FSU football: Can McKenzie Milton win a major QB award in 2021?

FSU football quarterback McKenzie Milton hasn’t played a down of college football since 2018.

The UCF transfer last appeared in a college game in November 2018 against South Florida, where he dislocated his knee and suffered damage to arteries and nerves in the leg.

Milton nearly lost the leg, much less trying to play football again, but here we are nearly two and a half years later.

Milton transferred to FSU football and enrolled in spring 2021. He’s competing for the job with Jordan Travis but has already been named to two annual watch lists.

Milton has been named to the preseason watch lists for The Davey Award and the Maxwell Award. The former goes to the best quarterback in college football, and the latter goes to the best all-around in the United States.

Can Milton realistically win either of these awards? Well, probably not, but it’s good publicity for a team looking for a spark and a player with an amazing comeback story.

If Milton is close to 100 percent healthy, he’ll likely put up some impressive stats in Mike Norvell’s offense. Norvell has had quarterbacks surpass 4,000 yards passing and throw nearly 40 touchdowns in a season a couple of times.

Milton surpassed 4,000 passing yards and threw 37 touchdowns against only nine interceptions in 2017. Last year’s winner, Mac Jones threw for 4,500 yards and 41 touchdowns.

Usually, the winner of these awards goes to players on teams competing for a national championship. FSU football isn’t expected to do that, so that’s going to be another factor to consider. However, the nomination is a brief reminder of what McKenzie Milton could bring to the table if he’s healthy.

He progressed through the spring and looks to be physically ready. The next part is becoming comfortable in Mike Norvell’s offense while winning the job outright over Jordan Travis.

Fall camp starts in a couple of weeks, so it won’t be long before we know who’ll be the guy to lead the Noles in 2021.