Could McKenzie Milton return to UCF next season after his injury? Milton has eligibility remaining after his gruesome injury, but the future is foggy for now when it comes to the star of back-to-back undefeated regular seasons.

UCF first-year head coach Josh Heupel got the question as AAC Championship Week begins. While Heupel implied that a decision could have already been about about Milton’s future, he did not go into details when given the opportunity Monday with 969TheGame.

“It's a personal family issue,” Heupel said. “I will let them release information as they feel comfortable.”

Milton is a true junior out of Kapolei (Hi.) Mililani High that has many options for 2019. Milton is NFL Draft eligible, and appeared on pace for solid placement before his injury as one of the nation’s top quarterbacks and a Heisman Trophy candidate. Milton also has one more year of college eligibility. Depending on the severity of the rehabilitation process from last week’s gruesome injury against South Florida, Milton also has a red-shirt year available to him.

“Typical Milton fashion, he's a fighter,” Heupel said when asked how Milton is doing. “The first 48 hours he's done really well."

Milton suffered a severe injury against South Florida that required instant hospitalization and surgery. It was of such a graphic nature that ESPN chose not to show the replay after it happened live during the broadcast.

Milton underwent successful surgery Saturday morning with a status upgrade to “good” during the weekend. Both Milton and his family released statements Saturday afternoon following surgery.

“The Milton family would like to express gratitude for all of your thoughts, prayers and concerns,” the statement read. “McKenzie’s surgery was successful, and he is recovering well. We would like to thank the medical staffs at Tampa General Hospital, University of South Florida and the sports medicine staff at UCF for their superb care. McKenzie looks forward to joining his teammates in Orlando and supporting them in their quest to bring another conference championship to our program. Remember what Ohama means. No one gets left behind. #UCFamily.”

UCF (11-0, 8-0) must move on without the face of its program with a conference championship to win. The Knights climbed to seventh in the polls as we await placement in Tuesday evening’s College Football Playoff rankings reveal. UCF faces Memphis in a rematch for the American Athletic Conference title after the Knights won by a point during the regular season.

"I’m really proud of our kids and the way they competed the entire night," Heupel said after beating South Florida. "Defensively, it was a suffocating performance, both in the run game and getting after the quarterback as well. We had tight coverage on the outside, coverage units were fantastic all night long. Offensively, we found a rhythm, got some things going, created some big plays in the run game, and then enough in the pass game in the second half.”