Mililani QB Milton decommits from Hawaii
From Hawaii Prep World:
Mililani senior McKenzie Milton announced on Twitter Wednesday that he has decommitted from Hawaii and will instead sign with Central Florida.
“After a long tough process I’ve found in my heart that is best for me to decommit from UH,” Milton wrote on Twitter. “This fall I will be attending The University of Central Florida! Thank you for all the love and support God bless!”
Milton was the 2014 Honolulu Star-Advertiser offensive player of the year after leading the Trojans to their first state title. He dealt with a shoulder injury for much of his senior year yet still made the all-state second team.
Milton finished his career third all time with 7,303 passing yards, throwing for 81 touchdowns while completing 65.5 percent (512-for-782) of his passes in 34 games. He also rushed for 1,810 yards and 18 touchdowns.
Well so much for pledging his loyalty to the state’s team.
Great news. Opens up a scholarship for a fbs caliber player … Fans really thought Milton was fbs material ? Gotta be able to take a hit and stay on the field for starters.
Too bad. All the other QBs that have been mentioned in UH recruiting are rated by scouting services as lower than McKenzie … including Barriere and Davis. Tullis and Tuioti are being recruited as athletes who will probably end up on defense. Tuioti was at wide receiver and safety during the latter half of his high school career. These are great athletes but we are losing a great quarterback. Not sure about the impact of his injury but he’s still getting a FCS school offer. If he is as good as scout ratings, I hope Rolo at least makes a second run at McKenzie to try keep him.
Sorry … I meant an FBS school offer.
Too bad he has a change of heart. I was looking forward to seeing him in Warrior green. Jeezy, SK. Kev-1, Kifi, Kapakahi, can any of you provide us the latest in Warrior recruiting? I also read that Trey Hoskins de-committed and will sign with Weber State. But who/where are the new commits? I read that three offensive tackle prospects, Dixon, Hawthorne and Hermanns, visited Manoa last week. Anything?
Too bad about Milton. A man’s gotta do what he gotta do. Scott Frost must have promised the moon to him and probably whispered that he’s the inside track for the starting job. After all, UCF went 0-12 this past season so every newcomer has a shot at moving up the depth chart real quick. As far as Trey Hoskins, he’s a Chow commit so I think Rolo will get his own guys.
One interesting player to me is Laakea Kahoohanohano-Davis the DB from Baldwin. Has good height at 6’1″, return kicks too, and was the defensive player of the year on Maui.
Maybe Rolo’s thinking is that next year he can get Tua Tagovailoa. There is always a plan going on.
Disappointing, but at least, Milton informed the coaches before LOI day. Milton didn’t “switch hats” during LOI like someone who is coming back from SC did. At least, Rolo has a chance to offer other QB prospects an opportunity to be Warriors…
Young man needed to make a “life decision”, he needs to live with that decision and we need to move on…
As I believe JJ indicated, we only want athletes that want to be “Warriors” and we will embrace them accordingly. I like some of the QB prospects we are looking at and I’m sure if they are truly “warriors”, we’ll be okay.
I think some of the QB recruits don’t rate as high because of the other players in their state. But some of them do play against higher competition so they may be better than Milton.
Strange how he chose Central Florida they have those tall quarterbacks. Kinda reminds me of how Manley chose New Mexico State. I guess the offers weren’t there to make a better choice.
Davine Tullis is a terrific athlete and he’s in the supposed house. Also, Eric Barierre makes plays like Milton and throws a nice catchable ball, he is elusive, and a lot of his TD passes are bombs. He’s coming for a visit so I hope he gets an offer from UH. He isn’t big, but he plays at LaHabra HS so that’s a pretty good league in California.
Reminds me of Greg Ward, Jr. from Houston and that’s not a bad comparision, not bad at all. Barierre could be the sleeper of this recruiting class.
QB rating or any of the position ranking are meaningless to me. You have to see the film to watch them play, the competition they play in their league, etc. Most of all, talk to their coaches and what kind of person he is. Max Wittek was a 4 star player and Taylor Graham was a 3 star player. If you ask me, they didn’t do much at UH. Their athletic ability was lacking. Maybe in HS they were good, but FBS level, or even FCS level that’s a pretty big jump. And from college to NFL, that’s another big jump.
