Tennessee football: Joe Milton III made early case to be 2023 starting QB

Not so fast everybody. After Hendon Hooker suffered a season-ending ACL injury in the second to last game of the season for Tennessee football, conventional wisdom was that Joe Milton III would come in and finish the season before losing his starting job to Nico Iamaleava next year.

All of that made sense. Iamaleava is one of the most highly touted quarterbacks the Vols have ever landed. He comes in with a ton of hype. Meanwhile, Milton lost his starting job to Hooker in the first place due to accuracy issues in 2021, and those continued when he came back in at the end of 2022.

Then the Orange Bowl happened. Milton was the star, completing 19 of 28 passes for 251 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions, en route to a 31-14 win over the Clemson Tigers. He earned Orange Bowl MVP in the process.

Up until that point, the only two games Milton started and finished with Tennessee football were wins over the Bowling Green Falcons to open 2021 and the Vanderbilt Commodores to end 2022. He looked, well, below average in both of them throwing the ball.

On Friday, though, he reset the clock, playing his best game yet against a top 10 opponent. Clemson dared him to throw it over the middle and played soft zone coverage. He delivered, picking them apart on all of their touchdown drives.

Two of Milton’s touchdown passes were strikes over the middle to Bru McCoy and Squirrel White. As for the deep ball, he threw a perfect touchdown pass to Ramel Keyton. There was also a deep pass to White that set up another touchdown.

Now, Keyton and White were wide open on those plays, and there were plenty of easy throws over the middle for Milton to make. However, Josh Heupel’s system creates those easy opportunities. The question was if Milton could convert them.

Well, in this game, he did, and that calls into question exactly what Tennessee football’s quarterback situation will be in 2023. It still seems like it will be a wide open race between Milton, Tayven Jackson and Nico Iamaleava. After the Orange Bowl, Milton should be the favorite.

We all know that Heupel personally likes Milton. He made him the starter over Hooker initially. However, Milton has won the team over as well, embracing his role as Hooker’s backup, developing and showing himself to be a true leader.

Jackson is coming off a collarbone injury, and Iamaleava will need to spend more time in the weight room his first offseason. That will hold back his development early on, even if his long-term potential is through the roof.

Of course, Heupel’s partiality to Milton was in contrast to Hooker, a quarterback he didn’t target. Now, he’s got nothing but quarterbacks he specifically signed, so it could be a bit different when the race is on in the spring.

However, Milton got an audition in the Orange Bowl that the other two didn’t get, and he delivered in a big way. It may have turned him into the favorite. Tennessee football may be just fine with him in 2023 while Iamaleava and Jackson develop.