Joe Milton - Second-Year Surge

[norrislakevol]

The problem with Miltons overthrows on long balls is that he is standing flat footed when he launches them. If you have a strong arm like him they get pushed too far downfield. A deep pass should be a whole motion of your body starting with step forward. That way you get some loft in the pass and your receiver can run under it. This is a mechanical fix, the shorter passes that come out like a tank round are a mental issue. He has to determine when to put mustard on that throw and when to not Hope he can fix all this because he has great potential..

 

[SonOfGodVolforlife]

Why skeptical that Joe could suddenly “get it together”? Happened with Hooker why not Milton if he’s really working as hard on and off the field as his coaches and teammates say he is?

Tbh Hooker was a nobody transfer from VA Tech who didn’t wow in practice and was shaky as hell his first couple of games last year but suddenly the lights went on and so did the scoreboard.

Ok I’m skeptical too just sayin it can happen and we Vol fans need to put aside our bts and take each new season as it comes bc we’ve got the right PROVEN staff in place to actually DEVELOP players ESPECIALLY at QB.

I agree 100’peecent with ya, just a little nervous about joe is all. Do I think he has what it takes?? Absolutely, the dude flicks his wrist and can throw the ball to the moon!! I’d love to see Milton become an all American .

 

[beachvol23]

Thank you, friend. But there is a difference between us.

Think of Joe as a member of our family. He is. He is a Tennessee Vol now. And we care for all our lads and lasses. We want them all to succeed, to do well, to have happy, productive, even inspirational lives.

And to get there, they all have to grow. They have to develop. No one achieves greatness or deep satisfaction in life as they are when age 20. We all get better.

That includes Joe. He can develop. He can get better. He might even be able to break this hold adrenaline has on him, and learn calmness in the middle of the chaos of a football play.

As I said at the outset, we can't count on that. We can't know he has taken that step forward until we see it on the football field. But we can have hope that our coaching staff find a way to work through it with him.

And that is the difference in your and my views: I hold out hope for the lad, while you have given up on him. You should reconsider. Because he's a Vol, too.

Go Vols!

this is where fans and alumni get delusional, most players don’t care **** about many university related things that the fan base does. The sooner people realize that, the clearer their perspective will be! Major college football is first and foremost a stepping stone pathway to the NFL in their mind. They would not go to college if they didn’t have to. Also, look how many players here and everywhere don’t go to class, flunk out, transfer, etc so much that the NCAA had to put in the APR.

Lastly, not hard to “give up” on JM when he gives up on his own teammates! He’s a loser football player.

 

[VFL-82-JP]

this is where fans and alumni get delusional, most players don’t care **** about many university related things that the fan base does. The sooner people realize that, the clearer their perspective will be! Major college football is first and foremost a stepping stone pathway to the NFL in their mind. They would go to college if they didn’t have to. Also, look how many players here and everywhere don’t go to class, flunk out, transfer, etc so much that the NCAA had to put in the APR.

Lastly, not hard to “give up” on JM when he gives up on his own teammates! He’s a loser football player.

If your philosophy had any widespread validity, this would be one mess of a world to live in.

Thankfully, very few people see things the way you do.

I'll prove the error of your perspective, though I doubt you'll take the time to consider the argument:

-- When is the last time you cared about just one thing? You probably can't remember back that far, right? I mean, you care about your girlfriend (or boyfriend). You care about your car. You care about your job. You care about your favorite band. Your team. Your parents. Your brother and sister. You care about being useful in the world. You'd like to make a difference. You want to score well on the next Mario Kart contest (or game of Phase Ten or whatever your passtimes).
-- Point is, it is possible to care about a lot of things at once. To have many loves, many desires, many interests at the same time. In fact, it would be oddly inhuman not to. We all do. We're complex.
-- But you're painting these young men who play football as very one-dimensional. You think if they care about getting to the NFL, that leaves no room to also care about their teammates...and their coaches...and their school...and how the fans see them...and on and on. You boil them down to just one thing.
-- BUT they're just as complex as you and me.
-- So yes, a whole lot of them DO want Tennessee to be one of the best universities in the nation. Athletically and academically. They do want people to show respect for the school they attend. All things equal, they do want to get good grades (though maybe some are less willing than others to work hard for them). They do want to graduate. They do want a diploma. They do wish well for their baseball and basketball and soccer counterparts. They want all that AND to get to the NFL, AND to hone their craft as football players so they can be elite one day at the very pinnacle of the sport.

