What Joe Milton said after accounting for six TDs in Tennessee's Senior Day win over Vandy

Joe Milton III ended his college football career on Saturday by leading No. 25 Tennessee to a 48-24 win over Vanderbilt, passing for a career-high 383 yards and four touchdowns. He accounted for six total touchdowns after adding a pair of 2-yard rushing touchdowns.

Here’s everything Milton said during his postgame press conference after the Senior Day win at Neyland Stadium:

Playing well in a win on Tennessee’s Senior Day

“Yeah, absolutely. You go out with a bang. Every game, you try to do that. But the most important one is the last one inside of the stadium. You show a team that is how we play when we get inside of this stadium. That is the legacy that I am going to hold onto and leave it onto my guy Nico.”

HIs emotions before and after his Senior Day at Tennessee

“I kind of got mine out Friday with my throwing session here at the stadium before we play Saturday. Just walking down by the tunnel by myself Friday, I kind of started crying. My coaches were in front of me so I have to show that I am tough. Just playing inside of this stadium one last time, it was amazing.”

“I wish the guys that come up after us, I wish they’d take it serious (like) us. We left a legacy here, that there’s only one way we play when we get inside that stadium, and that’s hard. There’s only two things you can control. That’s your effort and your attitude. So once you get inside that stadium and you put those jerseys on, that’s what I hope you have.”

Going out with a career-record 383 yards passing and four passing touchdowns, six total touchdowns

“I feel like every other game that we had here we could have played harder. But this one, especially, you want to end the season right, correctly. Especially with an in-state rivalry. You’ve got to be able to go and give your all for Tennessee. That is what we did tonight.” 

His emotions with his college football career being over

“My journey has been shaky. Three years at Michigan. First two years only playing eight games. Then my junior year COVID happened in 2020. Get a start and you get to play three games and in your second game of the season, you get hurt to an injury. You just look back at those things and I just never gave myself the fruits of the labor. This is the longest season I have ever been in. Making it through, being able to go game from game and flushing the last one. That is pretty much all you ask for. I didn’t do it alone. I had a whole bunch of guys behind me. They were telling me all the right things. They kept me up. They made sure i was smiling because everybody if I wasn’t smiling, nobody else was smiling. They made sure I was smiling.”

If there was something in the Vanderbilt defense that helped Tennessee attack with tight ends

“Nah, it was just Cover 0, 4-3. Number two was, I knew from the snap, from post-snap and pre-snap, I knew we had the tight end all week. And we had that same look. They did exactly what we thought they were going do. And when they gave me the go-ahead to play that, I was like, man, like there’s only one spot I could put this ball. And then I looked at the tight end spot and I seen who it was … so I just did my job, you know, just do your job at a high level. That’s all we pretty much asked for. And I did that. He did that and (offensive) line played great tonight, man. You know, I just gotta get props to them.”

Being the first Tennessee player since 2009 to account for six total touchdowns in a game

“Pretty much the whole offense. Joe can’t be Joe without the other 10 guys, so whatever they do and how they do it. The preparation throughout the week, the film study, the asking me questions throughout practice, just asking me how this ball is gonna be up, how is this ball gonna be? Just all the small details, that’s pretty much what we asked for. And you know, like I said, those six touchdowns wouldn’t happen if the other 10 guys wasn’t doing they job at a high level.” 

The Tennessee offensive line playing well despite missing three starters

“Champions always find a way. That’s how I view life, man. Champions find a way. We didn’t know what the week was gonna hold. We didn’t know who was gonna play Sunday night. We didn’t know who was gonna be the starter for this Saturday. So, I mean, as an offense, you just gotta go out there. Everybody should know the offense. I feel like if you play the whole season, everybody on the offense, no matter who you are, you should know the offense. So when your opportunities show up, you gotta be able to show out. I feel like those five that was out there with me tonight, they, they played their heart out. They did all they can, what they were asked of. And, and then the guys around me, the running backs, the tight ends, the receivers, everybody else just did their job at a high level, man. That’s all we pretty much asked for. That’s what they did.”