Nebraska Football: Could Scott Frost reunite with McKenzie Milton?

UCF quarterback McKenzie Milton has entered the transfer portal and Nebraska football could be a fit for him since he previously played for Scott Frost.

In two years of working with Scott Frost at the University of Central Florida before Frost headed to Lincoln to coach the Nebraska Cornhuskers, McKenzie Milton led the Knights to a total record of 19-7. The second year that the pair worked together was the year UCF went 13-0 and won the Peach Bowl.

Milton has spent five years in the UCF football program and currently sits as a redshirt senior. A native of Kapolei, Hawaii, Milton spent three seasons with the Knights as their starting quarterback, where he averaged 210 completions with a completion percentage of 61.3%, averaged 24 touchdowns, and 7.3 interceptions per season. On the ground, Milton averaged 95 carries a season, along with a seasonal average of 359.3 yards for an average of 3.8 yards per carry.

The major question about Milton is his health. The reason he lost his starting job is because he suffered a gruesome injury in 2018 in a game against South Florida, which required medical staff to save his leg from amputation. Prior to his injury, Milton led the UCF team to 23 games unbeaten. Since his return, Milton has been apart of UCF’s scout team.

Milton was a proven dual-threat quarterback before his injury, but can he still be anywhere near as effective now? That would be the biggest concern. There isn’t any certainty that he would be as effective running the ball as he was pre-injury.

Spending a lot of time and resources to bring Milton to Nebraska for one year would be a gamble, but it may also be the gamble that saves Scott Frost’s job — A gamble worth taking if you are a Husker fan. Even though bringing Milton to Nebraska for a single season likely wouldn’t bring anything close to a National Championship, it would certainly be another alternative to the current Martinez-McCaffrey duo that is currently in place and hasn’t brought much success.

If Milton were to transfer to Nebraska, he may be able to help with recruitment as well. In a way, Milton inadvertently guided his own downfall at UCF by encouraging fellow Mililani High School graduate Dillon Gabriel to go to UCF. When Milton went down, Gabriel stepped in and has never turned back. Perhaps Milton could work some similar magic with the Huskers, other than the injury of course. That would be the dream, but nothing guaranteed.

Overall, this move is a pretty big gamble, but a gamble worth taking considering the current talent the Huskers have at the quarterback position. Even though this move is short-term it could have some good consequences further down the line. Reuniting Frost with Milton just seems like the perfect fit.