When is the last time you heard of a Tennessee football player flunking out? I can't recall one in many years.

So give them credit. Stop selling them short. They're three-dimensional human beings, AND Vols for life, just like you and me.

Go Vols!

 

[beachvol23]

If your philosophy had any widespread validity, this would be one mess of a world to live in.

Thankfully, very few people see things the way you do.

I'll prove the error of your perspective, though I doubt you'll take the time to consider the argument:

-- When is the last time you cared about just one thing? You probably can't remember back that far, right? I mean, you care about your girlfriend (or boyfriend). You care about your car. You care about your job. You care about your favorite band. Your team. Your parents. Your brother and sister. You care about being useful in the world. You'd like to make a difference. You want to score well on the next Mario Kart contest (or game of Phase Ten or whatever your passtimes).
-- Point is, it is possible to care about a lot of things at once. To have many loves, many desires, many interests at the same time. In fact, it would be oddly inhuman not to. We all do. We're complex.
-- But you're painting these young men who play football as very one-dimensional. You think if they care about getting to the NFL, that leaves no room to also care about their teammates...and their coaches...and their school...and how the fans see them...and on and on. You boil them down to just one thing.
-- BUT they're just as complex as you and me.
-- So yes, a whole lot of them DO want Tennessee to be one of the best universities in the nation. Athletically and academically. They do want people to show respect for the school they attend. All things equal, they do want to get good grades (though maybe some are less willing than others to work hard for them). They do want to graduate. They do want a diploma. They do wish well for their baseball and basketball and soccer counterparts. They want all that AND to get to the NFL, AND to hone their craft as football players so they can be elite one day at the very pinnacle of the sport.

When is the last time you heard of a Tennessee football player flunking out? I can't recall one in many years.

So give them credit. Stop selling them short. They're three-dimensional human beings, AND Vols for life, just like you and me.

Go Vols!

We’re talking about football here not academia utopia. Clearly you do not understand how many black kids grow up and what they must endure and football is often a way out, a means to an end with college a mere by-product. Certainly many kids take advantage of the opportunity but if football allowed one and dones, you likely also would have different perspective.

 

[O.G.HomeGrownUTVOL]

I think Milton relied too much on his physical gifts in HS and college which is why he didn’t succeed.

With that being said, I believe he has the support system around him in CJH & QB talent to mold him into a quarterback that can be successful. I think he is doing the intelligent thing by taking the back seat and soaking it all in. I think CJH knows he can have a beast at QB next year and is going to try and do everything he can to cultivate it.

Honestly, I wish our fan base would stop sh*****g on him because he hasn’t complained about his poor performance and actually has been a huge positive locker room presence that has given his all for UT.

1000% agree!!

 

[O.G.HomeGrownUTVOL]

I guess 4 years of JG wasn't enough.

Let Milton continue to be a good teammate and only play him if you absolutely have too.

He's been playing organized football for 7 years now. If he can't learn accuracy and situational awareness at this point then just accept it.

You all forget so quickly....

I have to disagree, it really could depend on who had coached him in those years. I don't have a clue who his QB coaches were but I do know Coach Heup and Coach Halzle have a pretty decent track record of developing QB'S and Milton is a physical freak. So there's always a chance it clicks for him and he balls out.

 

[VFL-82-JP]

We’re talking about football here not academia utopia. Clearly you do not understand how many black kids grow up and what they must endure and football is often a way out, a means to an end with college a mere by-product. Certainly many kids take advantage of the opportunity but if football allowed one and dones, you likely also would have different perspective.

