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Milton, Kruczek Headline 2026 UCF Athletics Hall of Fame Class

Learn more about the six former Knights, including McKenzie Milton and former coach Mike Kruczek, who will be enshrined in the UCF Athletics Hall of Fame at an Oct. 23 ceremony.
Bryson Turner|
Nov 10, 2018; Orlando, FL, USA; UCF Knights quarterback McKenzie Milton (10) throws a pass during the first quarter against the Navy Midshipmen at Spectrum Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 10, 2018; Orlando, FL, USA; UCF Knights quarterback McKenzie Milton (10) throws a pass during the first quarter against the Navy Midshipmen at Spectrum Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports | USA TODAY Sports

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Former UCF quarterback McKenzie Milton and football coach Mike Kruczek are both members of the 2026 UCF Athletics Hall of Fame class, the department announced on Thursday morning.

Milton and Kruczek, along with the rest of the six-member class, are set to be honored at a ceremony at UCF's Celeste Hotel on Oct. 23 at 7 p.m. as well as during the Knights' homecoming football game against BYU the following day.

Learn more about all six inductees below:

  1. McKenzie Milton, Football
  2. Mike Kruczek, Football Coach
  3. B.J. Taylor, Men's Basketball
  4. Marissa Diggs, Women's Soccer
  5. Octavious Freeman, Track and Field
  6. Emily (Queisser) Mottola, Volleyball

1. McKenzie Milton, Football

UCF Knights quarterback McKenzie Milton (10) throws a touchdown pass during the first quarter against the Temple Owls.
Nov 1, 2018; Orlando, FL, USA; UCF Knights quarterback McKenzie Milton (10) throws a touchdown pass during the first quarter against the Temple Owls at Spectrum Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports | USA TODAY Sports

Coming to Orlando all the way from Miliani, Hawai'i, McKenzie Milton led the Knights' offense for 33 games from 2016 to 2018, the final 23 of which were all wins, part of UCF's historic winning streak during the 2017 and 2018 seasons.

He is one of three players in program history to earn votes for the Heisman Trophy, joining Daunte Culpepper (1998) and Kevin Smith (2007), but was the only one to do so twice, in 2017 and 2018. His sixth-place finish in 2018 tied Culpepper for the highest position a Knight finished in voting.

While he may have performed better with Heisman voters in 2018, his 2017 campaign had already cemented him as one of UCF's all-time great quarterbacks. His 4,037 passing yards and 37 passing touchdowns in 2017 are still single-season program records today. Plus, combined with his 613 rushing yards and eight touchdowns, he also holds the program's single-season records in touchdowns responsible for in a single season (45 TDs) and total offensive yards (4,650 yards), the latter being 497 yards more than 1998 Daunte Culpepper.

While his 2018 season might have been a down year from a statistical standpoint from 2017, Milton's 8,683 career passing yards and 72 touchdowns are still both in the top five in program history.

For his efforts, Milton was named the American Athletic Conference's Offensive Player of the Year in both 2017 and 2018, along with his All-AAC First Team honors.

Milton's playing career at UCF came to an abrupt end during the Knights' 2018 matchup against South Florida after suffering a catastrophic knee injury that nearly resulted in the amputation of his right leg. His recovery and rehab from the injury that led him to return to the field again in 2021 for Florida State not only helped him become a Mayo Clinic Comeback Player of the Year in 2021, but it was described as a "miraculous recovery in every sense" by ESPN's Andrea Adelson, who followed Milton's journey back to the field.

Nowadays, Milton is back in Orlando serving as UCF's quarterbacks coach under Frost, who tabbed him as the first officially announced member of his new staff following his own return to the program in December 2024. It is the second stop of his coaching career after serving as an offensive analyst at Tennessee in 2023 and 2024.

2. Mike Kruczek, Football Coach

Mike Kruczek is the fourth UCF head football coach to be inducted into the UCF Athletics Hall of Fame, joining inaugural coach Don Jonas, George O'Leary and Gene McDowell. He led the Knights from 1998 to 2003, going 36-30 overall. During his time leading the program, Kruczek presided over highlights such as a 9-2 season in 1998, Culpepper's senior season, and beating Alabama in Tuscaloosa in 2000. He also went 4-7 in 1999 and went 3-7 in 2003 before he was fired.

However, while his head coaching tenure brought mixed results, his time as a Knight is much more than just that.

