Vols QB Coach Joey Halzle reveals biggest areas of growth for Hendon Hooker, Joe Milton

All eyes will be on Tennessee quarterback Hendon Hooker this season, as the 2022 National Player of the Year candidate returns as one of the nations top dual threats quarterbacks. But during training camp, Volunteer quarterback coach Joey Halzle had some words about the progress of not just his starter, but his backup quarterback Joe Milton as well.

“We’ve worked all offseason on touch throws across the middle and pressing our vertical run game. He has done a great job doing that. He is touching up balls all over the field. We all know he has the absolute howitzer of an arm, so we have worked on having him touch up the ball, work windows and working that aspect of his game. We know he has the other shot in his bag already,” Halzle said.

Hooker is expected by all to start the season, as he took over as the starter for Milton last season after week two, but Milton could be the quarterback of the future for the Vols. Milton, a graduate transfer from Michigan, has two years of eligibility remaining and has started seven games for Tennessee in his career. And him polishing his game sitting behind Hooker could be the best option for Tennessee going into the future, especially depending on the development of freshman Tayven Jackson, who was ranked the No. 10 quarterback in the 2022 class according to On3 Consensus.

As far as what to expect from Hooker this season, Halzle said that he’s been working on perfecting his eye manipulation and looking off defensive backs since the spring, and that it’s starting to come together during fall camp.

“It has been really fun actually. He did it in the spring at a high level, and he actually did one really good one today. I’m not going to talk about it, but it was actually pretty impressive. He turned around, smiled at me and then kept going. It has been really fun to watch his improvement and to watch him enjoy doing it, where it’s not like work every time. He’s like, ‘Yeah, I’ve got this.’ It’s been really fun to watch his improvement there,” Halzle said.

Halzle also mentioned how Milton and Hooker are really good friends on and off the field, and that their friendly competition day in and day out bring a lot of positive energy to the quarterback room. There’s big expectations for Hooker this season, but don’t be surprised if the morale of the Tennessee quarterback room propels that position group as a whole towards success going into the future.