You're making the lads one-dimensional again.

Not all college football players grow up impoverished in the projects the way Michael Oher (The Blind Side) did. In fact, the majority of college players, white, black, brown or yellow, are probably from middle-class families and grew up in suburbia. Some from the farm, sure, and some from the inner city, but the most common background is probably like Lebanon, TN...or Clarksville...or Manchester...or Knoxville.

Sure, for a minority of young men playing football today, the game is a way out of a tragic home life. Drugs, and single-parent families, and sleeping 10 to a bed like Inky Johnson had to. It exists. I get it. But you can't paint all the lads with a single brush. They're just as complicated as any other group of 120 people.

Go Vols!

 

[GUNTERSVOL]

Joe just needs a sports psychology coach and to embrace his emotions during game time… he will be his 3rd year in the system in 2022 and he could have a really good year if he learns that… if not we will have 2 good young QBs behind him that were much more proven winners than Joe in High school and I do not feel the moment will be too big for neither Nico nor TJ… as long as heup is head coach UT fans will never have to worry about Qb play again.

Which 2022 year are you talking about Milton being in his 3rd year in the system? He arrived in Knoxville maybe a year ago in time to play in the 21 season, and now we are entering 22 his second season. I am actually hoping that he is given 4 minute drill packages and incorporates more run/pass option stuff to keep the clock running with HH and TJ safely on the sidelines next to Coach cheering him on. 23 will take care of itself as Coach sets it up after Nico gets here. I am good with whatever CJH decides.

 

[BoroVol93]

Which 2022 year are you talking about Milton being in his 3rd year in the system? He arrived in Knoxville maybe a year ago in time to play in the 21 season, and now we are entering 22 his second season. I am actually hoping that he is given 4 minute drill packages and incorporates more run/pass option stuff to keep the clock running with HH and TJ safely on the sidelines next to Coach cheering him on. 23 will take care of itself as Coach sets it up after Nico gets here. I am good with whatever CJH decides.

My mistake I meant 23…

 

[orange_glory]

The challenge of Joe Milton is 99% mental--by that, I don't mean smarts. I mean nervous system and autonomic brain function.

When he gets into live game play, his adrenaline level seems to spike off the charts. Okay, that's fairly normal. Happens to most fellas. But Joe's mind can't seem to handle it as well as most. He gets "jittery." Not his hands, but his mind. It winds up too tight.

And that manifests itself in three bad ways:

-- He loses his touch. He starts throwing nothing but 90-mph fastballs. Whether he needs to or not. This is mainly a problem on the shorter passes. His throws come screaming in like a depleted uranium round from an M1 main battle tank. That's punishing to his receivers. Some can handle it better than others, but when Joe is only 10-15 yards from the receiver, it gets supremely hard to find the ball's handle.
-- He starts over-throwing. Too much adrenaline translates into too much juice. This is mainly a problem on his longer throws. 10% over-thrown on a 15-yard pass is only 1.5 yards, which is within many receivers' wing span. 10% over-thrown on a 50-yard bomb is 5 yards, which the receiver can't even come close to. The balls just sail past their targets.
-- He shies away from contact. Adrenaline is the fight-or-flight drug in your bloodstream. If you're a natural fighter, it's dangerously seductive. But if you're naturally hesitant to mix it up (as Joe seems to be), it causes you to not think clearly in times of threat. Which can cause you to run out of bounds, say, on the 8-yard line on the last play of the game when you're team is down just a few points and the clock is at 0:00.

You know how it is sometimes said that some young men have natural talent and "you can't teach that"? I'm concerned that perhaps this aspect of Joe Milton's being may not be coachable. I hope I'm wrong. I hope our coaching staff and Joe himself break the code on his adrenaline rush effects.

I'm just not counting on it until I see it in-game.

Go Vols!

Give him a beta blocker?

 

[VFL-82-JP]

Give him a beta blocker?

