Schoffel: Key to Milton's FSU comeback story might not be physical at all

He said he felt like a freshman again.

"In a way."

Learning a new offense from new coaches. Getting acclimated to the speed of the game. Trying to find timing and chemistry with unfamiliar wide receivers.

In other ways, McKenzie Milton feels nothing at all like an 18-year-old breaking into college football for the first time.

"I've played a lot of ball," he said. "I've seen a lot of things."

Ain't that the truth?

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As we watched Florida State's offense get dominated by the defense for most of Friday's practice, the first in full pads this spring, I found myself wondering what was going through Milton's mind.

If he were just an ordinary competitor, this would have to be incredibly frustrating.

The Seminoles' young wide receivers were having very little luck finding daylight against a group of more experienced defensive backs. The offensive line was having a tough time providing protection. And the coaching staff kept putting the offense in obvious passing situations, which made the defense's job that much easier.

If that wasn't enough, the FSU defense started getting more and more animated after every play. At first, a small celebration would break out after a deflected pass or sack. Then it seemed as if the entire defense was celebrating a Super Bowl victory after every turnover.

And no one could blame them.

It had to be exhilarating for defensive coordinator Adam Fuller's guys after everything that happened last fall. I don't know if they delivered many dominant performances in practice, but they surely didn't on Saturdays. So a turnover-inducing, sack-producing couple of hours had to be a blast.

But I was much more interested in No. 10's mindset.

For the last four or five years, McKenzie Milton has been Big Man on Campus. He wasn't necessarily a superstar that first year at UCF, when he started 10 games. But those next two seasons were more magical than 99.9 percent of all quarterbacks who play college football will ever experience.

He won a ton of games, was the hero of his university's fanbase, picked up a bunch of individual awards, and probably felt like there was nothing he couldn't do on a football field.

Now, he's going through something like this.

"We'll look at the film, but today's flushed," Milton said after the Friday practice. "All you can do is learn from it. The defense got after us, but we'll be back on Tuesday, and we'll get after them."

Milton wasn't the only one on offense frustrated. There obviously are plenty of competitors on that side of the ball.

But none have experienced success on his level. And few, if any, have fought through the type of physical adversity he has faced since sustaining a catastrophic leg injury more than two years ago.

For the longest time, Milton's biggest fear was that he'd never be able to play the sport again. Even after he signed with FSU as a graduate transfer this past December, there were plenty in the Seminoles' fanbase who still had the same concern.

But after one week of spring drills, it certainly appears that he's capable of competing physically. He's not going to take any real contact, obviously. None of the quarterbacks will. But when it comes to running around, throwing passes from the pocket or on the move, there are signs that he's still the same McKenzie Milton.

The hand talent is clearly there, and you can even see hints of the creativity and playmaking ability that made him a Heisman Trophy candidate three years ago.