McKenzie Milton’s UCF legacy is getting another line in the record book.
The former Knights quarterback, now the team’s quarterbacks coach, has been selected for UCF’s 2026 Hall of Fame class. He’ll be joined by Marissa Diggs, Octavious Freeman, Mike Kruczek, Emily Mottola and BJ Taylor.
The six honorees will be introduced at an induction ceremony on Friday, Oct. 23, at the Celeste Hotel. With this class, UCF’s Hall of Fame will expand to 116 inductees, spanning athletes, coaches, teams and special contributors to the athletic department.
Milton’s place in school history was already secure. He led UCF to a 27-6 record as a starting quarterback and was the engine behind back-to-back Athletic American Conference titles and consecutive New Year’s Six bowl appearances.
In 2017, he was named AAC Offensive Player of the Year after guiding the Knights to a program-best 13-0 mark, capped by a Peach Bowl win over Auburn. The Hawaii native finished seventh in Heisman Trophy voting in 2017 and sixth in 2018.
Diggs carved out her own elite résumé in women’s soccer, becoming UCF’s second two-time All-American and joining Michelle Akers in that company. From 2010-13, she won Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year in 2012 and American Athletic Conference DOP in 2013, while helping the Knights reach four NCAA Championship tournaments, including an Elite Eight run in 2013.
Freeman made her mark on the track in a hurry. Over two seasons with UCF in 2012-13, she collected nine first-team All-American honors and posted the highest NCAA finish by a UCF runner at the time when she placed second in the 60 meters at the 2012 NCAA Indoor Championships. She also helped the Knights to a fifth-place finish at the 2013 NCAA Indoor Championships, still the best national finish in program history.
Kruczek’s impact stretched far beyond wins and losses. He spent nearly 20 years with the football program as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach before taking over as head coach in 1998 after Gene McDowell. Across five seasons, he went 36-30 and helped steer the program through its move from Division II to the Football Bowl Subdivision.
Mottola was a fixture at setter for UCF volleyball from 1992-95, earning four all-conference nods. She was the ASUN Player of the Year in 1995 and the ASUN Championship Most Valuable Player in 1994, and she helped the Knights win four straight ASUN titles while reaching back-to-back NCAA Championship tournaments in 1994 and 1995. She also sits among the program’s career leaders in service aces, sets played and digs.
Taylor rounds out the class after a standout run as UCF’s point guard from 2014-19. In 104 games, he averaged 15.6 points and 3.1 assists, finished with 1,618 points, and ranks seventh in program history in career scoring and fourth in the Division I era. The Orlando native led the Knights in scoring every season, became the first player to earn All-American Athletic Conference first-team honors in 2019, and set the school’s single-season record with 187 made free throws as a senior.
In Other News...
UCF Defense Faces Its First Real Test Against Pitt
UCFs opener offered plenty to like on defense, even if the real examination is still ahead. The Knights held Bethune-Cookman to 181 total yards, a clean first step for coordinator Alex Grinchs unit as it tries to establish a tougher identity early in the season. The upcoming trip brings a much sharper measuring stick, with Pittsburgh arriving behind one of the countrys most productive passing attacks and a quarterback who has already shown he can punish mistakes.
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 🡒]
Former UCF Forward Jamichael Stillwell Faces A New Twist In Eligibility Fight
Jamichael Stillwells route to Texas Tech has hit another roadblock, adding a fresh layer to an eligibility fight that has already stretched well past the usual offseason movement. The former UCF forward had been moving forward under a preliminary injunction that gave him temporary eligibility, a development that briefly put his next chapter back on track after leaving Orlando.
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 🡒]