It didn't take long for Arkansas State linebacker Xavier Woodson-Luster to find a comparison for Central Florida quarterback McKenzie Milton.
"He reminds me of Fredi," said Woodson-Luster, referring to former ASU quarterback Fredi Knighten, who finished his career a year ago ranked in the top five of most of the school's career offense lists.
The comparison comes from Milton's willingness to get out of the pocket, much as Knighten did for two seasons as ASU's starter. Not counting sacks, Milton rushed for 397 yards and three touchdowns this season, heading into today's Cure Bowl against the Red Wolves. His 63-yard run against Temple on Oct. 15, was the team's second longest of the season.
It's part of what made Knights Coach Scott Frost so willing to hand the reigns of his offense over to the true freshman from Hawaii. Frost, hired last December to pull UCF out of its 0-12 finish last year, has three true freshmen starting on offense.
"McKenzie had an 'it' factor right away. You could see that when he got to campus. The players gravitated toward him," Frost said. "It was clear right away that we had a special player on our hands, and we look forward to continuing to watch him grow."
In nine starts, Milton completed 57.9 percent of his passes for 1,808 yards with 9 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. While watching film, Woodson-Luster said he can detect talent, but inexperience, too.
"At times, he plays good," Woodson-Luster said. "At times, he plays like a freshman and we'd like to exploit that."
Right guard Jordan Johnson is a freshman who has started every game. Freshman Jawon Hamilton is UCF's leading rusher at 481 yards, and freshman receiver Dredrick Snelson has caught 17 passes and 2 touchdowns. Frost said the youth was necessary.
"They were the best people that we had for the job," he said. "That's going to help us down the road, but we fought through some growing pains."
Eyes on Mack
Blake Mack's breakout season as a first-year starter caught the attention of Central Florida defenders.
During Thursday's Cure Bowl news conference, UCF linebacker Mark Rucker was asked about Mack.
"Watching him on film, he's a really good player," Rucker said of Mack, ASU's 6-3 tight end who was named second-team All-Sun Belt Conference. "Our whole challenge is to overcome it."
When informed of those remarks Friday, Mack said he was flattered by the compliment, but not all that excited to hear that he had been noticed.
"I don't really like them knowing that I'm there," Mack said.
Mack has stood out quite a few times this season. He tied for the team-lead with 33 catches and had a team-best 585 receiving yards. His 17.7 yards per catch also led the team, and he caught three touchdown passes.
Not a bad debut for a player who hadn't played the position until last spring.
"It was my first year playing in the trenches," Mack said. "As far as my numbers, I felt like they were pretty good, but I feel like I can do so much better."
Enemy territory
Arkansas State defensive end Chris Odom let out a laugh when asked if he felt like he was playing a road game today.
"I mean, of course, we're Arkansas State and we're all the way here in Florida," he said.
Today's Cure Bowl isn't being played in Central Florida's home stadium, but it's less than 20 miles east of its sprawling campus and where it plays its home games. ASU Coach Blake Anderosn joked about the proximity during Thursday's news conference.
"They've got a drive across town," Anderson said. "That'll make it hard on them."
The travel distance for ASU -- its further than previous bowl destinations of Mobile, Ala., and New Orleans -- and the close proximity for UCF could make the crowd hard to gauge. UCF averaged an announced crowd of 35,802 at its Bright House Networks Stadium this year, while ASU Athletic Director Terry Mohajir said he wasn't sure of a ticket sales figure, but he expects about 2,000 ASU fans.
Odom said he hopes it doesn't matter.
"It doesn't matter wherever we go," he said. "The job at hand still remains the same. The game and the objective is still to win the game. That doesn't change wherever we are."
Happy homecoming
Running back Warren Wand came to Arkansas State from Edmond, Okla., but this week has served as a homecoming of sorts for him.
Wand said he lived in Orlando, Fla., as a fourth-grader before moving back to Oklahoma when he was in the eighth grade. He said he's never seen a game at Camping World Stadium, but has had fun this week seeing old friends.
"It's pretty exciting to see lots of old faces," he said. "It's a good thing."
Sports on 12/17/2016