Former Tennessee legend Hendon Hooker was already committed to the Vols when Josh Heupel was originally hired to be UT’s next head coach in January 2021. However, to add some competition into the room, Heupel went out and signed former Michigan quarterback Joe Milton III from the transfer portal in April.
Milton wound up beating Hooker and returning Vol Harrison Bailey in a quarterback battle during fall camp, but would turn the keys over to Hooker after an injury sidelined him early in the season.
Tennessee has another quarterback battle on its hands this offseason. The Vols are deciding between redshirt-freshman George MacInytre, true freshman Faizon Brandon, and Colorado transfer Ryan Staub, with the competition spanning both spring training camp and fall training camp this August.
Milton obviously knows a thing or two about a Heupel-led quarterback competition. While speaking with SportsTalk’s Vince Ferrara this week at Dallas Cowboys training camp, Milton opened up and shared some key insight that might give Tennessee fans a good perspective on what’ll be happening in the final stages of the competition this August.
“Man, he wants a person that’s going to move the ball, that’s going to get you in the right place,” Milton said. “I mean, I don’t think nothing really changes from the NFL to college. As a quarterback, you have to get the team into the right place and you have to execute the play. But you also have to keep the ball moving, keep the offense on the field, and try to get points. There are going to be things that come your way and adversity’s going to hit at one point, but as an offense and as a quarterback, you’ve got to be able to move the ball, get completions, get the team in the right place.”
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Neither MacIntyre nor Brandon was on Milton’s teams at Tennessee, so there’s not a lot of personal familiarity between the VFL and the two current Vols. But Milton still has his eyes on the team, the competition, and the latest happenings at Tennessee, the best he can.
“I mean, I don’t really know much about either [MacIntyre or Brandon], but from what I have seen – I mean, I’ve searched both of them up on Instagram and on the web,” Milton said. “I like the way that the both play. I feel like it’s going to be a great competition. I feel like whoever gets Tennessee’s offense to move the way that it’s supposed to and what the coaches want, both of them have to understand the PCP. And PCP means play-caller purpose. So whoever gets that done, I feel like is going to win a job and have success with Tennessee.”
In early June, ESPN’s Billy Tucker wrote that freshman quarterback Faizon Brandon is “more advanced than Hendon Hooker at the same stage and more advanced as a passer than Joe Milton.”
While fans are plenty familiar with Tennessee’s quarterback battle, Milton is entrenched in one of his own with the Cowboys this offseason. Dallas brought in Sam Howell as a backup signal-caller this offseason, and it’ll be up to Milton to continue growing and evolving to secure his place as the backup to Dak Prescott with America’s Team.
Check out Joe Milton’s full interview with Vince Ferrara of SportsTalk below:
