Joe Milton has 'a dedicated, new spirit,' but he's not trying to change as Tennessee's starting QB
Tennessee football coaches don’t differentiate between Joe Milton III, the backup quarterback, from Joe Milton III, the starting quarterback. The redshirt senior was the same person the last two seasons that he has been through winter workouts, spring practice, the summer months and now fall camp.
“He was just him,” Tennessee quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator Joey Halzle said during his press conference on Thursday, “with a dedicated, new spirit about it where he just said, all right, I’m responsible for this unit now, I gotta make sure that it’s going the way it needs to go.”
Halzle was asked Thursday if there was a moment during the offseason where he could tell Milton was taking ownership of this Tennessee team, as its new starting quarterback and the face of the program entering the 2023 season.
He pointed back to December, when the Vols were getting ready to face Clemson in the Orange Bowl with Milton at quarterback, having taken over for Hendon Hooker after his season ended in November with a torn ACL.
“It’s really been since bowl prep last year,” Halzle said, “when it was very clear at that point with, Hendon’s injury and everything that it was (Milton’s) team to take over. He didn’t shy away from it, but he also didn’t become fake and like change the way he was.”
Joe Milton: ‘Everything I’ve done, or I did last year, I’m just here this year to add onto it’
Milton threw for 971 yards and 10 touchdowns, with no interceptions, playing behind Hooker in nine games last season. He started the final two games of the year — the win at Vanderbilt and the 31-14 win over Clemson in Miami — to springboard toward his redshirt senior season and his second shot as Tennessee’s starting quarterback.
He waited patiently the lsat two seasons, after winning the job during fall camp in 2021, beating out Hooker and others to win the job. But he lost it due to an ankle injury suffered in the Week 2 loss to Pittsburgh at Neyland Stadium, opening the door for Hooker to take over.
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Milton always knew he would get another shot, though. He knew at some point this would be his team again.
“I always had that in the back of my head, no matter what happened,” Milton said. “I just had to get over the situation that I had in 2021, about just understanding everyone on the team and understanding my receivers and the understanding the coach’s mindset.
“So I honestly, truly just I felt like that since I got here. Always felt like that even when I wasn’t a starter. That’s just me as a person, just being the oldest of seven, that’s just something that you just kind of just take over.”
Countdown to Kickoff: Vols vs. Virginia, Saturday, Noon ET, ABC
What Milton doesn’t want to change now, back in the starting role, is who he’s always tried to be.
“I felt like the Joe they got last year from the second string,” Milton said, referencing his Tennessee teammates, “I feel like that’s the Joe they’re going to get as the starter. I feel like I don’t need to change at all.
“I feel like everything I’ve done, or I did last year, I’m just here this year to add onto it. There’s nothing much that is going to change. Just operate and do what the coaches ask.”
