FSU football: Pros and cons of starting McKenzie Milton at QB
By Kelvin Hunt
Cons
The first thing that comes to mind is it’s not easy to prepare a game plan around a quarterback that may not be available to practice every day.
Multiple outlets have reported that Milton was not available as much as Jordan Travis in fall camp, and Mike Norvell called it “load management” for not just Milton, but several players that missed practice. It makes sense with a guy that almost lost his leg from a catastrophic injury, who hadn’t played in actual games since 2018.
We didn’t know how he would react to getting hit for the first time until he was in the game Sunday night. Thankfully, he responded well to the contact and looked fine moving out there. I’m curious how he felt the next day and at Tuesday’s practice.
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One thing to note was Notre Dame had relaxed a bit on defense when Milton came into the game. Travis saw more 4-man fronts with blitzing linebackers early, whereas Milton saw more 3-man and less blitzing from a not-so-fresh defense.
Would Milton have survived under the same pressure early on? I’m not sure, as Jordan Travis pulled some Houdini moves to escape and make something happen.
Travis got hit early and often. Could Milton physically hold up? On the flip side, it could be as simple as making the right pre-snap reads and getting the ball out quicker.