(Photo by Adrian J. Hernandez / New Day Review)
Erik Chinander, Troy Walters to Lead Team if Scott Frost Doesn’t Travel
UCF Knights head coach Scott Frost is expecting his first child this week. That could inhibit the second-year head coach from traveling to Dallas, Texas, with his team for a game against Southern Methodist University. In that case, defensive coordinator Erik Chinander would assume head-coaching duties on the sideline, and offensive coordinator and wide-receivers coach Troy Walters would assume play-calling duties.
DC ERIK CHINANDER: “Yeah, I think, you know, I’m already on the sideline, and it’s not like I’m gonna have to do a lot with the offense. Coach Walters is gonna be in the box, and he’s gonna call a tremendous game no matter who’s on the sideline, so that’s no problem. [Special-teams coach/associate head coach Jovan Dewitt’s] up in the box, so he’s gonna do a great job with special teams, and I’m already kinda handling the defensive stuff. I’’s just gonna be a matter of managing the clock, managing timeout situations, you know, accepting the penalties and all that kind of thing. But I’ve been talking to Coach Frost about it, and I think I’ll be, you know, I’ll be ready to go, and I know that with the staff we have, it shouldn’t be a huge adjustment.”
OC/WR COACH TROY WALTERS: “Frost wanted to kinda get me prepared for calling a game just in case, you know, he wasn’t gonna be available either [against Austin Peay] or even SMU coming up, and so, you know, he let me call, you know, second half. You know, we still had great input from other coaches, and, you know, we do a great job of just in between series. You know, [offensive-line coach Greg Austin] will add his input on the run game and what he feels we could be effective at and [quarterbacks coach Mario Verduzco] in the pass game, and we all just kinda—[running-backs coach Ryan Held]—we just kinda all get ideas and what plays we wanna see the next drive, and we kinda get a mini play chart together, and we go from there. Yes, the play-calling’s all one guy, but, collectively, we help Coach Frost. You know, they’ll help me if I call it this week, and we’ll be just fine.”
McKenzie Milton Named Semifinalist for 2017 Maxwell College Player of the Year Award
On Oct. 30, quarterback McKenzie Milton was named a semifinalist to the Maxwell Football Club’s 2017 Maxwell Award for collegiate player of the year. He is one of 18 other candidates for the award.
In just Milton’s second collegiate season, he’s had a career year, leading the nation in multiple passing categories. Milton has thrown for 1,997 yards, 19 touchdowns and three interceptions on 129-for-177 passing (72.9 percent) while averaging 11.3 yards per attempt in 2017. He has surpassed his passing-yards total and touchdown total from last season in three fewer games. Milton leads the nation in quarterback rating (199.68), yards per attempt and completion percentage. Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Baker Mayfield trails Milton in second in all three categories.
QB MCKENZIE MILTON: “I was very grateful and humbled. I go by a saying: ‘There’s no individual success without team success.’ So, it speaks a testament to how well of a season our team is having and just very grateful.”
Tristan Payton Embraces New Defensive Role
Since his return to the team after a six-game, early-season suspension, former wide receiver Tristan Payton has worked with the defense. He most recently won the Knights’ special-teams player of the week honor for his performance against Austin Peay State University. Payton has since embraced his new role, according to Chinander. Defensive-backs Travis Fisher also sees Payton as a versatile back who can play anywhere in the secondary.
DC ERIK CHINANDER: “He was 100-percent great with it. You know, he talked to Coach Walters and myself, and, you know, basically said, ‘Where can I help the team the most?’ He did an unbelievable job on scout team. He’s done an unbelievable job on special teams, and now he—I think he really enjoys defense. I think he really does. I think he’s kind of got the defensive mentality even when he was playing receiver, you know? He wanted the ball, he wanted some contact. So I think he feels at home.”
DB COACH TRAVIS FISHER: “He’s gonna add depth to the safeties position. Off that, you can put him at corner. You can put him at Nickel. I really like him Nickel. Obviously, special teams, right now. He’s playing a lot of special teams. Very physical and very fast and very hungry. So then you got a guy that’s very coming in that’s very hungry—wanna play, wanna help his team, is buying in. You know, can’t ask more from him.”
For more on the Knights, as they prepare for SMU and Frost’s first child, follow Victor Tan on Twitter at @NDR_VictorTan.
