UCF kicks off McKenzie Milton’s Heisman campaign

The University of Central Florida believes in its quarterback, McKenzie Milton, so much that it reached to great lengths to promote his Heisman Trophy candidacy.

All the way to Kazakhstan.

In kicking off its Heisman campaign for Milton on Thursday, UCF bought a Kazakhstan domain designation to reflect his “KZ” nickname in its www.MiltonforHIsman.kz web address.

“In searching for the domain we discovered that ‘kz’ stood for Kazakhstan and decided to go for it,” said Andy Seeley, associate athletic director at UCF.

The “HI” in there representing, of course, the abbreviation for Hawaii.

For Milton — or, indeed, anybody at a non-Power Five conference school — to win the Heisman might be as much of a reach as, well, the Central Asian country and former Soviet republic in his web address.

The last player from a school outside the Power Five to win it was Ty Detmer of Brigham Young in 1990 before the Power Five vs. Group of Five divide became so pronounced. UCF’s last contender was quarterback Daunte Culpepper, who finished sixth in 1998, when Texas’ Ricky Williams took home the trophy.

But actually taking home the bronze statue symbolic of being the best player of the year in college football is only part of what drives Heisman campaigns these days. The pursuit, win or lose, is more a season-long vehicle to advertise the school and the football program to recruits, donors and sponsors — a way to stamp themselves as standing above the competition.

That’s something that UCF, an emerging force in the American Athletic Conference in the shadows of Florida, Florida State and Miami, understand well.

Between getting enough marquee opponents on the schedule or suitable national prime time TV exposure, it is a decidedly uphill task for a candidate whose school is outside the elite conferences, which is part of why Milton’s eighth-place finish in last year’s Heisman Trophy voting was remarkable.

With the placement, he became only the fifth player from a Hawaii high school to finish in the top 10 of Heisman Trophy balloting in the 83-year history of the award.

Coming off a 6-7 finish in 2016, Milton guided the Knights to a 13-0 record and a Peach Bowl victory over Auburn to finish as the only unbeaten team in the 130-member NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision.

The rise of Milton and the Knight was so swift that the Knights were late in assembling a Heisman campaign on the fly in 2017. ”When you get somebody that exploded on the scene the way he did last year, it was hard to know that was about to happen,” Seeley said. “This year we wanted to get out there early.”

Thursday’s campaign kicked off with the launching of the website, video and social media platforms. As the 2018 season approaches, Seeley said UCF will begin its “second wave” of material, including mailers to voters and national interviews.

Seeley said Milton “got a kick” out of the campaign when it was previewed for him.

First, though, there was seeking the go-ahead from new head coach Josh Heupel, who had been the object of a Heisman campaign in 2000 while quarterbacking Oklahoma through the pressure of a national championship race. He finished second to Florida State’s Chris Weinke.

“Fortunately, McKenzie is really level-headed and laid back, so there is less to worry about with this type of a campaign around him,” Seeley said. “His job is just go out and play well and he knows that.”