You know, I wondered about this. I wondered about whether the doctors might just prescribe the lad an anti-anxiety medication to be taken the morning of game day.

But we're just supposing on these boards. We don't know anything. I'm sure the coaching staff and the supporting medical health care staff will help Joe become the best QB he can be, whatever his reality.

Go Vols!

 

[WoodsmanVol]

Anti-Vol playeritis infects a certain faction of our fanbase. Shows up at the slightest real or imagined fault exhibited by a player. And sometimes, it shows sup for no reason at all.

Self-righteous condemnations prevent us from seeing the good that lies beyond appearances.

 

[DuckinVol]

His coaches' perception of the Milt Man is vital, but his teammates' belief in him speaks thunderous volumes. I believe the Milt Man will deliver.

PLEASE find a different nickname. Maybe you aren’t aware what “milt” is, but it’s definitely not something anyone wants to be called.
Or maybe I’m wrong and some like to be referred to as fish semen.

 

[87&91ALUM]

If CJH can "fix" him, yes, the guy is an amazing athlete. I will believe he is "fixed" when he can play four quarters, every game, without being the reason we lose games. Agree on the nick name of "Milt Man"...lol. How about "Rocket Man" because he can spin it short or deep like no one I have seen. Or "Mount Milt" cause the dude is huge and mighty. And with that, I will defer to others....GBO!

 

[WoodsmanVol]

PLEASE find a different nickname. Maybe you aren’t aware what “milt” is, but it’s definitely not something anyone wants to be called. Or maybe I’m wrong and some like to be referred to as fish semen.

Thank you for your suggestion. I respect your courteous manner in making the suggestion. However, I decline to follow it. I create nicknames for certain players for my own amusement. I don't really care about how others may like or dislike them, it's just my way of having a bit of fun. Usually, they are associated with word play (phonetics) or something the player did, and often comic book or TV show related. Here are a few present and past monikers I've thrown out on VN. I'm positive I'll come up with worse ones in the future:

Whirl Wind Worley and Whirlybird = Justin Worley
DobbGoblin = Josh Dobbs
Rifleman Riley = Riley Ferguson
Captain Hook = Hendon Hooker

Though I very rarely posted it, maybe only once, The Jinn = Jauan Jennings

I might even end up referring to Marquarius White as Squeak-Squeak for all I know. There are times even I don't know what my own insanity will lead me to. I just go along for the ride and enjoy the trip, guess that means I'm trippng.

 

[DuckinVol]

Thank you for your suggestion. I respect your courteous manner in making the suggestion. However, I decline to follow it. I create nicknames for certain players for my own amusement. I don't really care about how others may like or dislike them, it's just my way of having a bit of fun. Usually, they are associated with word play (phonetics) or something the player did, and often comic book or TV show related. Here are a few present and past monikers I've thrown out on VN. I'm positive I'll come up with worse ones in the future:

Whirl Wind Worley and Whirlybird = Justin Worley
DobbGoblin = Josh Dobbs
Rifleman Riley = Riley Ferguson
Captain Hook = Hendon Hooker

Though I very rarely posted it, maybe only once, The Jinn = Jauan Jennings

I might even end up referring to Marquarius White as Squeak-Squeak for all I know. There are times even I don't know what my own insanity will lead me to. I just go along for the ride and enjoy the trip, guess that means I'm trippng.

I assumed you simply didn’t realize what the word meant. So you’d be good with a stranger naming you “fish semen?” Frankly, rather than silly like the other nicknames, this one could be easily viewed as offensive. I know what my response would be, and I promise no one would laugh.

 

[UTgrad2015]

my dream is that we have QBs drafted in back to back classes with Hendo and Milton... it's a like shot as we sit here today, but that's why it's called a dream! Not sure the last time that happened..

 

[Zues1]

Joe wont be here on 24

Thanks , that's already been pointed out.
Chances are he may not be here for the 2023 season

 

[PlanetVolunteer]

The thing is whoever starts next year is going to be good. Milton, Jackson or Nico.

