Joe Milton downplays his personal hype entering 2023 season

The 2023 college football season kickoff is just around the corner, and there’s plenty of hype around a number of players across the college football landscape. One player who has a lot of hype surrounding him is the Tennessee Volunteers quarterback Joe Milton. And while some across the country are buying into their hype, the volunteer starting quarterback says he’s not worried about it.

“I mean, it’s cool. It’s cool and all, but y’all know me; I’m not that type of person to fall into that type of stuff,” said Milton.

While Milton may not concern himself with the hype surrounding his first full season as the Tennessee starting quarterback, that does not mean he is not aware of it. But at the very least, does he read any of it or pay attention to it?

“No. To be honest with you, I don’t. I mean, you see it. You can’t not see it; it’s on social media everywhere. If you go on a sports page, you see my face. It’s cool and all. But at the same time, you have to understand what the main thing is. The main thing is winning. So why not focus on that?”

After Milton’s performance in the Orange Bowl last season against the vaunted Clemson Tigers defense, albeit a small sample size, it showed that he is capable of leading the Volunteers to a successful campaign in 2023. And if he can fine-tune his precision to complement the rocket of an arm that he has, he could find himself at the Heisman Trophy ceremony at the end of the season and possibly lead Tennessee to the College Football Playoffs.

Paul Finebaum discusses Milton’s hype

Recently ESPN’s SEC expert Paul Finebaum made sense of all the hype surrounding Milton. During an appearance on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning, Finebaum explained that he actually feels great about Tennessee.

“I saw a confidence and a swagger from Josh Heupel that makes me a very strong believer in that program,” Finebaum said of SEC Media Days.

Despite the hype surrounding Joe Milton, Greg McElroy isn’t sure where it’s coming from other than his natural arm talent.

“Greg, the biggest joke every July is the phrase, ‘Heisman candidate’ because I’m sure one of your great researchers could find 30 or 40 people mentioned in the Heisman. It’s just a line. It doesn’t mean anything,” Finebaum said.

“And I got the chance to talk to him and I really like him. I think he’s handled a lot of difficult things well, but can he cut it on the field under the gun? Well, he did it against Clemson as you well know and he’s going to have to do it regularly.”