Watch: Tennessee offensive coordinator Joey Halzle's Tuesday press conference

Tennessee offensive coordinator Joey Halzle met with reporters Tuesday, looking back at the Vols’ offense in the 49-13 win over Virginia on Saturday at Nissan Stadium in Nashville and previewing this week’s game with Austin Peay at Neyland Stadium:

Tennessee’s execution in the short passing game against Virginia

“We’ve liked to, for years, use that to kind of get stuff going and get the tempo started with that one. We’re off tempo, thought we executed it really well. Feel like we have even more left out there that we can extend those from fives and sixes to seven, eights and maybe even stay out of a couple third downs using the short, intermediate game. So I thought we executed it pretty well, but we can be better in our efficiency at that.”

His takeaways from Tennessee quarterback Joe Milton III’s performance and the areas he needs to focus on in Week 2

“His eyes were in a great spot the entire time. Brought a bunch of different looks and he never wavered and where his eye discipline was, which is why you saw him complete over 70 percent of his passes in the first game. He looked really good. He looked confident, he looked comfortable in the pocket. He had a couple really good scrambles for us, up, up and out. A couple pulling off a run game. So his handling of the offense and his efficiency within the pocket was at a really high level. And just like always, like as you’re playing the first game, sometimes your feet get a little bit sloppy from time to time as your mind is going to other stuff. So cleaning up that, so we make sure we can maintain that that level of efficiency that he had.”

Tennessee not pushing the ball down the field as much Saturday and if that was a product of taking what the Virginia defense was giving the Vols

“They were playing really soft. I mean, we threw about five balls over the top, didn’t hit all of them, hit some of them. (Milton) played really well and took what they gave him. He wasn’t just naturally trying to just say, all right, I’m throwing this deep. He didn’t have any of those type of plays. And when they were soft, he dropped it down, got outside, got to his second, third reads. First touchdown he threw was to his fourth read right there. So it was really great to see him operate like that.”

If that’s a sign of maturity or discipline from Joe Milton III, taking what defenses are giving Tennessee

“I think it is because we all know like that’s what opens other things up downfield. There’s a maturity to it. There’s also, with we’ve talked about since January, what he’s put in and invested into this with his eye discipline. When you know where you’re supposed to be, when you know the timing you’re supposed to be on when it’s not there, it’s much easier to get to the next one. If your eyes are all over the place trying to figure out what’s going on and where you’re supposed to be, well now it’s harder to get to two, three, four because you’re just trying to find who the appropriate one is. So all that we’ve talked about since we came back here in January, February, you saw him play out with his decision making on Saturday.”

His evaluation of the Tennessee run game while missing starting center Cooper Mays and rotating players at different positions on the offensive line

“Thought the run game went really well. The guys up front, playing a bunch of different spots, they blocked it well. We targeted well. We got a bunch of different front structures on Saturday. The guys did a great job never (misidentifying fronts). Tight ends were a big part of that too. Cleaning up, being really physical in the run game. And then you watch those backs in any kind of space is scary. I think for a lot of people. And all of them that got in there ran really hard and ran really well.”

Joe Milton III throwing with different velocities on different routes

“We’ve worked on that all offseason. Like, there’s just different types of throws to make. When you’re working something over the middle of the field, you’re probably touching something up in the windows if you’re on time. If somebody like you saw the other day, Squirrel ran that hook on the far opposite sideline, he let that thing go with the vapor trail off the back of it. So like you get those type of throws still. And then the one that he touched up to Ramel coming across the middle that we hit that big play on the second-and-long that got us going, he just touched that up right over the top of the ‘backer and dropped it in the bucket right there. So there’s a multitude of throws that a quarterback has to play and that’s what you’re seeing Joe do, is he’s playing the game like a quarterback at a really high level, not (just a) thrower. He’s a quarterback that knows how to touch the ball up, knows how to use his arm strength when he needs it, knows how to dial it back to touch a ball up the be on time.”

