Even the sky may not be the limit for Norfolk State sophomore high jumper Jacob Milton, given how he has performed during his brief college career.
 
Milton is a two-time MEAC indoor high jump champion and the reigning conference outdoor champion. He opened the 2018 outdoor season with a personal record of 7 feet, 2.25 inches in the University of South Carolina’s Weems Baskin Invitational Meet. His jump was the best by a Norfolk State athlete since Marlon Woods cleared the same height when he won the 2008 MEAC outdoor championship.
 
Milton’s jump is also the ninth-best in NCAA Division I this season, and just two inches shy of the MEAC record.
 
“The sky is the limit for him,” Norfolk State coach Kenneth Giles said.
 
Milton’s father, George Milton, an accomplished collegiate high jumper at Clemson University as a student-athlete, begs to differ about high the ceiling is for his son.
 
“We’re talking the atmosphere,” says George, who coached his son in high school.
 
The father’s perspective isn’t that of a frustrated athlete living vicariously through his son. The elder Milton was All-ACC and his personal-record jump of 7-2 is tied for No. 6 on Clemson’s all-time list. He was also a member of the All-Army track and field team for four years during his military career.
 
Milton attended high school in Stuttgart, Germany, where his father was stationed in the United States Army, and Giles took him virtually sight unseen. The coach has been pleasantly surprised by the strides that Milton has made in his brief college career. Based on that alone, Giles anticipated big things.
 
“I didn’t expect him to exceed the heights that he has this early in his career,” said Giles. “I knew he had it in his pedigree. I do believe he has the ability to make it to the final round of the NCAA Championships and the ability to be an All-American this year.”
 
Milton dominated high school competition in Germany. He went from a personal best of 5-8 his junior season to 6-8 his senior year. His father believed he had the potential to clear seven feet in time, but not this soon.
 
“I knew he was definitely a 7-feet caliber athlete,” said George. “The coaches (at Norfolk State) took him to a whole different level.”
 
He said his son will clear 7-4 “with minimal effort if he continues on the trajectory that he’s on.  He is a much better technician and much better jumper than I ever was.”
 
Norfolk State jumps coach Jerry Price said it only took three practices during Milton’s freshman season for him to realize he was a special athlete.  
 
“I gave him an assignment to do,” Price said. “He did it to a T.  I pulled him back and gave him two things to correct, and he corrected them. He put together everything we discussed. That told me right there that he was going to be a successful high jumper. He’ll take his time, put things together in his mind, and then he’ll go out and execute.”
 
Price said Milton’s greatest assets are his discipline – a trait that can be traced to his military upbringing – patience and studiousness.
 
“He listens to everything,” Price said. “He watches other athletes so that he can put together what it is that we’re talking about in reference to the instruction. His discipline is impressive. That helps with the instruction because high jumping is very technical. There are four parts that are crucial to being successful. He has been patient enough to allow each phase to come into play before he’s anxious to move on to the next step.”
 
Milton also competes in the discus and javelin for the Spartans. Price predicts he will make a mark in those events as well. He was second in the javelin with a throw of 140-6 at the University of Richmond’s Fred Hardy Invitational a week after setting his personal record in the high jump.
 
“He wasn’t familiar with those events, and there’s a lot to learn,” said Price. “He understands these are technical events. You can’t just jump in and muscle your way through. His patience and discipline are paying off. He will be a force to deal with in those by next year.”
 
Milton was like a man among boys competing in high school in Germany, and he hasn’t missed a beat on the college level despite up a class competition-wise. He says the transition has been more challenging than it might appear to have been.
 
“There wasn’t much competition at all (in Germany),” he said, adding that in some meets he was the only athlete competing in the high jump. “I had to adjust to the workload and not being No. 1 on the team (when he came to Norfolk State).”
 
Milton got involved in track and field only because he wanted to do a sport. He “tested the waters” in a number of events before developing a passion for the high jump and the 400 meters. The 400 meters didn’t work out, so he concentrated on the high jump, not knowing that his father had competed in that event.
 
“When I saw what I was jumping and heard what his personal best was, over seven feet,” Milton said, “it opened my eyes and made me want to be even better.”
 
When Milton returned to the United States and before he enrolled at Norfolk State, his father entered him in the Junior Olympics. He placed sixth.
 
“It was a great experience for me.” Milton said. “That was the first time I saw anybody jump higher than me in person. It got me excited for college. Being the best is good. But being able to see others who are better than you, that gives you the drive to be better than you are at the point that you are.”
 
Milton’s goal is to compete in the 2020 Olympic Games, which his father and coach say is not a pipe dream.
 
“Right now what I’m jumping isn’t good enough,” he said. “But progressively I’m going to get better and better. I’m going to use the time that I have to train and improve.”
 
Milton chose Norfolk State from among 10 schools that he applied to, including Virginia Military Institute, Texas A&M and Hampton. He was looking for a school with strong ROTC and track programs, and Norfolk State fit the bill. His father had wanted him to go to West Point, and he took his son to an Army-Navy football game that President Obama attended as part of his personal recruiting pitch.
 
However, the younger Milton said he wanted “a normal college experience,” and Hampton and Norfolk State were at the top his list. His father had been stationed in the Tidewater area when Milton was younger, and he was familiar with the schools and the area.
 
“For me coming to Norfolk State was for the HBCU experience,” George Milton said. “He had grown up in a different way of life. I wanted to make sure he had that balance from both sides of the tracks so he could deal with any culture or group of people. It was intentional to have (Norfolk State and Hampton) on the list.”
 
The younger Milton chose Norfolk State because the Spartans showed more interest in him.
 
“It’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made,” he said.