Josh Heupel assesses Hendon Hooker injury, Joe Milton vs. Florida

Tennessee hung with Florida for the first two quarters on Saturday, but the Volunteers were shut out in the second half and ultimately lost 38-14. Hendon Hooker got the start again at quarterback for Tennessee, he suffered an injury during the game. Joe Milton got in at quarterback as well despite not getting much work in during the week. Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel assessed his quarterback situation after the game.

“I really didn’t want to play Joe in this game just based off of the amount of work he got during the week and where we felt he was at the end of the week,” Heupel said to reporters after the game. “I thought Hendon played hard, competed, made big times plays inside the pocket, used his feet, opportunistic. He had a play or two down the field that he didn’t connect on. I thought he handled the noise, the communication, for the most part in a really positive way during the course of the game. Handled the ups and downs and He continued to fight and compete and do it in a positive way there on the sideline in his demeanor, too. A ton of positives there.

“As far as his health. I don’t know where we’re at this point. We had a few guys that got banged up over the courses of the game, a little too early to tell where they’re at.”

Tennessee’s quarterbacks, offense struggled in the second half

The Vols scored two first half touchdowns and entered the second half down 17-14. In the second half, though, Tennessee could not move the ball well enough and did not score. Florida scored 21 points in the second half to ensure the victory.

Hooker completed 13 of his 23 passes for 221 yards and two touchdowns. He also had 23 yards on 13 rushing attempts. When Joe Milton got into the game, he struggled to complete passes. Milton ultimately completed two of his eight passes for 54 yards, adding a six-yard rush. Heupel thought that there were some positives from Tennessee’s quarterbacks on Saturday, but overall the play was too inconsistent.

“We hit a couple plays tonight, we missed a couple plays,” Heupel said. “The quarterback has to move in the pocket and doesn’t hit it. We got some things underneath that are wide open too, that are big runs and catches afterwards that we don’t connect on, whether that’s the throw or the catcher. We just have to continue to get better. We’ve got to do it quicker.”

Next up for Tennessee is a road trip to Missouri.