The Morning After - Sober Reflections Week 5

#127
#127
Yall do know this isn't Madden?
JM3 only completes the passes he's asked to complete. It may be because he is limited or it may be because that's winning at the moment. Just saying a double digit win is a double digit win.
 
  • Like
Reactions: GetYouSomeofThat
#130
#130
perico said:
Crompton called, and wants his 2nd half of 2009 back.
Click to expand...
You’re saying because he turned out to be a good player? That’s because he had a good qb coach (and offensive system) for the first time in his career that year with kiffin.

Milton is a 6th year senior with 3 years under his belt in a system better than kiffin’s imo.

But trust me when I saw I hope you’re right. I think that’s what all fans hope for, even the ones like me that believe we’ve seen his ceiling. I hope I’m wrong and you’re right.
 
#132
#132
Milton had meaningful playing time in 5 games at Michigan.
Hooker had meaningful playing time in 15 games at Virginia Tech.
Milton has had meaningful playing time in 9 games at Tennessee.
Hooker had meaningful playing time in 22 games at Tennessee.

Hooker 37
Milton 14

Expecting Milton to be as polished as Hooker at this point is an unrealistic expectation in my humble opinion. He is still learning and developing. No doubt he needs to keep working on his game, but let's be real.
 
  • Like
Reactions: GetYouSomeofThat, Snapper58, orangebloodgmc and 2 others
#133
#133
Jimmyandjoes said:
I'm not exactly sure how PFF gets their numbers but congrats to the DB's for a great game-both tackling and coverage
Wesley Walker -aside from some earlier in the season missed tackles has really looked good. Wish we had him another year
Click to expand...

WR Squirrel White — 69.2 (69 plays)
caught 9 of 9 passes for 104 yds
 
  • Like
Reactions: ttocswob, orangebloodgmc, JCHateSteve and 1 other person
#134
#134
UTFranklinVol said:
Lol what?! What does that even mean? So how did Joe manage the USC game? He didnt! His coaches did. Joe doesnt have the same control over the offense that Hooker had. Thats why you see Joe look to the sideline on every single play. Its why we pass to the flat like we did when we had Guantanamo as QB. He is being "handled" by the coaching staff because there is no trust in his abilities.
Click to expand...
we all love hooker but you seem to forget he went 7-6 his 1st yr in this offense.bet you a hundo joe finishes better in his first full season.
 
#135
#135
ATX_VOL said:
QB can't make the throws ....this concerns me alot
Click to expand...
The TD throw to warren was a NFL caliber throw. Milton is not 100% with the knee. He got fooled by the defense on the first interception, that happens every Sunday in the NFL. The second, the ball was actually under thrown. If he gets the ball on target it is a touchdown. He made plenty of throws throughout the game. He does need to get more consistent, but Hooker had periods of inconsistency last year also.
 
  • Like
Reactions: posivol and TheVolsFrog
#136
#136
posivol said:
WR Squirrel White — 69.2 (69 plays)
caught 9 of 9 passes for 104 yds
Click to expand...
I hope Milton has found his go to guy-and build everything else in the passing game off this. Much like Hooker had Hyatt, the way we moved him around allowed coach to scheme other guys open. Fingers crossed
 
  • Like
Reactions: posivol
#137
#137
I could care less about all the stats from the qb. It’s about taking care of the ball, managing the offense and most importantly winning the game. For the most part Joe did that mostly Saturday night and overcame a tragic situation that most of us wouldn’t understand. Joe will continue to get better throughout the season as he leads the 23 Vols. GBO!
 
  • Like
Reactions: MemphisVol77, Snapper58, orangebloodgmc and 1 other person
#138
#138
posivol said:
everyone forgets hooker was 7-6 his first year in this offense..2nd yr is when he shined.
Click to expand...
Some don't care. For some reason they are just fixated on their dislike of whomever is the QB at a given time. To me it is the "backup QB" is always better syndrome. It is either that or they don't like the coach and want to find anything to cast doubt on him.
 
  • Like
Reactions: GetYouSomeofThat and posivol
#139
#139
For reference,

Hooker through his first 5 starts in 2021: 1440 total yards (1103 passing yards, 337 rushing) 16 total TD, 0 Ints, 68.1 completion percentage, 7.38 yards per play

Milton through 5 starts this year 1303 Total Yards (1164 passing, 139 rushing), 13 Total TDs, 3 Ints, 63.1 Completion percentage, 7.08 yards per play

I realize it's not comparing oranges to oranges. The situations are not completely the same, neither in terms of competition faced or system familiarity. Of course, he also doesn't have the WR core that Hooker had with Payton, Tillman, and Velus Jones as his starting trio, and Hyatt/Keyton in reserve. The point I'm making is that Milton hasn't been nearly as bad as people like to pretend that he has.

