Joe Milton's performance at Manning Passing Academy is encouraging for Tennessee

Storylines came flowing out of Thibodaux, Louisiana last weekend at the Manning Passing Academy. One of those headlines was Tennessee QB Joe Milton as, in the eyes of On3’s JD PicKell, his performance while at Nicholls State University should be a very welcome sight back on Rocky Top.

PicKell broke down some of the top performers at this summer’s MPA in a recent episode of ‘The Hard Count’. He pointed how the highlights from Milton were great and all but, in actuality, some of the accuracy that he flashed is what really stands out ahead of the Volunteer’s next season.

“Joe Milton? No surprise here. I mean every time this dude walks out onto a football field, especially in a camp setting? Like, he’s just a walking viral clip,” PicKell said. “I promise you. Every single IPhone was up and pointed at Joe Milton when he was taking reps. We already saw one where I think he takes a play-action kind of drop and then just threw a moon ball 70 yards. The dude is special when it comes to his physical ability.”

“The encouraging thing for Tennessee fans? The question around his accuracy and his touch is fair. But if you’re looking at the passing academy? It sounds like he was one of the first individuals to hit the moving golf cart,” said PicKell. “I think it was somewhere around 50+, 60+ yards downfield. So, notice what I didn’t say. In the skills challenge, Joe Milton didn’t walk out there and win longest throw. That wasn’t something they were doing. It was can you hit the moving golf cart downfield?”

There’s no questioning Milton’s ability to air it out as a quarterback. However, throwing it as accurately as he does beautifully is a different story. Over five seasons at Michigan and Tennessee, he has completed just 58.2% of his passes.

That’s why, ahead of his sixth college season, PicKell sees this as a positive development for the Vol’s QB1. He also thinks it’s a step in the right direction as it quieted the doubters, at least for the time being.

“Now, it’s June. We’re taking all the positive intel we can get about these guys. But, for Joe Milton, I think it’s encouraging that you saw him have a good showing in a place like this,” said PicKell.

“I’ll take it a step further too with him. If Joe Milton had walked out there and sucked? Like, it would have been everywhere. Everybody would have said Joe Milton struggles at passing academy, Joe Milton proves that he continues to be inaccurate, Joe Milton proves that he is overthrow Joe. All of the naysayers would have come out of the wood works. They were waiting to say something negative. I promise you,” PicKell said. “So, the fact that that’s not happening? I think that tells you even more about his performance at the Manning Passing Academy than anything else.”

Milton’s accuracy will be at the center of his potential success next season and, in turn, could make all the difference for Tennessee in ’23. With what he did at the MPA last weekend, PicKell is very high on the fact that he appears to be on the right track in that department heading into the fall.