Former UCF QB McKenzie Milton Tweets About Cincinnati HC Luke Fickell
With the big game coming up, sometimes even former players talk about it publicly. Plus, it's good to give props when they are due.
McKenzie Milton, a former quarterback for the UCF Knights that had three seasons of being the primary signal caller (2016-2018), took to Twitter to make the following statement about the Cincinnati Bearcats and head coach Luke Fickell.
I hope we beat the breaks off these boys on Saturday but in all seriousness I have a ton of respect for what Luke Fickell has done up there since 2017.
— McKenzie Milton (@McKenzieMil10) October 26, 2022
Usually, former players are not as nice as Milton when discussing the opposition. Props to him for being honest about the Bearcats while also being committed to the Knights. That’s a good man right there.
As for what Fickell is accomplishing, it’s quite impressive. Since arriving at Cincinnati in 2017, his record as a head coach is 54-16, a winning mark of 77.1%. Considering his first season of establishing the program in 2017 saw the Bearcats go just 4-8, it’s even more impressive after that season.
Cincinnati is 50-8 from 2018 to present day, equaling 86.2%.
What has Fickell and his staff done well? Ironically, it’s similar to how UCF’s program has been since its inception: Find the talent, no matter how raw, coach it up and watch it grow.
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Until just recently, Cincinnati was not signing even that many four-star prospects, and still does not land the truly coveted five-star recruits. That’s much like UCF.
The Bearcats do maximize what they have and win with their system, chalk full of athletes that many of the so-called big boys of college football did not go after during the recruiting process.
Even current signal caller Ben Bryant is a great example. Like Milton himself, also someone overlooked by numerous college programs, Bryant chose Cincinnati after Wisconsin was his only other “name brand” offer. It’s not like the Badgers recruit quarterbacks out of high school and let them rip it across the gridiron either. So it’s not surprising he took his talents to Ohio to play for the Bearcats.
Bryant waited his turn behind quarterback Desmond Ridder (now with the Atlanta Falcons) before transferring for the 2021 season to play with Eastern Michigan. He’s now transferred back to Cincinnati, with Ridder gone, and is doing well, throwing for 251.6 yards per game, while also tossing 15 touchdowns and six interceptions.
He’s a true example of how an underrated player can flourish at Cincinnati, much like Milton at UCF, after being overlooked. Sure, Bryant took off for a year because of how good Ridder was, but he came back to a winning culture when he could have signed with numerous other programs.
Bryant threw for 3,121 yards last season. He had options and still chose Fickell’s program a second time. He’s no fool, however, and wants to be around a program that is winning with a unique culture. He’s a microcosm of what Cincinnati is: A program sticks to its guns and does the little things to win college football games.
Anyone that truly looks into the Cincinnati program is going to find a hard-nosed football team, a squad that out schemes and out executes the opposition. Not all of the best Cincinnati players came out of high school with bunches of recruiting accolades, but they are now winning within a culture that’s one of the best in college football.
Milton is correct about Cincinnati and Fickell. It’s truly a program and head coach that fans should respect for what they are achieving.
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