Tennessee Vols redshirt senior quarterback Joe Milton is expected to be UT's starter in 2023. 

Milton, who transferred to Tennessee from Michigan ahead of the 2021 season, has started four games for the Vols over the last two years. 

The Florida native is 3-1 in those four starts, which includes a 31-14 win against a nearly full-strength Clemson squad in the Orange Bowl this past season. 

Milton has all of the skills that scouts drool over. He has ideal size, incredible arm strength, a great attitude/demeanor, and he's a perfect teammate. 

247Sports thinks Milton's resumé is good enough to rank the Tennessee quarterback as the fourth-best quarterback in the SEC ahead of the 2023 season. 

From 247Sports: We mentioned heading into spring there was no quarterback controversy for the Vols, despite the hoopla surrounding five-star freshman Nico Iamaleava. He did some nice things over his first 15 college practices, but this is Milton's offense for now, and he took every first-team rep in the spring game. Milton may have the strongest arm in college football and he's coming off an impressive showing against Clemson in the Orange Bowl win over the Tigers. There was nothing flashy about his performance in the Vols' final scrimmage, but he didn't leave anyone questioning Josh Heupel's choice as to who's leading this offense, either. Milton has a chance to special, and there's depth behind him with Iamaleava as the future of the program.

That seems like a fair ranking for Milton. He has undeniable talent, but he also still has a lot to prove (can he be consistent in 2023?). 

There's just one small problem with Milton's ranking — he's ranked behind one quarterback that he has absolutely no business being ranked behind. 

For some reason, 247Sports ranked Georgia Bulldogs redshirt sophomore quarterback Carson Beck at No. 3 (LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels is at No. 2, and Arkansas quarterback KJ Jefferson is at No. 1). 

Beck is only ahead of Milton for one reason — he plays at Georgia. 

That's it. There's no other reason for Beck to be ahead of Milton. 

And it's not because I think Beck is a subpar player — there's no evidence to suggest that's the case. 

Milton, however, is a more seasoned player, has the talent, and he has a bigger body of work than Beck. 

Over the last two seasons, Milton has played in 17 games for the Vols. He's passed for 1,346 yards, 12 touchdowns, and zero interceptions during his time at Tennessee. 

Beck, on the other hand, has passed for 486 yards, six touchdowns, and two interceptions at Georgia. He's a talented player, but he has a lot to prove — certainly more than Milton has to prove. 

I just don't see how you can rank a quarterback that has zero wins as a starter over Milton, a player that has three wins as a starter (especially when one of those wins was a blowout win against Clemson, plus he led Tennessee to a blowout road win over a Vanderbilt team that was trying to reach bowl eligibility). 

This is simply another case of the Vols not getting any respect, which is something that former Tennessee quarterback Hendon Hooker talked about earlier this offseason. 

“We play with a chip on our shoulder at Tennessee. We get a lot of disrespect.” — Hendon Hooker at the combine (?: College Football Playbook) pic.twitter.com/hwOXWCAo8l

— zach ragan (@zachTNT) March 7, 2023

This is just another piece of motivation that Milton can use in 2023 as the Vols attempt to reach the College Football Playoff for the first time in program history.