Josh Heupel makes the call for Tennessee's starting QB

Tennessee Volunteers head coach Josh Heupel on Monday announced the Volunteers’ starting quarterback for their Week 1 opener against Bowling Green: Michigan transfer Joe Milton.

“I mentioned at the beginning of training camp that we thought we’d have a starting quarterback by game week,” Heupel said Monday. “Joe Milton will be our starting quarterback. I talked to those guys earlier about that. [I’m] not naming a backup [quarterback].”

Heupel, the first-year head coach, had a quarterback competition brewing, and Milton, a redshirt junior, was just one of three primary competitors. Virginia Tech transfer Hendon Hooker, a redshirt senior who started threw for nearly 3,000 yards and rushed for over 1,000 more with the Hokies, and returning sophomore Harrison Bailey were both vying for the job.

Milton spent three years at the University of Michigan, where he completed a cumulative 86 of 152 pass attempts for 1,194 yards, five touchdowns and six interceptions. Milton enrolled in Tennessee in June of 2021 following his departure from the Wolverines’ program.

“I don’t think there’s just one thing,” Heupel said, when asked what separated Milton from Hooker and Bailey. “At the end of the day, I felt like Joe — just his grasp over our offense in a short amount of time, the growth over the middle portion of training camp, his acceleration in what we’re doing, some physical attributes, decision-making led us to put the ball in his hands here [for] this first ballgame.”

Heupel was asked Monday whether he plans to use more than one quarterback in the Volunteers’ season opener with Bowling Green but did not give a direct answer.

“We have to see how the game unfolds and in different situations,” he said. “I told those guys, and I’ve said it here before — and it’s true — the strength of one position can never be one guy. All of them have got to prepare like a starter.”

Milton inconsistent at Michigan

In 2018, Milton’s freshman season at Michigan, he appeared in four games at quarterback, completing three of four passes for 58 yards; he ultimately declared the season a redshirt year. His playing time hardly changed in 2019, as Milton only appeared in four games as Michigan’s backup quarterback. He completed three of seven passes for 59 yards and a touchdown.

Milton was thrust into his first major quarterbacking role in 2020, his redshirt sophomore campaign, as he was named the Wolverines’ starter for the season opener at Minnesota. In his first three games, a win over Minnesota, a loss at Indiana and a loss against Michigan State, Milton completed 65 of 107 passing attempts for 869 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions. He had a rather short leash as Michigan’s starter, however, and that became clear in the third game of the season against Wisconsin: after a first-quarter pass was tipped and intercepted by the Badgers, Milton proceeded to throw another pick on the next drive. He was pulled by head coach Jim Harbaugh in favor of sophomore Cade McNamara.

Both McNamara and Milton played under center to close out the season, but Milton had lost his starting role. Milton entered the transfer portal in February.

The 6-foot-5 quarterback was a four-star recruit out of Orlando, Florida and committed to Michigan in 2017. In his senior year at Olympia High School, Milton completed 90 of 188 pass attempts for 1,317 yards, ten touchdowns and six interceptions.

Milton’s 2020 campaign was his first as a starting quarterback for the Wolverines.