Five months after graduating from Mililani, McKenzie Milton has won the starting quarterback job at Central Florida.
UCF coach Scott Frost told the media on Monday that Milton will “be our guy going forward and at UConn.”
The Knights (3-3, 1-1 American Conference) play at the Huskies (3-4, 1-3) on Saturday.
Milton, who threw for 7,313 yards and 81 touchdowns while winning a state championship at Mililani, earned his first collegiate start on Sept. 17 against Maryland, a 30-24 loss. He also started a 53-14 win over Florida International, but missed the East Carolina game a week later with an ankle injury, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
He returned after the bye week against Temple last Saturday and finished 13-for-22 for 210 yards with two passing touchdowns and one interception.
He also scored on a 63-yard touchdown run that was the second-longest in school history by a quarterback behind three-time NFL Pro Bowler Daunte Culpepper.
“McKenzie’s healthy. I thought he played a good game,” Frost said at Monday’s press conference. “Couple of little mistakes here and there that are inevitable when a guy is learning the position and I thought he did some really good things, too.”
Milton’s touchdown run came with 12:34 remaining in the second quarter to give UCF a 25-7 lead. The Knights were shut out the rest of the game and lost 26-25.
Milton took seven sacks and finished with 9 yards rushing on 10 carries.
“You’ve got to remember that McKenzie is 18 years old and a year ago he was playing football at Mililani on Oahu,” Frost said. “He’s already doing great things at his age. Look forward to more great things.
“When you’ve got a guy as creative as him and as good of a playmaker as him, it’s got to be a gradual learning process because we don’t want to stifle what makes him special.”
Milton is completing 58.3 percent (42-for-72) of his passes for 643 yards, five touchdowns and two picks in three games. He had to beat out Justin Holman (28-for-66, 368 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT) for the job.
Against Temple, he capped off the Knights’ first drive with a 55-yard touchdown pass and also threw an 11-yard score early in the second quarter against the Owls.
Former UH receiver Keith Kirkwood caught an 8-yard TD pass with one second remaining to give Temple the win.
“I think I need to stay a little bit more relaxed in the pocket and step up into it,” Milton said of his performance at Monday’s press conference. “Penalties we’ve got to minimize and tighten up the little things. Our ballclub will go through the roof if we can tighten up the little things.”
Saturday’s game at UConn begins at 6 a.m. Hawaii time and will be shown on ESPNews.
