Unless there's an injury, Joe Milton will be the Tennessee Vols' starting quarterback on September 2 when they kick off the 2023 season in Nashville against the Virginia Cavaliers. 

Milton, a redshirt senior who transferred to Tennessee from Michigan ahead of the 2021 season, is entering his third season in the Vols' offense. 

True freshman Nico Iamaleava, a former five-star recruit, looms as a potential quarterback option for Tennessee in 2023, but Milton will get his chance to prove that he's the guy this upcoming season. 

Milton has always had the potential to be a superstar in college football, but he's yet to "put it all together". 

So why should Tennessee fans expect that to change in 2023? 

For one, Milton has continued to develop during the last two seasons while backing up Hendon Hooker. 

The bigger reason why Milton is poised to finally reach his potential in 2023, however, is because of a mindset change — similar to the one wide receiver Jalin Hyatt experienced before his breakout 2022 season. 

Hyatt made it clear ahead of the 2022 season that his mind wasn't in the right place in 2021. So he essentially rededicated himself to the game of football and the results followed. 

Milton didn't make a statement quite as loud as Hyatt this offseason, but he admitted that in the past he thought it would be "easy" to sustain success. 

"I started at Michigan in 2020, I was having success early," said Milton during a recent episode of The Juice. "I thought that it would be easy to just keep doing the same thing over and over, week by week."

"After I got hurt the second time (during Tennessee's loss to Pittsburgh in 2021), it kind of took a toll on me," continued Milton. "I was kind of in the mindset of 'do I actually want to do this?'…once I got through my adversities, I told myself once I get that opportunity again, I'm going to go hard."

Vols fans have only seen Milton start two games (Vanderbilt and Clemson) since his injury against Pittsburgh in 2021. Milton is 2-0 in those two starts with four passing touchdowns and zero interceptions (Milton has yet to throw an interception in a Tennessee uniform). 

It sounds like Milton thought success was going to come easy up until his injury in 2021. And now that his mindset has shifted, it's led to a new Joe Milton. The redshirt senior quarterback has the potential to be a top 10 NFL Draft pick and a Heisman Trophy contender. Now that his mindset is in the right place, the sky truly is the limit for Milton.