Following a playing career that saw him win two Super Bowl rings with the Pittsburgh Steelers and earn the NFL record for the most passing attempts without a touchdown, Kruczek took his first coaching job as quarterbacks coach at Florida State under Bobby Bowden in 1982. On that same coaching staff, coaching linebackers, was one Gene McDowell.

In 1985, McDowell tabbed Kruczek to become his offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach after he was hired by a then-Division II UCF program. Before assuming the head job in 1998, Kruczek still led the Knights' offense during runs to the Division II Semifinals in 1987 with quarterback Darin Slack, a Division I-AA (now FCS) semifinal run in 1990 and another Division I-AA appearance in 1993.

During his 18 years as a Knight, Kruczek coached quarterbacks like Slack, Darin Hinshaw, Ryan Schneider and Culpepper, all of whom are among the top 10 all-time in career passing yards and touchdowns in program history. He also coached several other Knights who themselves are in the UCF Athletics Hall of Fame alongside Culpepper, including running backs Willie English and Alex Haynes, wide receivers Shawn Jefferson and Bernard Ford and offensive linemen Cornell Green and Mike Gruttadauria. His coaching staff also recruited wide receivers Brandon Marshall and Mike Sims-Walker, even if they did not finish their careers under him.

Following his UCF career, Kruczek coached in the professional ranks from 2004 to 2011, including with the Arizona Cardinals from 2004 to 2006, before briefly coaching collegiately again in 2012 at UMass. Since 2013, he has been coaching at the high school level in the Central Florida area, where he ended up coaching UCF tight end Alec Holler during his high school career at Trinity Prep.

Nowadays, he is the offensive coordinator at Lake Brantley High School under his son, Garrett Kruczek.

3. B.J. Taylor, Men's Basketball

UCF Knights guard BJ Taylor (1) during during a press conference before the first round of the 2019 NCAA Tournament.
Mar 21, 2019; Columbia, SC, USA; UCF Knights guard BJ Taylor (1) during during a press conference before the first round of the 2019 NCAA Tournament at Colonial Life Arena. Mandatory Credit: Joshua S. Kelly-USA TODAY Sports | USA TODAY Sports

Former UCF guard B.J. Taylor is the first Knight coached by Johnny Dawkins to get inducted into the UCF Athletics Hall of Fame.

A graduate of Orlando's Boone High School, Taylor spent all five seasons of his college basketball career as a Knight, leading the team in scoring in four of them, with the other one being the season in which he was sidelined his entire sophomore season due to a lower leg injury. He was also part of two of the most historic postseason runs in program history: the run to the 2017 NIT semifinals at Madison Square Garden and the 2019 NCAA Tournament in which he helped lead UCF to its first NCAA Tournament win in program history.

Taylor finished his career with 1,618 points, the seventh-most in program history, with 456 of them coming via free throws, tying hall-of-famer Bo Clark for the most in program history. He also ranks in the top ten in program history in career three-pointers and assists.

During UCF's American Athletic Conference era, Taylor was the only Knight to earn an all-conference first team honor, which came during that 2018-19 season. It was the third time Taylor received an honor from the conference, since he was also named a second-teamer as a redshirt sophomore in 2016-17 and was a part of the 2014-15 AAC All-Rookie team as a freshman. He was also named to an NABC All-District team in 2018-19, marking the fifth time and fourth different Knight to do so in program history.

Taylor is still around college basketball today, serving as a color analyst for both ESPN and CBS Sports, which has included calling UCF men's and women's basketball games.

4. Marissa Diggs, Women's Soccer

Former UCF defender Marissa Diggs is the first UCF women's soccer player to be inducted into the Hall of Fame since 2019 and is the seventh player from the program overall.

During her time as a Knight, Diggs was named an All-American twice in 2012 and 2013, which made her one of two multi-time All-Americans in program history. The other one is fellow Hall of Famer Michelle Akers.

Diggs was named an all-conference performer during all four years of her career, three of which were first-team nods, and was a conference Defensive Player of the Year twice, getting the C-USA's honor in 2012 and The American's in 2013. She is also one of four players in program history to get selected for the Hermann Award Watch List, which she did in 2013.

The Knights won four conference titles with Diggs on the roster: a C-USA regular season title in 2010, a CUSA tournament title in 2012, which saw Diggs be named the tournament's defensive MVP, and the American regular season and tournament titles in 2013. They also went to the NCAA Tournament during all four years of Diggs' career, which included a run to the Elite Eight in 2011.

The Houston Dash selected Diggs with the 11th overall pick in the 2014 NWSL College Draft. After one season with the team, playing in 13 matches with one goal and one assist, Diggs retired from professional soccer in January 2015.

5. Octavious Freeman, Track and Field

Octavious Freeman (USA) places fourth in the womens 100m in the 14th IAAF World Championships.
Aug 12, 2013; Moscow, RUSSIA; Octavious Freeman (USA) places fourth in the womens 100m in 11.16 in the 14th IAAF World Championships in Athletics at Luzhniki Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Octavious Freeman ran for two seasons for the UCF track and field team in 2012 and 2013 before turning professional by signing with Adidas in the fall of 2013. With her induction, a UCF track and field athlete has been part of the Hall of Fame class for three consecutive years. She is the fourth UCF track and field athlete to get inducted into the Hall of Fame overall.

Despite her relatively short time with the program, Freeman still earned nine All-American honors across five different events, was named Conference USA's Track Athlete of the Year three times (Indoor 2012, Indoor 2013 and Outdoor 2013) and was the 2012 USTFCCA’s South Region Indoor Track Athlete of the Year.

Alongside one of last year's UCF hall of famers, Aurieyall Scott, Freeman finished on the podium for the 60-meter hurdles twice at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, finishing with a silver medal in 2012 and a bronze medal in 2013.

Thanks in part to her efforts, Freeman helped the Knights finish in fifth place as a team in both the 2013 Indoor and Outdoor NCAA Championships, the highest finishes at both meets in program history. During the indoor championships, she captured a pair of bronze medals in the 60m and 200m, while at the outdoor championships, she earned a silver medal in the 100m dash, finishing seventh in the 200m dash and helping the 4x100m relay team earn a silver medal with a 43.15s time that still stands today as the program record.

Freeman followed up those NCAA Championship performances with a silver medal at the USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships in the 100m dash, which remains the highest a UCF athlete has ever finished at that meet. She also ran a 10.87-second time, which still stands as the program's 100m record today. Later that year, she also earned a silver medal as part of Team USA's 4x100m relay team at the IAAF World Championships.

6. Emily (Queisser) Mottola, Volleyball

Emily Mottola, née Queisser, is the latest of several UCF volleyball players from the 1990s to be inducted into the UCF Athletics Hall of Fame.

Mottola was named an All-ASUN performer in all four years of her career, spanning 1992 to 1995, with three second-team nods and one first-team nod in 1995. She was also named the 1994 ASUN Tournament MVP and the 1995 ASUN Player of the Year. The Knights won ASUN titles in all of Mottola's four years, which helped them reach the NIVC in 1993 and the NCAA Tournament twice in 1994 and 1995.

Both Mottola and fellow Hall of Famer Renata Menchikova were the first UCF Volleyball players to be named to an AVCA All-Region team in 1995. She was also joined by another future UCF Hall of Famer, Miriam Ochoa, née Metzcus, at the 1994 USA Volleyball National Team Trial, making them two of four Knights in program history to receive such an invitation.

Mottola remains the program's all-time leader in assists with 5,923 of them. To put that in perspective, second place on the list, hall-of-famer Jenny Frank, is over 1,000 assists behind her. It helped that she also takes up three of the top four spots on the Knights' single-season assist list, including the record at 1,779. She also played in 156 total matches as a Knight, which remains the most in program history.

Her married name, Mottola, comes thanks to her marriage to former UCF baseball player Chad Mottola, who himself is also a UCF Athletics hall-of-famer and was drafted fifth overall in the 1992 MLB Draft. Their son, Luke, plays for the Knights' baseball team at the time of writing. Their daughter, Emily, meanwhile, became a setter like her mother and got her collegiate career off with a bang last month by earning the starting job at Arizona State and being named the AVCA MVP of the Match after the Sun Devils upset a No. 2-ranked Texas squad.

Check out more UCF news below:

A UCF Fan's Guide to the 2026 NFL Season

Three Things We Learned From UCF's Season-Opening Blowout of Bethune-Cookman

Can UCF Men's Basketball Get Riley Kugel Back?

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Bryson Turner
BRYSON TURNER

Bryson Turner is a sports journalist who covers UCF Athletics. Turner has contributed to the Black and Gold Banneret, the home for UCF Athletics on SB Nation. He has called the Orlando area home since the age of 8 and received his bachelor's and master's degrees from UCF.

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