Tennessee fans should 'absolutely' be excited about Joe Milton

When Joe Milton arrived at Tennessee from Michigan in 2021, he was named the starting quarterback. He started two games before suffering an injury and, eventually, relinquishing the starting job to Hendon Hooker.

Now, Hooker is off to the NFL with the Detroit Lions, meaning Milton is gearing up to be Tennessee’s starting quarterback once again. The Volunteers’ high-flying offense took off with Hooker under center, but Milton will bring his rocket arm into the next chapter of the Josh Heupel era on Rocky Top.

There’s plenty of hype around the Vols this year, particularly when it comes to Milton. If anyone is wondering whether or not they should be excited to watch him air it out, On3’s Andy Staples offered a poignant response on Barstool Sports’ Pardon My Take on Friday.

“Yes,” he said. “Absolutely.”

Tennessee fans got a good look at Milton in last year’s Orange Bowl against Clemson. In that game, he completed 19 of 28 passes for 251 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Volunteers past the Tigers 31-14.

Clemson’s defense allowed 231.7 yards per game, which ranked 76th in the nation in 2022. That showed what Milton is capable of doing after a season-plus as a backup, and it’s why Staples said he’s a believer.

“That Orange Bowl — which was against a good Clemson defense,” Staples said. “They didn’t have a lot of opt-outs. They were very well-manned. He carved them up. And so, I’m fully in. Fully believing.”

Andy Staples shares awesome story about watching Joe Milton during practice at Tennessee

Milton is known for having a big arm, and he went viral after he threw an orange over 100 yards after the Orange Bowl. Having an arm like that is a double-edged sword, though, and Staples shared a story from a Tennessee practice to illustrate that.

It was right after Milton arrived from Michigan, where he started losing playing time to Cade McNamara. His arm was on full display in Ann Arbor — in multiple ways — but Staples saw it from a whole new perspective that day at Tennessee.

“I went to Tennessee a couple springs ago. And this is when Hendon Hooker was still the starter,” Staples said. “One of their coaches goes, ‘Okay, you’re gonna practice tomorrow, right?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ ‘So you’re gonna stand behind Joe Milton, and you’re gonna watch him throw a football. And you’re gonna say, this is the greatest quarterback I have ever seen in my life.’ And the next day, I was behind Joe Milton, they were doing one of those coming out of your own end zone kind of situations.

“He takes a snap, drops back in the end zone and unleashes it like 60 yards down the field. Dime. I’m like, ‘Yep, best quarterback I’ve ever seen in my entire life,’ even though I’ve seen him at Michigan, I’ve seen him when he got the job at Tennessee and then gave it away to Hendon Hooker because he was air-mailing balls in games.”