Peyton Manning excited to see Joe Milton III throw at Manning Passing Academy
There have been a lot of powerful arms that have come through the Manning Passing Academy over the years. But there’s a little bit of a different feeling with Tennessee quarterback Joe Milton III at the quarterback camp this weekend.
“Oh man, we’ve had some great ones here,” Peyton Manning said on Friday. “But I’m not sure there’s been more anticipation for this Friday night throwing tonight. We usually start the throwing on, I don’t know, maybe the 30-yard line, going toward the other end zone.
“You figure that you’ve got 80 yards that’s safe, that you’re not going to run a kid into the goalpost. I’m not sure the 30’s are safe with Joe.”
The Manning camp features college quarterbacks working as counselors for over 1,200 high school quarterbacks. Milton is one of 10 notable quarterbacks working the camp, alongside Texas quarterbacks Arch Manning and Quinn Ewers, Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders, North Carolina’s Drake Maye, Kentucky’s Devin Leary, Florida State’s Jordan Travis, LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier and Jaden Daniels and Washington’s Michael Penix Jr.
Tennessee quarterbacks have had a consistent presence at the Manning Passing Academy, with Hendon Hooker and Jarrett Guarantano attending in recent years.
Milton famously has one of the strongest arms in football. Video in May was published on social media showing him throwing a ball 80 yards at the Steve Clarkson QB Retreat in California.
At the Manning camp, he might be backed up another 20 yards than quarterbacks in year’s past.
“We might need to back him up on our own 10 and give him 100 yards to work with,” Manning said. “But, big arms is great but I watch Joe practice, I know how much he studies. He’s an accurate quarterback and he’s a great kid as well.”
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Last season Milton passed for 971 yards and 10 touchdowns, completing 65 percent of his passes over nine games. But his opportunities were mainly limited to mop-up duty behind Hendon Hooker, before Hooker was lost to a torn ACL in November.
Milton started in Tennessee’s 56-0 win in the regular-season finale at Vanderbilt a week after Hooker’s season-ending injury, throwing for 147 yards and a touchdown while the Vols rushed for 362 yards and six touchdowns as a team.
He would go on to lead Tennessee to a 31-14 win over Clemson in the Orange Bowl at Hard Rock Stadium a little over a week later. He was named the game’s MVP after throwing for 251 yards and three touchdowns.
Manning said he’s “enjoyed getting know” Milton during his time at Tennessee and the two share texts occasionally.
“And pull hard for him,” Manning said, “and I’m really proud of him coming in last year after Hendon’s injury and keeping things together and a great bowl win. A bowl win can do so much for a quarterback’s confidence, especially in his first year, really, as a starter.
“So I can tell Joe’s confident and I’m excited about him having a great senior year.”
The Bengal Tiger’s Shea Dixon contributed to this article
