’s game.
“My mom and my whole family, they’re really supportive of me with anything that I do, so it was a spoiled moment that they weren’t there. But also it was my first defensive touchdown — my first college touchdown at that — so it just felt good,” Evans said.
He said having his family at his games has been a blessing.
“It’s a big thing for me, me being from New Orleans and being away from home, I just want to make them proud,” he said.
Knights honored: Evans was named American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Week Monday after totaling 10 tackles, a sack, a pass breakup and a fourth-quarter 94-yard fumble return for a touchdown during UCF’s win over East Carolina Saturday. Kicker Matthew Wright also earned AAC Special Teams Player of the Week for the second consecutive week after kicking three field goals during the win.
Redshirt sophomore defensive back Richie Grant was named one of 14 semifinalists for the Jim Thorpe Award, given to the top defensive back in the country. Five finalists will be announced on Monday, Nov. 19.
Milton was among 15 players to make the cut for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, given to the top quarterback in the country based on accomplishments both on and off the field. Past winners include Peyton Manning, Andrew Luck and Marcus Mariota.