If there is an ideal number of drives or snaps Tennessee coaches would like to get freshman Nico Iamaleava in games

“You heard Coach (Tim) Banks say say the same thing. Any kind of action that a freshman can get is hugely beneficial. One, just to take the field in front of that many people and calm your nerves down and trust your eyes. And sometimes you call a play, you don’t even remember what the play is. It’s like, wait, what is that? You know what I mean? Like your first time in there. So just getting that adrenaline spike and then calm yourself back down, that’s huge. And then going against these guys this week, you’re gonna get a multitude of pressures and coverages and it’s gonna be great for everyone to see that because that’s a a huge eye discipline game, which once again for whether he’s a an older backup or a young guy coming in for his first couple snaps, it’s a huge game for him to have to define his eyes.”

Joe Milton III as a runner and how much more dynamic that can make the Tennessee offense

”It once again goes back to what we talked about with the overall quarterback play. He’s extremely defined with his eyes and he’s pulling it and he’s coming down to run when it makes sense on the pass game. And he’s pulling it in the run game when it also makes sense. He’s not forcing anything. He’s not saying, all right, I’m gonna run this one. It’s like, well the defense isn’t giving me the run, I’m gonna keep pulling my fake out and let our backs go for 10 yards a pop. Now they come around tight and here he comes around the corner and with what makes him effective, like a 240-pound guy runs 4.5 like super effective. So like him getting around the corner can’t be a ton of fun for a lot of people to see coming at them.”

How much a productive run game can help a quarterback and open up the offense

“Anytime you can run the ball with that kind of efficiency, it just opens everything back up for you. And not that you’re gonna force feed it to try to get it to that way, but that they had the hot hand early. Like those backs were hitting everything with, one, great tempo. But then when the hole presented itself they were hitting that thing like a ton of bricks. So they were fun to watch. They were. They were really easy to keep feeding the rock to and they were taking us all the way down the field with big play after big play in the running game.”

What Tennessee receivers need to do to be more in sync

”A lot of it’s just settling in. The first game, you have an older receiving corp, but it’s a lot of guys that are making their first like true starting experience and an entire way through a season. It’s just settling in and and taking what they’re giving you. Just like we said with the quarterback and not feeling like you have to go rush it and go make the big play right now. Like man, get your depths, understand your reads, be in the right spot and then everything else takes care of itself. Because the athleticism, all that, it’s all there. So they don’t have to try and press to do anything if they’re just playing within the system and how they’re supposed to, their athleticism will take over.”

If it looked like a first game in this system with Tennessee transfer receiver Dont’e Thornton

“I think whenever someone’s making their first start or first real true game experience in this kind of offense, no matter how many scrimmages, anything you do, it’s just different. So getting him settled in and going and saw him get the ball, like some quick touches in his hand right now to just get him going in that first game was what we were expecting to do. He took the top off of a couple plays. He could have gotten a couple, we weren’t to his side for whatever reason. Sometimes games just go that way.”

Tennessee running backs being more involved in the pass game against Virginia

“I think whenever someone’s making their first start or first real true game experience in this kind of offense, no matter how many scrimmages, anything you do, it’s just different. So getting him settled in and going and saw him get the ball, like some quick touches in his hand right now to just get him going in that first game was what we were expecting to do. He took the top off a couple plays, he could have gotten a couples we weren’t to his side for whatever reason. Sometimes games just go that way“ “I think, not to keep repeating the same answer, but I think you’re seeing Joe get from one to two to three really well and that’s why you’re seeing the backs get a bunch of catches out there. Because it’s not just one and I’m out or one, two and I’m out. It’s get to that back, get to the third guy, protection’s holding up. Great. Get all the way through it.’Because you try in the run game to get your back in a bunch of space. That’s the whole goal. Well if you’re throwing the ball to the back, he’s typically in space. So you’re just already getting to what you’re trying to do in the run game anyway. So we saw a bunch of big plays. You saw Jabari had a big one in it. Jaylen had a big one and Dylan had the touchdown all in the passing game too. So it was great to see us be able to operate that way.”