UCF Football: What does Brandon Wimbush transfer mean for Knights?

Option C: McKenzie Milton comes back healthy and retakes starting role

The entire reason for bringing in a player like Brandon Wimbush, who will only be eligible in 2019, is the fact that UCF thinks McKenzie Milton will still be recovering from the horrific injury that ended his season in the War on I-4 against South Florida.

By bringing in Wimbush to either take over the offense or push Mack to a quantum leap in development, the Knights will almost certainly make a strong push to get Milton a medical redshirt. Depending on how the NCAA rules, Milton could come back in 2020 and take right back over the offense after getting plenty of time to heal.

If he is healthy, though, Milton will be given every opportunity to reclaim the mantle as the starting quarterback at UCF. A three-year starter at the position for the Knights, Milton has Heisman-caliber potential and would offer the sort of continuity that is rare at the position for national contenders.

Make no mistake, the decision to get Wimbush was more than anything an implicit recognition by a national contender that they needed to gain insurance at the most critical position on offense. With so much of UCF’s success dependent on the full function of their high-octane attack, the former Notre Dame man offers the type of insurance that is usually only available to the best Power Five programs.

But if Milton does not get the medical redshirt and he is back on the field in 2019, it will make for quite the quarterback competition in the preseason. With three possible options at the position, UCF has the raw talent to ensure another run at a third straight New Year’s Six appearance.