If the Vandy game last year was the first time we had ever seen Joe Milton play a game as Vol, I think people's perception of him would be completely different. We wouldn't be over analyzing every single pass as to whether it was on target or not. Instead all we hear every time he misses a throw is how he hasn't changed in 2 years, when that simply isn't the case.

He's not Hendon Hooker. Few are. But he's still a good QB and has been very efficient overall. And probably most importantly, he keeps the ball out of harms way for the most part (this Saturday being a bit of an aberration) .
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: 24/7vol, wesley21, Snapper58 and 3 others
#140
#140
posivol said:
we all love hooker but you seem to forget he went 7-6 his 1st yr in this offense.bet you a hundo joe finishes better in his first full season.
Click to expand...

I reject the idea that Milton will finish better than 7-6. No, the FOOTBALL TEAM will finish better than that in spite of the fact that we took a big step backward at QB. They would finish better than 7-6 even if Milton got pulled or hurt and Nico started the rest of the year.

UT is a much better football team overall than it was when Heupel took over lol. Hooker's first year in the offense was the first year the offense ever existed with few good players surrounding him.

The bigger thing you're statement ignores though is the fact that Milton was supposed to be the starting QB in 2021 and he lost his job to Hooker. Then lost it again to Hooker in 2022.
 
#141
#141
Carp said:
For reference,

Hooker through his first 5 starts in 2021: 1440 total yards (1103 passing yards, 337 rushing) 16 total TD, 0 Ints, 68.1 completion percentage, 7.38 yards per play

Milton through 5 starts this year 1303 Total Yards (1164 passing, 139 rushing), 13 Total TDs, 3 Ints, 63.1 Completion percentage, 7.08 yards per play

I realize it's not comparing oranges to oranges. The situations are not completely the same, neither in terms of competition faced or system familiarity. Of course, he also doesn't have the WR core that Hooker had with Payton, Tillman, and Velus Jones as his starting trio, and Hyatt/Keyton in reserve. The point I'm making is that Milton hasn't been nearly as bad as people like to pretend that he has.

If the Vandy game last year was the first time we had ever seen Joe Milton play a game as Vol, I think people's perception of him would be completely different. We wouldn't be over analyzing every single pass as to whether it was on target or not. Instead all we hear every time he misses a throw is how he hasn't changed in 2 years, when that simply isn't the case.

He's not Hendon Hooker. Few are. But he's still a good QB and has been very efficient overall. And probably most importantly, he keeps the ball out of harms way for the most part (this Saturday being a bit of an aberration) .
Click to expand...

Milton has had more time, more practice and more exposure to this offense than Hooker had. And I agree you cant really compare Hooker's first year which was also Huepel's first year. The talent isnt the same because Pruitt gutted the program.

This is year 3 for Milton not year 1 and Milton doesnt get any more years. He gets this final shot.

Nobody is trying to compare Hooker to Milton. Hooker was obviously better because he beat out Milton twice for the starting job. We are just comparing Milton to Milton.
 
#142
#142
GoVols1961 said:
Milton had meaningful playing time in 5 games at Michigan.
Hooker had meaningful playing time in 15 games at Virginia Tech.
Milton has had meaningful playing time in 9 games at Tennessee.
Hooker had meaningful playing time in 22 games at Tennessee.

Hooker 37
Milton 14

Expecting Milton to be as polished as Hooker at this point is an unrealistic expectation in my humble opinion. He is still learning and developing. No doubt he needs to keep working on his game, but let's be real.
Click to expand...

You're ignoring that Milton has had more time, more practice and more exposure to this offense than Hooker. Remember Milton was supposed to be the starting QB in 2021 and he got outplayed by Hooker and then again outplayed in 2022. For that matter he was supposed to be the starter at Michigan too.

Simply saying Hooker had more starts is ignoring the fact that Milton was on the team the whole time and had his shot to compete.

This is year 3 for Milton in the Huepel offense, not year 1 and expecting him to have been polished by now is completely reasonable.
 
  • Like
Reactions: VOLINVONORE
#143
#143
vol_in_ga said:
Joe made one bad throw for an int (inside shoulder instead of outside) on a good read, and one really bad decision that resulted in an int (threw it right to the safety trying to throw a route instead of properly reading and finding the open man to the right). Otherwise, thought he had a great night. Receivers again dropped some passes they shouldn’t have. McCastles had a really off night. Keyton again dropped a td. Need him to be more consistent in coming up with the big play catches. That part of his game has been off this year. Thornton didn’t even play (did we get an injury update or anything there?). Losing Bru hurts big time, need someone else to step up and be the “tone setter”. The Milton hate is overblown.

Offense NEEDS Coop. Hope he can stay healthy.

Defense again missed some tackles that turned into 1st down scrambles. Otherwise they looked good.

