Last November, almost a year to the day after he suffered a devastating knee injury that would require 11 surgeries, lei-bedecked quarterback McKenzie Milton was cheered as he hobbled in the University of Central Florida’s Senior Night festivities.
Now, it turns out, that could be the first of as many as four senior nights for the Mililani High graduate.
The 2020 UCF season, which starts Sept. 19 at Georgia Tech, marks Milton’s redshirt senior or fifth year. Normally, players are permitted five seasons in which to exhaust four years of eligibility. But a policy enacted by the NCAA’s Board of Directors last month due to the COVID-19 pandemic gives this year’s players an eligibility extension for 2021, similar to what spring sports athletes were provided.
Milton could also choose to petition the NCAA for a hardship waiver that, if granted, would allow him eligibility for 2022, amounting to a seventh year, a UCF spokesman confirmed.
Less than a dozen seventh-year waivers had been granted by the NCAA through 2019. But the NCAA has become more lenient on a variety of waivers of late and the severity of Milton’s injury, which nearly resulted in amputation, and determined path to a comeback have been well documented.
UCF did not make its players available for interviews the first two weeks of school. Milton’s father, Mark, said there has been no decision on whether to pursue a hardship waiver. “The main focus right now is on taking it one day at a time and getting back to where he wants to be,” his father said.
Milton, who finished eighth in the 2017 Heisman Trophy voting as a sophomore after leading the Knights to a 13-0 season, had UCF at 10-0 in 2018 before suffering the injury.
Milton was trying to scramble for a first down in the second quarter of the regular-season finale against South Florida. But the tackle resulted in what for football has been described as a freak catastrophic knee injury more common to high speed vehicle accidents. In Milton’s case, the injury resulted in ligament, nerve and arterial damage requiring emergency surgery to repair the popliteal artery behind his right knee.
What was widely viewed as a likely career-ending injury has spurred Milton to what has, so far, been a resolute 22-month crusade to, at some point, get back on the field and perform at an elite level.
Between rehabilitation and assisting with coaching the quarterbacks, Milton has earned an undergraduate degree in sports and exercise science and is said to be on track to earn a master’s degree in 2021.
Encased in a knee brace, Milton, who began throwing to UCF receivers in March, has been cleared for practice but not contact.
Recent videos posted on the Instagram account of his mother, Teresa, showed him with considerable ease of movement, both laterally and vertically, in a series of fast-paced agility drills.
The results of his recent check-up with surgeons at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., were lauded by his parents with Teresa tweeting, “He will start a new phase of recovery! And, all I can say is God is Good!”
MCKENZIE’S MOUNTAIN
McKenzie Milton’s UCF career
YEAR STATUS GAMES
2016 Freshman 10
2017 Sophomore 13
2018 Junior* 10
2019 Senior/Redshirt 0
2020 Redshirt Senior TBD
2021 NCAA extension TBD
2022 Hardship year#
* — Season-ending injury in final regular season game.
# — If petitioned for and granted by NCAA
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.
