The Transfer Portal has changed the landscape of college football. So at Rivals we bring you the Transfer Tracker, where we analyze players entering the portal and rate them on what kind of impact they could make at their new home.
Next up in the tracker: UCF quarterback McKenzie Milton.
AS A RECRUIT
Milton caught the eye of Scott Frost while he was the offensive coordinator at Oregon, but the Ducks never offered and Milton was set to stay home and play for Hawaii. However, after Frost was hired by UCF, Milton committed to the Knights and signed shortly thereafter.
AT UCF
Milton won the job midway through his freshman season with the Knights and went on to become one of the most prolific quarterbacks in UCF's history. He led the team to a 13-0 record in 2017, including a Peach Bowl victory over Auburn. He finished eighth in Heisman Trophy balloting that season. In 2018, he followed it up with another impressive season, leading the Knights to an undefeated regular season before suffering a devastating knee injury in the final game of the year against rival USF. After spending the the last two years rehabbing and with the Knights having starter Dillon Gabriel back, Milton entered the portal for his sixth and final year of eligibility.
POTENTIAL LANDING SPOTS
This seems like a slam dunk fit for Frost and Milton to reunite at Nebraska. The Huskers have had inconsistent quarterback play since Frost arrived in Lincoln and Milton would be able to pick up the offense right away. The risk of course is if Milton isn't healthy and how it might impact the Huskers current quarterbacks. Plenty of other schools are likely to kick the tires on Milton as well, including Ole Miss should quarterback Matt Corral enter the NFL Draft.
FARRELL'S TAKE
"There are a lot of unknowns here after Milton’s awful injury. Will he be the same player? Can he make the same kind of national impact? He’s a tough evaluation to make because before the injury he was amazing. I still think there’s a home for him at the Group of Five level but his impact has to be less than we would expect a couple years ago." -- National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell.
Impact rating: 6.1
IMPACT METER
The Transfer Portal continues to change the way college football programs recruit and mange their rosters so we here at Rivals.com continue to evolve our coverage. Each time a player of note enters the portal, we will examine their potential impact on the college football landscape and assign an impact rating, both when they enter the portal and when they choose a destination. The scale is from 1-10 and the description below explains the scoring scale.
1.1-4.0 — Not a big impact expected, likely a non-starter and down the bench depth player.
4.1- 6.0 — A solid impact can be expected in the right scenario and has the potential to battle for a starting job.
6.1-9.0. — A high impact player who won’t change a program but will certainly be a very good contributor and starter.
9.1- 9.9 — A very high impact player who should start the moment he steps on the field and will change the outlook of a program immediately.
10 — A franchise transfer who has a chance to be an All American and one of the elite players in college football.