Was it a phantom block in the back call on dee’s td punt return? I was there and didn’t see it live or on the replay they showed.
Click to expand...
It was 20 yards from the returner. Buuut, that player was headed right into the returners lane before getting wacked. The refs should make the cal no matter. Nthe players shouldn't block in the back. Just that simple.
 
  • Like
Reactions: VOLINVONORE
#144
#144
Disagree that Milton was sub par.

I think it was not just mays but the combination of him PLUS Lane at guard PLUS Mincey.
 
#145
#145
UTFranklinVol said:
You're ignoring that Milton has had more time, more practice and more exposure to this offense than Hooker. Remember Milton was supposed to be the starting QB in 2021 and he got outplayed by Hooker and then again outplayed in 2022. For that matter he was supposed to be the starter at Michigan too.

Simply saying Hooker had more starts is ignoring the fact that Milton was on the team the whole time and had his shot to compete.

This is year 3 for Milton in the Huepel offense, not year 1 and expecting him to have been polished by now is completely reasonable.
Click to expand...

There is a difference being in the system and having relevant playing time. Before Vandy last year, he hadn't played any significant snaps as a starting QB in over a year.

And as I pointed out, he is polished. His stats are very comparable to Hookers 2021 season through 5 starts. People's expectations are that he matches or exceeds Hooker's 2022 season, and that always extremely unlikely to happen.
 
#146
#146
UTFranklinVol said:
You're ignoring that Milton has had more time, more practice and more exposure to this offense than Hooker. Remember Milton was supposed to be the starting QB in 2021 and he got outplayed by Hooker and then again outplayed in 2022. For that matter he was supposed to be the starter at Michigan too.

Simply saying Hooker had more starts is ignoring the fact that Milton was on the team the whole time and had his shot to compete.

This is year 3 for Milton in the Huepel offense, not year 1 and expecting him to have been polished by now is completely reasonable.
Click to expand...

Practice and offensive exposure don't equal real game experience against a real opponent.
 
#147
#147
Carp said:
And as I pointed out, he is polished. His stats are very comparable to Hookers 2021 season through 5 starts. People's expectations are that he matches or exceeds Hooker's 2022 season, and that always extremely unlikely to hahappen
Click to expand...

Yeah but you cannot compare the stats of a 2021 Hooker who had literally never seen the Heupel offense before (neither had any of the players around him) with far more depleted talent to 2023 Milton who has seen and practiced in the Heupel offense for 3 years and has much better talent around him. He also supposedly learned and benefitted from being around Hooker for 2 years. 2021 was the worst version of Hooker compared to what should be the best version of Milton. And if you're saying Milton is now polished, as in he is finished improving, then he wont ever be better.

I believe Milton has had more than sufficient playing time in live games to show the best version of himself.

Consider Tua Tagovailoa stepped into the national championship game in year 1 off the bench. He didnt need years of starting time to do well. At this point Milton is a grown ass man not a kid. Hes been in college forever and should know exactly what to do out there.
 
#148
#148
UTFranklinVol said:
Yeah but you cannot compare the stats of a 2021 Hooker who had literally never seen the Heupel offense before (neither had any of the players around him) with far more depleted talent to 2023 Milton who has seen and practiced in the Heupel offense for 3 years and has much better talent around him. He also supposedly learned and benefitted from being around Hooker for 2 years. 2021 was the worst version of Hooker compared to what should be the best version of Milton. And if you're saying Milton is now polished, as in he is finished improving, then he wont ever be better.

I believe Milton has had more than sufficient playing time in live games to show the best version of himself.

Consider Tua Tagovailoa stepped into the national championship game in year 1 off the bench. He didnt need years of starting time to do well. At this point Milton is a grown ass man not a kid. Hes been in college forever and should know exactly what to do out there.
Click to expand...

1. I already noted Milton has the advantage of being in the system longer.

2. The WR core was vastly superior than what it is now. Even if Hooker could have came back, he wouldn't be posting the same stat line we was last year.

3. Milton is Tua. And he does know exactly what to do out there. He makes the right read probably 98% of the time.

All this to say, Hooker was pretty dang good through his first 5 starts. And Milton's stats are right in line with them.
 
#150
#150
sjt18 said:
Sure he can. He plays too tight. On his first pick, he missed Squirrel for a wide open 1st down. You have to believe he's making those reads correctly in practice. He isn't JG level... but he seems to struggle to play loose and instinctive.

Can that switch flip? Yes. We will just have to hope that it does
Click to expand...
To add, I believe the commentators had said SC hadn’t run that zone defense in the middle third much if at all. I haven't watched them to know myself but it would make sense. They baited Joe for the deep middle throw. It likely would’ve been a big play if the safety wasn’t in that zone. Ultimately it does fall on Joe to recognize it. He saw the opportunity for a big play and tried to take it.
 
New posts
You must log in or register to reply here.

VN Store



Back
Top