After Tennessee quarterback Hendon Hooker suffered a torn ACL against South Carolina last Saturday, backup quarterback Joe Milton III will be the Vols’ starter moving forward.
Milton was the starter to open the 2021 season and will now officially find his second start at Tennessee in the final regular season game of the 2022 season.
As a five-year collegiate quarterback, Milton has been through quite a lot. The Pahokee, Florida native spent the first three years of his career at the University of Michigan before transferring to Tennessee prior to the 2021 season. Head coach Josh Heupel chose Milton as the starting quarterback in 2021, but an injury in the second game of the season opened the door for Hooker, who ran away with the opportunity.
Now, though, the starting job comes back full circle as Milton enters the week as the starting quarterback.
- 141-of-247, 57.1%, 2142 yards, 13 touchdowns, 6 interceptions, 142.4 rating
At Michigan (2018-2020)
- 86-of-152, 56.6%, 1194 yards, 5 touchdowns, 6 interceptions, 125.5 rating
At Tennessee (2021-2022)
- 55-of-95, 57.9%, 948 yards, 8 touchdowns, 0 interceptions, 169.5 rating
In his one and only start at Tennessee, Milton and the Vols hosted Bowling Green in Neyland Stadium. Tennessee handily won that day by a score of 38-6 as Milton completed 11 passes for 139 yards.
vs Bowling Green (Start) – 9/2/21
- 11-of-23, 47.8%, 139 yards, 1 touchdown, 0 interceptions
Big Joe accounted for 3 scores in his Big Orange debut
👊 @Qbjayy7 pic.twitter.com/bddfAcN88A
— Tennessee Football (@Vol_Football) September 4, 2021
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Milton would complete 21 more passes in a backup role over the course of the 2021 season, but didn’t have too many standout moments like he has in 2022.
Over the course of the 2022 season, even as a backup, Milton has made several memorable throws and has some pretty solid statistics on the year. Milton has 573 yards and six touchdowns on 23-of-33 passing this year.
Joe Milton’s 2022 stats are as follows:
vs Ball State: 8-of-9, 88.9%, 113 yards, 1 touchdown (53 long)
vs Akron: 4-of-5, 80%, 112 yards, 2 touchdowns (57 long)
vs Alabama: 0-1
vs UT Martin: 4-of-7, 57.1%, 135 yards, 1 touchdown (64 long)
vs Missouri: 3-of-3, 100%, 105 yards, 1 touchdown (58 long)
@ South Carolina: 4-of-8, 50%, 108 yards, 1 touchdown (64 long)
Joe Milton has an absolute rocket.@Vol_Football | #GBO pic.twitter.com/po0vXB4CqS
— Stadium (@Stadium) November 13, 2022
Milton did replace Hooker in the South Carolina game after the injury occured in the fourth quarter and connected with wide receiver Squirrel White down the left sideline before finding Cedric Tillman in the endzone.
Tennessee and starting quarterback Joe Milton III will take on Vanderbilt in Nashville this Saturday night.
