UCF Athletics is adding six more names to its Hall of Fame, and the 2026 class is led by one of the most recognizable quarterbacks in school history.
The Knights announced Thursday that Marissa Diggs, Octavious Freeman, Mike Kruczek, Mckenzie Milton, Emily Mottola and BJ Taylor will make up the department’s 2026 Hall of Fame Class. With those additions, UCF’s Hall of Fame now stands at 116 inductees since the first class in 1998.
Milton’s place in this group is easy to understand. He was the starting quarterback for UCF’s 13-0 season in 2017, a run that ended with a Peach Bowl victory over Auburn. He also helped fuel the Knights’ 25-game winning streak, earned AAC Offensive Player of the Year honors twice, and finished in the top eight of Heisman Trophy voting on two occasions.
Kruczek is being honored for a long run with the football program that stretched 19 years. He served as head coach from 1998 through 2003 and finished with a 36-30 record. His resume includes a 9-2 season in 1998 with Daunte Culpepper at quarterback, along with a notable upset of Alabama in the 2000 season.
On the women’s soccer side, Diggs was a force at center-back from 2010 to 2013. UCF made four straight NCAA Tournaments during her career and reached the Elite Eight in 2013.
She collected major conference honors in both leagues, winning the 2012 Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year award and the 2013 American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year award, and she was named an All-American twice. She was then taken 11th overall in the 2014 NWSL College Draft before heading back to Texas to join the Houston Dash.
Freeman’s track and field résumé is just as loaded. She was named Conference USA Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year in back-to-back seasons, won six conference titles and picked up nine First Team All-America honors. UCF finished in the top five at the NCAA Championships twice while she was there, and at the 2013 USA Outdoor Championships she set the school record in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.87 seconds.
Mottola, known as Emily Queisser during her playing days, starred at setter from 1992 to 1995. UCF reached the NCAA Tournament in consecutive years during her tenure and captured four straight ASUN Championships. She was the 1994 ASUN Tournament MVP and the 1995 ASUN Player of the Year, and she still holds the program’s career assists record with 5,923 and the matches played mark with 156.
Taylor rounds out the class after a standout run with the men’s basketball program from 2014 to 2019. He helped UCF reach the NCAA Tournament in 2019, when the Knights picked up their first Division I NCAA Tournament win by beating VCU 73-58.
A four-time team captain, Taylor was a first-team All-AAC selection in 2019 and finished seventh in school history with 1,618 points. He was the team’s leading scorer in four of his five seasons, with one year lost entirely to injury.
The 2026 UCF Athletics Hall of Fame Class will be formally inducted on Friday, October 23 and recognized during the homecoming football game against BYU.
In Other News...
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Grinch has pointed to the experience in his secondary as a key reason for optimism, and this matchup will ask that group to do more than just tackle and stay in position. It will require disciplined coverage, consistent rush from the front, and the kind of composure that keeps a hot passing game from turning into a runaway script. For UCF, this is the kind of night that can tell you whether that opener was a promising start or just a preview. [Read more 🡒]
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Now the NCAA has secured a legal stay that pauses that eligibility, leaving Stillwells playing status unsettled while the case continues to work its way through the system. For UCF fans watching a former player try to keep his career alive at a new school, it is another reminder that the final word in this dispute is still out there somewhere. [Read more 🡒]
UCF Faces An Early Road Test That Could Define This Start
UCF gets no breathing room after its season-opening win over Bethune-Cookman, with a road trip to Pittsburgh next up and a chance to see early just how sturdy this start can be. The Panthers are coming off a win of their own, so the matchup brings together two unbeaten teams trying to turn opening-week momentum into something more meaningful before the schedule tightens.
Pittsburghs offense has already shown it can stress a defense, which makes this a useful measuring stick for the Knights as they leave home for the first time. The broadcast setup and both teams upcoming schedules are in place, but for UCF the bigger question is whether it can handle the jump in class and leave with its early-season confidence intact. [Read more 🡒]