I still think we need a JC QB to add to the mix who is capable of being starter from the “get-go”. The HS QBs are likely “redshirts”, who will help the program down the line. IMHO, Milton would have been a “redshirt” and not a contributor till a few years anyway.
A little concerning the number of commits we have at this point in recruiting season and now we are getting de-commits, yikes. Still hopeful but we may need a solid season next year before we can get some of those recruits we are all hoping for. Scared that we are going to go through another recruiting class without landing DTs or enough DTs. Has been such a thin position for us for way too long!
Was hoping Milton could have been our Kellen Moore maybe he’ll come back after a season or two. Looks like Rolo is looking more for that dual-threat type of QB and maybe he just let Milton know he may not be the right fit.
I gotta agree with Jeezy on this one. While I thought MM was definitely a boost for UH in terms of local recruiting and sending a message to the local boys, I was never really high on him as a legit D1 QB. He has a lot of intangibles, for sure, but may not have a D1 arm. He has accuracy and nice touch on his passes, but probably lacks the necessary zip on the ball. Reminds me of Higgins (and Tuileta for that matter) as a passer. Just my opinion there. Not to mention, he doesn’t look like he has the frame to really grow into a much bigger QB. He is pretty skinny. One thing for sure, he was a winner in high school.
If anything, this will hurt UH more in terms of recruiting at home than it will on the football field.
I wouldn’t worry too much about the ratings of the new QB recruits. It seems like they are being recruited more as athletes.
well at least two of them anyway
Best of luck to Milton. UCF beat Baylor in a bowl game two years, ago. Nice facilities there.
http://www.ucfknights.com/facilities/ucf-facilities.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io3msWNH3jQ
I wonder why this 3-star QB wasn’t recruited by Rolovich?
http://www.standard.net/Weber-State/2016/01/22/weber-state-football-recruiting-qb-dakota-miller.html
OSD, I recall reading that Rolo said he agreed to lay off Nevada’s prospects/commits when he accepted the Warrior head coaching job. I am guessing that it would have been bad for him if Dakota Miller came to Hawaii.
Interesting listening to Bobby Curran this morning re McKenzie Milton. Apparently UCF’s new head coach Scott Frost has been talking to McKenzie for a while and really recruited him hard. Said they looked to building their program around McKenzie, much as Frost did at Oregon, building the program around Marcus. Conversely, McKenzie would have had to compete for playing time/starting just as any other recruit at Hawaii. So perceived reception was lukewarm. This apparently was credited to Bobby’s conversation with McKenzie’s dad.
H-Man: You’re right about the “Gentleman’s Agreement” with Rolovich not recruiting players Nevada was gong after. On the other hand, I wonder why, Miller didn’t stick with Nevada or did the Wolfpack stop recruiting him? He looks like a solid player at QB.
Surprising to me that no one is talking about local high school standout from Punahou and all-American from Oregon DeForest Buckner. He looks to be the 5-6 player picked in the NFL draft this year. Projections are the Dallas Cowboys are taking a good look at him. I remember all the press coverage for Manti Te`o and of course Marcus Mariotta but hardly anything about Buckner.
OSD, yeah, interesting that Miller decided to de-commit. But the article you posted points to Weber St’s receivers coach, Fesi Sitake, Miller’s main recruiting contact for choosing Weber St. Didn’t Trey Hoskins also commit to Weber State?
That’s because this thread is on Milton, not Buckner.
If Scott Frost is thinking that he can turn Milton into like Marcus Mariota I think he’s badly mistaken. There is only one Marcus Mariota. Milton is not 6’4″ tall and Milton is not 210-215 lbs. and Milton doesn’t run a 4.4 40, and Milton doesn’t have the arm like Marcus. There is no comparision. I just hope that Milton doesn’t get hurt. And I hope he gets much stronger and I hope he puts on at least 20 to 30 lbs. of muscle so he can withstand the pounding in college football. Good luck to the young man. I would say the same thing if he would still commit to Hawaii.
