The biggest concern surrounding Tennessee Vols quarterback Joe Milton entering the 2023 season is whether or not he can be consistent. 

That's been the bugaboo for Milton since his arrival at Michigan in 2018. 

Milton's mechanics have been to blame for some of his issues with consistency. 

Vols offensive coordinator Joey Halzle, however, thinks the redshirt senior quarterback took a big step forward with his mechanics this offseason to the point where the correct mechanics are now muscle memory for Milton. 

"He’s the type of athlete that he can feel his body so he understood what we were trying to accomplish quickly," said Halzle on Thursday while meeting with reporters. "It would just be making it the habit of that’s just how I throw it. Because an individual, you start building it, then you take it to routes on air, you take it to seven-on-seven and maybe it doesn’t look quite the same….So just over this offseason, it just kept incrementally getting better. It wasn’t like one day off, one day on. It was a growth throughout the whole thing where it just becomes that’s how you throw now where it’s not like, hey, I have to try to do it. That’s just the way he throws now.” 

As far as whether or not there's any concern that Milton will fall back into some old habits? 

Halzle doesn't think that will be an issue this fall for the potential Heisman contender. 

“You don’t really see it very often," said Halzle when asked about Milton returning to some of his old mechanics. "Every once in a while, naturally playing football, you’re gonna get yourself in a bad body position. It is what it is. There’s gonna be a free rush or there’s gonna be someone busting on a route. Well now my body’s in a weird spot. So we actually work drills to help us get out of bad situations. So I guess human nature, every once in a while you miss with a mechanical function, but for the most part, we’re able to to replicate really well and keep the same motion.” 

Milton showed a lot of improvement in Tennessee's Orange Bowl win against Clemson. He looked like a player capable of leading a team to a special season that ends with a parade. 

The exciting thing for Tennessee fans is that Milton has improved since that bowl game win against Clemson. He's made significant improvements with his mechanics, which should further help his consistency. 

Obviously Milton has to go out there and prove it this fall. But all the signs are pointing a huge season for the Florida native in 2023. And a huge season for Milton could result in a huge celebration for Vols fans. 

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