Heupel hasn't had a season where his QB struggles. They all ball out.

 

[WoodsmanVol]

I assumed you simply didn’t realize what the word meant. So you’d be good with a stranger naming you “fish semen?” Frankly, rather than silly like the other nicknames, this one could be easily viewed as offensive. I know what my response would be, and I promise no one would laugh.

Have a nice day. It's been a bit cloudy here, with a breeze periodically shaking the maple and pine canopy. Two rabbits keep visiting both my lawn and the neighbor's across the street. I originally thought it was Bugs and Lola Bunny, but the fur coloring isn't quite right. Hmm, a case of all that and rabbit stew, I suppose.

 

[GUNTERSVOL]

My mistake I meant 23…

Not allowed, same as stepping out of bounds as the clock expires..... you are forever and ever irredeemable as a poster. Life can be tough huh.

 

[VFFL@THE BEACH]

DCM, I hope you don't think I was hating on Joe in post #14. That was more along the lines of me trying to understand him, including how he might improve. I don't dislike the young man, I respect him for wearing orange and representing us, and I appreciate his clear talent and team attitude.

Having said that, the next thing I say is probably going to make you think I'm hating on Joe again. Because I've been pondering the possible roots of his adrenaline problem, and it seems to me he may share an element of background with JG. Yep, see, now you think I'm hating. I'm not. I appreciate JG in much the same way I do Joe.

And they both seemed to suffer aspects of the same affliction. In live games, both tend to throw darts, even when backing off the velocity and giving a little more touch might be better. Both tend to over-throw their targets, esp. downfield on the longer passes.

So far, it could be that JG and Joe have the same over-stimulated adrenaline problem, right?

But JG is a bruiser. He isn't afraid to hit or get hit. He took a pounding, sometimes several weeks in a row, and just kept coming back for more. Which is a clear difference between the two. JG's fight-or-flight trigger tends toward "fight;" Joe's leans in the direction of "flight."

So they're not the same person. They're not identical. But they do seem to have similarities.

So what causes young men to have this problem?

No telling. But here's one possible source I've been thinking about: lack of adversity earlier in life.

What if you never got beat up by other kids growing up? What if you never suffered real hardship at home, whether that means a parent quick with the belt, or an older sibling with a mean streak, or the loss of a loved one?

What if being hit hard on the football field IS the most negative thing that ever happens in your young life?

See, and I'm just thinking out loud, no way of knowing if any of this is anything other than BS, but if you've had a series of Real Problems in life, if you're biggest adrenaline spikes have tended to be much more serious than a fellow football playing crashing into you, then maybe you become better at dealing with and thinking through and being calm during adrenaline spikes of the football variety.

Maybe JG and Joe simply have had too good of a life so far, a bit too protected?

If that theory is accurate, chances are good we'll see more lads with similar challenges in the future, because children are protected today (from everything except discussions of sex and gender) far better than ever before in history.

Anyway, could be 100% wrong. Just something I've been thinking about the last few years while pondering JG and now Joe Mixon.

Go Vols!

I will add one more theory to the list. Joe is a big guy that was probably big most of his life. What are most big kids told when they are younger?

"Be easy on the other kids, you don't want to hurt them".

Just a thought but when you see gentle giants and 180# beasts..it makes you wonder.

Other than football decisions, I think Milton's aversion to contact will keep him out of this offense.

 

[lexkyvol]

i see milton starting next yr with jackson as the backup. nico redshirting when he gets on rocky top. idk it benefits anyone to redshirt jackson

 

[keenobserver]

Loses the ability to process when he gets in the game, particularly in adverse situations.

Lacks just general awareness that a QB needs (touch, the wherewithal to know when to scramble, etc)

He's soft.

I'm afraid he may lack some guts also.

I'm ok if he spells HH for a play or two if he gets dinged, but there's no way JM is a guy that will lead us to where we want to be. Tayven or Nico are up next.

Milton just needs to be the first to get off the bus on away trips to scare the opposing team.