UCF is moving on from national championships to something much more achievable in 2018: the Heisman Trophy.
On Thursday the school got the jump on several candidates in a crowded field by unveiling a multimedia blitz centered around their star quarterback, McKenzie Milton. In addition to a new website, www.MiltonForHIsman.KZ, the Knights also played up the fact that the signal-caller hails from Kapolei, Hawaii by using a clever hashtag on social media and released a video featuring highlights from last season with notable statistics.
“Of the top 10 Heisman Trophy vote-getters from last season, three are returning to college football in 2018. Milton is the only quarterback of those three,” a release on the campaign said. “UCF Athletics created a HIsman logo to promote Milton’s candidacy and will utilize the term as a hashtag on social media as well. The capitalized HI is a nod to Milton’s Hawaii roots, while playing off the Heisman name.”
#𝗛𝗜sman🤙 pic.twitter.com/6ewuVGIknk
— UCF Football (@UCF_Football) June 28, 2018
As UCF notes, McKenzie is the only quarterback returning from last season that finished in the top 10 of the Heisman voting and is among the most recognizable names in the sport for 2018 thanks in part to that undefeated run a year ago.
While it’s no surprise to see the school start promoting their quarterback early and Milton is certainly quite the player, he’ll have an uphill battle to make it to New York -- much less win the award. In recent odds from Vegas posted earlier this month, Stanford running back Bryce Love is considered the favorite to take home the Heisman after finishing runner-up to Baker Mayfield last December and Milton didn’t even make the short list of several players at 20-1.
Even making it to the Big Apple would be quite the accomplishment for Milton and it would probably take similar or even more gaudy numbers than what he put up last season. The last Group of Five player to finish in the top five for the award was Navy’s Keenan Reynolds back in 2015 and Northern Illinois QB Jordan Lynch was the only one from outside a major program to get an invite to the ceremony in recent years.
You can’t blame the school for trying to drum up support though but something says this will be one of many Heisman campaigns to be released over the coming weeks and months.