Joe Milton assesses his belief in Tennessee's running backs

Tennessee’s win over Austin Peay this weekend wasn’t the most efficient for the Volunteer offense, specifically with their pass game. Even so, QB Joe Milton had no issue letting their running backs shine in the team’s victory over the Governors.

Milton credited Tennessee’s rushing trio of Jaylen Wright, Jabari Small, and Dylan Sampson following the 30-13 win on Saturday evening. He said they give the passing attack a nice, reliable cushion to work with whenever things aren’t going well.

“I think that’s why we’ve got a three-headed monster back there,” said Milton. “I feel like they do their job at a very high level, even when the pass game is not going well like how it started off at the beginning of the game.”

“Those guys ran the ball very, very hard, they were very decisive with their cuts, and they made plays,” said Milton. “That’s why we believe in those three guys and they go make things happen on Saturdays.”

In the 17-point win, Wright and Small had 13 carries apiece for 213 yards. Sampson also had three touches but for only eight yards.

In the first pair of wins for the ninth-ranked Volunteers, Wright, Small, and Sampson have combined for 455 yards and three touchdowns, all of which came from Sampson in the opener against Virginia, on 67 carries overall.

Milton and his receivers couldn’t get anything working early on with several of his dozen incompletions coming in the first few drives. Still, their rushing trio carried the load, even without scoring themselves, to help Tennessee keep the sticks moving and, eventually, come out on top in the end.

Milton describes Nico Iamaleava’s in-game role

Tennessee QBs Joe Milton and Nico Iamaleava have built a strong bond over the past few months as the present and future signal-callers of the program. Milton has been great through the first two games of the season, and he explained Saturday how Iamaleava helps him during the game.

“I just give him a couple of keys to ID for me while I’m out there just because I can’t see everything,” Milton said. “So just having an extra set of eyes other than my coaches out there and also just he’s young. Just giving him an opportunity to see things how I see it, and just in a different way so when you he out there, it’s not confusing to him.”

Milton threw for 228 yards and two passing touchdowns on 21-for-33 passing as the Volunteers defeated Austin Peay by a score of 30-13.

Iamaleava played at the end of week one’s 49-13 victory over Virginia. The former five-star completed two of three passes for 11 yards in his collegiate debut.