There’s at least a sliver of positive news coming out of a horrific situation that developed in Week 13.
In the second quarter of UCF’s win over rival USF Friday evening, McKenzie Milton went down with a horrific and gruesome injury to his right leg. Medical personnel immobilized the quarterback’s entire leg before he was taken to a local hospital for further treatment of an injury that his head coach, Josh Heupel, deemed “traumatic.”
It was subsequently confirmed that Milton underwent emergency surgery to repair unspecified damage in his knee as well as what was described as “other internal issues.” Saturday afternoon, McKenzie’s family issued a statement in which they described the surgery as being successful but provided no details on the specific nature of the injury.
In an interview with ESPN.com‘s Andrea Adelson Monday, teammate Jordan Johnson revealed he FaceTimed with Milton recently and that the quarterback stated he was able to take steps for the first time since the surgery was performed Friday night and on into Saturday morning. It’s unclear if Milton was able to walk on his own or did so with assistance, although the latter is more likely.
“I called him to see how he was doing, and he was letting us know that he’s there for us,” Johnson told Adelson. “He wants to see us succeed, so we’re out there playing for McKenzie. We want to go out there and win for him. It was all good vibes. I told him it was good to see him smiling. He said that he got to walk the other day, and he never appreciated walking as much.”
Milton remains hospitalized at Tampa General Hospital. In the family’s statement, they said that “McKenzie looks forward to rejoining his teammates in Orlando and supporting them in their quest to bring another conference championship to our program.” UCF will host Memphis this Saturday in the AAC championship game; it’s unclear if Milton will be released from the hospital in time to support his Knights teammates in person.
Good Morning Knight Nation. Thank you for the out pour of prayers and well wishes ! KZ is in good spirits and has over come some hurtles already ! Today he is on line helping his team prep for Victory on Sat! Please not an empty seat ! Fill the Bounce house! Be There !
— TeresaMilton (@milton6teresa) November 27, 2018