Josh Heupel’s early QB call at Tennessee was the wrong one, but Vols fans are finally seeing why he made that decision
Josh Heupel has pushed most of the right buttons since taking over as the head coach of the Tennessee Vols in early 2021, but he’s not quite batting 1.000. Heupel, like every college football coach, has had a couple of missteps during his four-plus years on Rocky Top.The misstep that stands out the most is […]
Josh Heupel has pushed most of the right buttons since taking over as the head coach of the Tennessee Vols in early 2021, but he’s not quite batting 1.000.
Heupel, like every college football coach, has had a couple of missteps during his four-plus years on Rocky Top.
The misstep that stands out the most is the decision to start Joe Milton at quarterback over Hendon Hooker in 2021.
Milton led the Vols to a win against Bowling Green in his first start. He left his second start due to injury and was replaced by Hooker, who nearly led Tennessee to a come-from-behind win against Pittsburgh.
Hooker went on to have two incredible seasons for the Vols, winning SEC offensive player of the year in 2022.
After watching the difference in performances between Hooker and Milton, plenty of fans questioned how Heupel got it wrong.
Former Vols offensive coordinator Alex Golesh, who was on staff at Tennessee in 2021 and 2022, eventually admitted that he was part of getting it wrong with Milton and Hooker.
“I don’t know that you really know until you know,” said Golesh in 2023 while discussing identifying a starting quarterback. “I went through it at the previous place (Tennessee) where I thought I knew and I was wrong, so I’m humble enough to admit that.”
If you’ve been on the internet much this week, you’ve probably seen some Milton highlights at Dallas Cowboys training camp.
And Milton has looked fantastic in those highlights.
I mean, if that’s how Milton looked during fall camp in 2021, then it’s easy to see how Heupel and his staff thought he should be the starter.
Former Vols offensive lineman Ollie Lane, in fact, made some comments earlier this summer that seemingly confirm that an all-world Milton is what the Vols saw in 2021 during fall camp.
“I’ve said that for years [that] Joe was a great practice player,” said Lane during a recent appearance on The Sports Source. “And that’s no knock on his game at all. But Joe was great in practice. Looked amazing in practice. Hendon was not the best practice player. That’s when he would sometimes make mistakes that were stupid mistakes in practice.
“That competition, it was a weird competition because Joe really did win that competition in practice — because he was the better quarterback in practice. But then when you get in those game situations, practice isn’t always like the game, and so Hendon was just a true gamer. He knew how to step up to that stage and get it done. And that’s not to say Joe didn’t, but Joe could obviously put that on better in practice. And so that made it seem like he was the easy option (to be named the starter).”
Maybe fans (including many non-Vols fans) can let Heupel off the hook for naming Milton the starter in 2021 now that everyone is seeing how prolific the quarterback has been during training camp with the Cowboys.
Tennessee Volunteers News
‘Get the ball in his hands and let him do special things’ – Tennessee Vols let a playmaker leave via the NCAA transfer portal
One of the most hyped players in the Tennessee Vols’ 2023 recruiting class was easily four-star athlete Cam Seldon. The Virginia native was rated by 247Sports as the No. 77 overall player in the nation. He was also the third highest rated player in Tennessee’s 2023 recruiting class. Seldon, however, never made a real impact […]
