There's something the Tennessee Vols didn't do in 2022 that they need to do in 2023 to help quarterback Joe Milton (assuming he's named the starter next fall, which is expected).

Milton looked good in the Vols' 31-14 win against Clemson in the Orange Bowl. He was accurate for the most part (his only bad miss was on a pass to Bru McCoy where it looked like they weren't on the same page, so it's unclear which player is to blame) and he was able to work the middle of the field, one of his strengths that can be beneficial for Tennessee in 2023.

The one area where Milton struggled, however, was his decision-making/composure when the pocket collapsed. I've mentioned it several times since Friday night, but Milton didn't look confident when the pocket collapsed and he was forced to scramble.

A couple of times it looked like he had an opportunity to run, but he either passed the ball or took a sack. Some of those sacks were because of Clemson's strong defensive line play and they weren't necessarily on Milton. But a couple of other times, Milton had an opportunity to take off and gain some important yards.

The running is something that Milton will have to become more comfortable with as a player, it's not necessarily something that can easily be taught/coached (and it needs to be part of his game…he's 6-foot-5/245 lbs — that's a big man to tackle).

One thing Tennessee can do, though, to help Milton in those situations is to utilize their running backs more in the passing game.

This past season, Vols running backs caught just 17 passes. Last season, Tennessee running backs caught only 20 passes. And in 2020, when Josh Heupel was in Orlando, UCF running backs caught 33 passes.

The dwindling lack of usage by running backs in Heupel's offense might have been an Alex Golesh thing. Golesh, who recently became the head coach at USF, joined Heupel's staff in 2020 as the co-offensive coordinator. And he immediately had a heavy influence on the offense (Golesh recently thanked Heupel for letting him run his offense for the last three seasons).

In 2019, before Golesh's arrival, UCF's running backs had 53 receptions. In 2018 at UCF, the running backs had 45 receptions.

That's not to criticize Golesh — there's nothing he needed to change about his playcalling in 2022. But it might be something that needs to change in 2023 to give Milton some options — those checkdown passes to running backs can save drives from stalling out.

With Heupel expected to call plays in 2023, perhaps we'll see Vols running backs more involved more in the passing game (especially with true freshman Cam Seldon, a hybrid running back/wide receiver, possibly playing a big role next fall).

Milton isn't Hendon Hooker. Maybe he'll be better, maybe he won't be as good. That doesn't matter. The point is that the two quarterbacks have different strengths and weaknesses. And one of Milton's weaknesses — for now at least — seems to show itself when the pocket collapses and he has to improvise.

Getting the running backs more involved in the passing game could be one way to prevent those issues from showing up in 2023.

Tennessee's offense is ever-evolving. There's always going to be tempo and wide splits, but Heupel isn't afraid to try new wrinkles (like going under center on the goal line and scoring a touchdown with a fullback against Alabama and Kentucky this season). We saw other similar changes in 2022 (going over the middle more is another example).

We'll see some changes next season, too. And I wouldn't be surprised if more passes to running backs is one of those changes.

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