20 years later, UCF launches another Heisman campaign

UCF introduced its McKenzie Milton for Heisman Trophy campaign on Thursday, complete with its own unique social media hashtag - #HIsman - and URL - MiltonForHIsman.KZ.

"HIsman" of course being a play on Heisman with the "HI" being the postal code for Milton's native Hawaii while the .KZ domain mirrors McKenzie's own nickname.

("HIsman" by the way is the brainchild of Jimmy Skiles, UCF's longtime marketing guru who these days goes by the title of Associate AD for Brand Advancement.)

The URL redirects to a page on UCFKnights.com chronicling Milton's accomplishments and stats through his first two seasons.

This is the second time in school history UCF has formally organized a Heisman campaign.

Exactly 20 years ago in the summer of 1998, UCF launched its marketing efforts for senior quarterback Daunte Culpepper complete with its own unique site - daunte.ucf.edu. That may not seem like a big deal today, but creating a player-specific site was a groundbreaking and innovative endeavor at a time when schools were just beginning their foray into the "World Wide Web."

"We're bringing a new technology approach to the Heisman," former UCF sports information director John Marini told Bloomberg News at the time. "It's a great way to get the word out on Daunte, and it doesn't cost us very much."

The "Daunte's World" theme - an obvious play on Disney World - featured a giant Daunte Culpepper standing in the middle of the Citrus Bowl, the Knights' former home. The image was used on the cover of the 1998 media guide as well as schedule posters.

The website was updated throughout the course of Culpepper's season and actually remained accessible on UCF's servers through 2007 before it was finally purged. Thanks to the Wayback Machine, you can actually go back and review the site in its former glory:

http://daunte.ucf.edu via the Wayback Machine

Naturally, some people just didn't understand why little ole UCF would bother with a Heisman campaign at all.

"Central Florida doesn't have anywhere near the exposure or the resources to get Daunte the Heisman Trophy," former UCLA coach Terry Donahue, a college football analyst for CBS, told Bloomberg in that 1998 story. "I just don't see a lot of guys going to the Internet and that convincing them to vote for him."

Culpepper, who go on to lead UCF to a 9-2 record, finished No. 6 in the Heisman voting. Texas running back Ricky Williams won in a landslide with Kansas State quarterback Michael Bishop, UCLA quarterback Cade McNown, Kentucky quarterback Tim Couch and Syracuse quarterback Donovan McNabb landing in spots No. 2 through 5.

Regardless of where Culpepper finished - and arguably he could have placed a couple spots higher had UCF held on to beat Auburn that season - the campaign, much like the recent National Championship initiative, brought significant exposure to a growing program that in those days rarely landed on television or even entered national discussion being a Division I-A independent.

Milton, who is only junior, already has a compelling case to be considered among the early Heisman frontrunners. An eighth-place finisher in the 2017 voting (which was of course was prior to the Peach Bowl), Milton is one of three returning players to receive Heisman votes and among those the only quarterback. As a sophomore, he was near the top of most statistical categories for quarterbacks:

Passing Efficiency: 179.3 (2nd in nation behind 2017 Heisman winner/No. 1 NFL Draft pick Baker Mayfield)

Yards Per Attempt: 10.22 (2nd in nation behind 2017 Heisman winner/No. 1 NFL Draft pick Baker Mayfield)

Total Offense: 357.7 yards per game (4th in nation)

Passing Touchdowns: 37 (4th in nation)

Completion Percentage: 67.1 (4th in nation)

Points Responsible For: 20.8 points per game (5th in nation)

Yards Per Completion: 15.23 (5th in nation)

Passing Yards Per Game: 310.5 (7th in nation)

If Milton follows up with a similarly successful 2018 campaign, he'll certainly be in the hunt.