(Photo by Victor Tan / New Day Review)
ORLANDO, Fla. – As the summer winds down, and the calendar creeps into late July and early August, football training camps begin. During camp, players vie for a starting job on the team, and, in some cases, it doesn’t matter what individual success a player had a season before.
Quarterback is no different. True sophomore McKenzie Milton started a season ago. Now, he faces competition from two true-freshman quarterbacks in Noah Vedral and Darriel Mack Jr.
“Honestly, we go into fall camp with every position up for grabs,” University of Central Florida head coach Scott Frost said after practice on July 27. “I want competition at every position. Quarterback’s no different. Right tackle, defensive end, corner—none of that’s any different. I want the guys coming out here and knowing something is on the line.”
This season, UCF returns only one scholarship quarterback in Milton after the spontaneous departure of Pete DiNovo. Last season, Milton became the starting quarterback after the team burned his redshirt and started him against the University of Maryland. Milton ended the season with 1,983 passing yards, 10 touchdowns and seven interceptions on 57.7 percent passing clip. He also rushed for 158 yards and three touchdowns.
As for Vedral and Mack Jr., both were three-star recruits, according to outlets like ESPN and 247Sports. While both have impressed coaches during camp, Vedral has stood out for how well he has studied and learned the playbook,
“I give Noah and his family a lot of credit,” Frost said after practice on Aug 8. “I’ve seen very few people work as hard as he worked in the offseason to make sure he knew the offense coming in. And that’s really helped him to stand out, especially these last few practices.”
Not only has Frost noticed Vedral’s knowledge of the playbook, but quarterbacks coach Mario Verduzco has as well.
“I was as impressed with him as I was with McKenzie last year,” Verduzco said after practice on Aug. 10. “You know, on his playbook test, [Vedral] scored 85 percent, which is tremendous. You know, you expect that, but it’s good to see when it happens.”
Vedral’s understanding of the playbook has led to him impressing his head coach during practice and the team’s first scrimmage.
“I thought Noah Vedral, the last three days, has really stood out,” Frost said after practice on Aug. 8. “I think he’s picked it up really fast. And the offense hums when he’s in there with the right tempo, and he’s making good decisions with the football.”
Mack Jr. has been impressing with his play on the field as well. Milton credited Mack with the best play of practice during the first day of camp on July 27. Even though he’s a freshman, Mack’s goal is to play.
“Oh, definitely. I think that’s anybody’s goal to come in and play,” Mack said after practice on Aug. 15. “But just gonna work on keep getting better and keep working on my craft.”
Despite the newcomers’ preseason successes, Milton is not frightened by the competition. In fact, he embraces it.
“I think competition is awesome,” Milton said after practice on July 27. “I think every year, every day you have to come in with the mindset to compete with whoever comes in and whoever leaves. That’s how you gotta approach every day.
“…Put in some more work in the film room, worked on my feet a lot,” Milton said about his offseason work. “Just staying kinda calm in the pocket, making sure my feetwork is down so I can stay in rhythm with the plays that we have.”
Verduzco also worked with Milton this offseason to try to help improve Milton’s situational awareness and his arm strength.
“Every quarterback across the country, at every level, is always improving situation and contingency offense,” Verduzco said. “‘Do I know the situation, what I’m gonna do?’ So on and so forth. So that’s a piece of the puzzle that he needs to get better at. Taking care of the football in crazy situations. Don’t make a bad play worse and all that sort of stuff. But he’s just built on what he’s done in the spring. He’s doing really well. All of the throwing workouts we did in the summer, I can tell that his arm is stronger. It’s more vibrant. He can throw for a longer duration of time without tiring.”
The competition brewing between the quarterbacks has not brought any ill will toward each other. That’s highlighted in both a relationship between Mack Jr. and Vedral and another between Mack Jr. and Milton. Mack Jr. and Vedral have been studying the playbook together.
“Outside of practice, me and Noah talk a lot,” Mack Jr. said. “Talk over the playbook, talk about just life in general. How it is for the both of us, like, comparisons about being college quarterbacks. We definitely sit around a lot, and most of the time we talking about the playbook.”
Mack Jr. hasn’t only been getting help and exchanging ideas with Vedral. Milton has taken him under his wing as well.
“He’s definitely been a big brother to me,” Mack Jr. said on his relationship with Milton. “You know, just helping me with the playbook, learning, learning our teammates, learning the coaches. So he’s definitely been a big brother to me.”
This season, the Knights will look to improve last year’s 66th-ranked offense, which scored 28.8 points per game. Quarterback play will be key to improving the offense. While the coaching staff looks to see who will best lead the team, the players simply want to see each other succeed.
“I definitely think it’s a competition, but, at the end of the day, we’re teammates, and we’re brothers,” Mack Jr. said. “So, we don’t really see it as that. We just see it as us just helping each other out.”
For more on the Knights, as they prepare for their season-opener against the FIU Panthers on Aug. 31, follow Ryan Weiss on Twitter at @NDR_RyanWeiss.
