Josh Heupel gives quarterbacks update ahead of Tennessee vs. Florida

In Tennessee’s Week 2 loss against Pittsburgh, quarterback Joe Milton III left the game after taking a big hit. Milton did not play on Saturday against Tennessee Tech, and backup Hendon Hooker got the start for the Volunteers. On Monday, Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel gave an update on Milton’s recovery.

“I never speak in hypotheticals,” Heupel said to reporters. “(Joe Milton III) got a little bit of work last week. We’ll find out where he is in particular Tuesday or Wednesday here and see where we are at this point as far as whether he’ll be able to play or not.”

Milton has completed 18 of his 35 passes in two games this season for 189 yards, one touchdown and zero interceptions. He also has 98 yards and two touchdowns rushing. He previously spent three years at Michigan before transferring to Tennessee ahead of this season to compete for the quarterback job.

Hooker impressed as Tennessee’s quarterback

Against Tennessee Tech, Hooker threw for 199 yards and three touchdowns with 64 rushing yards and a score on the ground. Tennessee easily ran away with a 56-0 victory to improve to 2-1 on the season. After the game, Heupel said that he was happy with what he saw from Hooker but that there is obvious room for improvement.

“Some real positives,” Heupel said on Saturday. “He was decisive, accurate at times, did a good job using his feet at times, but the turnovers can’t happen. There were some plays in the pass game from in the pocket with wide receivers behind the secondary and not connecting on those. You have to, at some point, make those plays.”

As a whole, Heupel wants to see cleaner football from his offense. Whether it’s Hooker or Milton at quarterback, Tennessee has room to grow into a more efficient offense.

“When we’re playing with tempo, we want to be more efficient,” said Heupel. “That can be ball mechanics, it can be alignment and assignment. All of those things can help us play quicker when we’re playing within our offense. Even when we’re not playing in our tempo, the execution can be higher. You guys have seen opportunities that present themselves, in particular in the vertical pass game, that we have to start hitting. We’re capable of it. I’ve seen us do it. It’s time to go execute that on the field.”

After three seasons at Virginia Tech, Hooker is in his first year in Tennessee’s quarterback room. On the season, he has completed 33 of his 47 passes for 292 yards, five touchdowns, and one interception. He also has 113 yards and a touchdown on the ground.

Tennessee and No. 11 Florida are slated to kick off at 7PM ET on Saturday night in Gainesville.