Former UCF star McKenzie Milton reunites with Josh Heupel as Tennessee football offensive analyst

Former UCF and Florida State quarterback McKenzie Milton will begin his college coaching career in Knoxville.

Milton will join his former coach Josh Heupel's Tennessee football staff as an offensive analyst, the program announced Thursday.

Milton played at UCF from 2016 to 2020 and was the Knights' starting quarterback in 2018 for Heupel's first season as coach.

"His perseverance, determination and leadership are attributes that made him successful as a player and will no doubt translate to him being an outstanding future coach," Heupel said in a release. "He's always been a student of the game and understands the why behind what we do."

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The Mililani, Hawaii, native earned the starting quarterback job with UCF in 2016 and put together a remarkable three-year stint. In 2017, Milton led UCF to a 13-0 record and a victory over Auburn in the Peach Bowl while earning AAC Offensive Player of the Year honors. Milton, who set program records in many single-season passing marks, also was eighth in the 2017 Heisman Trophy voting.

Milton then led UCF to an undefeated regular season in 2018 (Heupel's first season as UCF coach) but suffered a severe knee injury in the regular-season finale against South Florida. Doctors had to rush Milton into emergency surgery to save his right leg after he suffered a severe knee dislocation, damage to a main artery, tendon damage and several torn ligaments, the Orlando Sentinel reported in 2021.

Milton was sixth in 2018 Heisman Trophy voting and earned AAC Offensive Player of the Year honors for a second straight season. But injury rehabilitation forced him to miss the 2019 and 2020 seasons, though he did return to football activities in 2020. Milton transferred from UCF to Florida State in 2021, the same year Heupel took the Tennessee job, where he concluded his college career. He played in six games with four starts for the Seminoles.

"I am grateful to Coach Heupel and Director of Athletics Danny White for giving me this opportunity," Milton said in a program release. "Their leadership makes a difference. I look forward to helping the program in any way I can."