Joe Milton addresses questions about the culture of Tennessee program

After an exciting start to the season, Tennessee slowed down with losses to Georgia and South Carolina. In that loss to South Carolina, Hendon Hooker went down with an injury and Joe Milton came in to replace him, taking over going forward.

While speaking to the media, Joe Milton was asked if rumors that there was a culture problem were something just coming from the outside, or if the team had concerns on the inside too.

“That’s just definitely outside,” Joe Milton said.

Joe Milton was then asked how the team responded and reacted to those rumors.

“I mean, you know those kinds of things you can’t control. Everybody’s always got something to say about something. So, I mean, you control what you can control. We know that inside the building we’re brothers. So, we kept it as that. We don’t have to change anything.”

It seems like Joe Milton doesn’t think there is any foundation to those rumors, shooting them down. Still, even with his response, teams often find this kind of rumor hard to shake.

The Volunteers’ next and final game of the season will be in the Orange Bowl. There Tennessee will take on Clemson.

Joe Milton is doing everything for Hendon Hooker

It would be easy for things to be tense between Hendon Hooker and Joe Milton. After all, Hooker took Milton’s job in 2021. That’s not how things are, though. Instead, the pair is incredibly close with one another. Now that Hooker is out for the season, though, Milton is playing for him this year.

“If you look at Hendon himself he’s a warrior and we live together so I told him every day this week that it’s for him. I mean yeah, I’m trying to get my stats, but at the end of the day, it’s for him because he put in a lot of effort for this. There’s some nights Hendon don’t even go to sleep, he’s up all night so when he got hurt and went down man, it’s really just playing for him,” Joe Milton said.

“For me personally it means a lot, just because he’s been here since day one. I’ve been there for him and he’s always gonna be there for me and vice versa, but his presence just carries a lot. The whole team just loves being around him, he’s just a great person man.”