UCF’s Milton says he no longer has nerve damage
“With my nerve damage, I’m basically back to 100 percent. I have full feeling in my foot ... So now it’s just about getting range of motion and building my strength back up.” UCF QB MCKENZIE MILTON
Orlando, Fla. — Central Florida quarterback McKenzie Milton says he has fully recovered from nerve damage in his injured leg, sharing more updates on his remarkable recovery during an appearance on ESPN's College GameDay broadcast from Magic Kingdom on Saturday morning.
Milton suffered a catastrophic knee injury during UCF's 2018 regular-season finale at USF, damaging nerves and blood flow so severely that it nearly forced doctors to amputate his leg.
“I'm a lot further along than any doctor would anticipate or predict, and that's by the grace of God and a lot of prayers and a lot of support by close friends and people I don't even know,” Milton said in an interview with ESPN's Maria Taylor.
“With my nerve damage, I'm basically back to 100 percent. I have full feeling in my foot. You know that's very rare. Sometimes it never comes back for some people, and the artery, the blood is flowing great.
“So now it's just about getting range of motion and building strength back up.”
Milton continues to wildly exceed expectations during his recovery, with the focus primarily on saving his leg and then helping him walk normally immediately after the leg damage that was comparable to what doctors find treating severe car-crash victims.
Instead of simply walking, Milton is training for a potential return to the football field in 2020.
Following UCF's back-to-back undefeated regular-season runs and pair of major bowl bids, the Knights were touted as joining Florida's Big 3 — Florida, Miami and Florida State — during the GameDay broadcast ahead of the Gators' season opener against the Hurricanes on Saturday night.
During his brief interview, Milton gave Taylor a #10hana T-shirt and UCF leis, welcoming her to the UCF family. Milton hails from Hawaii, and fans adopted both items as a way to show their support for him during his recovery.
The UCF quarterback has credited the Knights' athletic training staff, team doctors and the staff at Tampa General Hospital that treated him immediately after the injury for their swift help.
“(The UCF staff) knew to check for a pulse to see if my leg was having blood flow down there, and initially there was, they got a false pulse. (We) got back in the locker room, (they checked again) and there was no pulse down there,” Milton said in an interview earlier this year with the Orlando Sentinel. “They rushed me to the hospital to save my leg. Just the doctors, athletic trainers knowing to check for that was amazing.
“The doctors at Tampa General, one of the best trauma centers in the country, and then for them to find one of the best doctors that has dealt with knee dislocations and reconstructions up at the Mayo Clinic … what more could you ask for? I will be forever grateful to our athletic training staff, our doctors and UCF as a whole for taking care of me.”
Milton said the support he received from the medical staff, UCF fans and others throughout college football has inspired him to keep pushing to resume playing football.
“I've had the best doctors, the best training staff,” he said. “And now I feel that it's up to me.”