New commit?
Marcus Armstrong-Brown, Diablo Valley CC 6’3 WR
Guess it was old news. 🙂
If I recall correctly, Milton was turning some heads at some mainland camp last year. It may have been Oregon’s.
He is definitely not Marcus Mariota, but if Frost thinks that he can fit into that system and thrive, why not go for it? Vernon Adams was short too, albeit much thicker.
Manu … that is true. I believe he is rated as the 2nd best DE right behind Bosa. Let’s give that kid his due too.
Re No. 7 Wahine Water Polo, very little publicity. They opened the 2016 season with wins against No. 4 Cal, 11-10, and No. 12 Michigan 10-9. Congrats to the Wahine Water Polo team.
Milton is going to a bigger school with more money and an on campus stadium that draws 40,000 to games. They had a bad year in 2015– but two years before got the BCS bowl bid to the Fiesta Bowl and beat No. 6 Baylor 52-42. They have talented teams from a recruiting hotbed in Florida and have produced NFL players in their short history. As to his abilities, watching him in person, he is smart, accurate, makes quick decisions and has a good arm– he can throw with velocity– he throws long lofted passes wit perfect placement and timing, but he can also drill a long line drive. He was MVP of the Oregon clinic.
From what I gather on twitter and message boards:
OL Austin Dixon – Boise
OL Grant Hermanns – Purdue
DE Tainoa Foster – Fresno
Rolo did get commitment from LB Laakea Look, hope not a scholie. Kid was productive in HS but don’t think he’s D1 talent.
Any other news out there? NLI just a week away, so should be heating up…
Now the lost of a QB!. How is next now?. Hey! UH and coaches don’t expect that you guy will get the QB from St. Louis next year!. Hell NO!. You’ll really not going to get him. Because you done the same thing with Marcus Mariota!. Now, I really seriously want to know what kind of QB recruit that University of Hawaii football program will do now?!. Now! it show now that Hawaii will have a losing season again! If Hawaii ever beat all big school next year? They will be on the front page of SI. I know and lot’s of you know that? It will never happen to University of Hawaii football program! .
Think you gotta chill DJ! This is a new time with new people. Step in or step off.
Although we didn’t get Milton, we did get a commit from Keala Santiago! that’s a big time commit for UH! #DefendPrideRock
Jeezy, you out there? We (I) need recruiting updates, hopefully something regarding the big uglies. With all the OT recruits committing elsewhere, who we got targeted and are they good? HELP.
Looks like our offensive coordinator and QB coach just “decommited” to take OC QB coach position at Boise. Just announced in the Idaho Statesman” and other Boise media.
There is still time for Milton to change his mind to stay at home. I believe UH wants to get another QB with this recruiting class. With only 4 QBs in the program (Woolsey, Reilly, Zwahlen, and Tullis) I think this a a very thin position.
I thought Barriere would have been a good one, but he decided on Eastern Washington. Smith from St. John Bosco is a possibility and he looked good on tape. That’s a good program, with Rosen from UCLA coming from there. Maybe Tolliver can convince his teammate to join our Warriors? Either way, I don’t think Rolo will want to get caught short of having enough QBs who can play. Playing QB throwing and running the read/zone option is a risky thing to do. Gotta stay healthy and have good depth, especially the most important position on the team. So Milton, we need you buddy. I’m from Mililani and I would love to see you playing for UH.
Derek, Hawaii got one more (Cole McDonald), but Rolo clarified on this afternoon’s Animal show that Tullis will be a wide receiver coming into fall camp. Rolo’s interview was interesting. He said that while visiting Tullis at his home, the family suggested they play poker.
Anybody know what happened with Kamoku Noa? I thought he was signing with UH
Besides Noa, in addition UH had a commitment from lineman Kalepo Naotala out of Virginia, but he didn’t sign a NLI. No reason was given as to what happened to him, if he’s still committed or if he went elsewhere.
Whatever happened to the former Punahou QB Tui who asked for, and got a realease from USC? I thought he might play for the UH fooball! or is it Volleyball? At any rate he did not sign a NLI, I mean after Ulu Perry did!
Why Moderation?