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Tennessee

Joe Milton's message to his wide receivers: 'They're the best receivers in the country'

IMG_3593by: Grant Ramey09/11/23GrantRamey
Joe Milton Tennessee Football
(Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports) Sep 9, 2023; Knoxville, Tennessee, USA; Tennessee Volunteers quarterback Joe Milton III (7) passes the ball against the Austin Peay Governors during the first half at Neyland Stadium.

Joe Milton III had a message for his receivers Saturday night after Tennessee’s slow start against Austin Peay, as the Vols struggled to find their rhythm despite the FCS opposition: Just keep playing. 

“I let them know that they’re the best receivers in the country,” Milton said during his press conference after Tennessee’s 30-13 win. “So keep being y’all, keep doing what y’all do and just go execute man.”

There wasn’t much execution in the first half at Neyland Stadium.

Austin Peay led 3-0 in the first quarter and 6-3 with five minutes left in the second. The Vols were stuck in natural on offense early, going three-and-out on the first three possessions while Milton started 1-for-6 for 11 yards over those drives. 

The fix? According to Milton it’s practice. And execution.

“Go hard every day,” he said, “no matter if you’re tired or not, just go out there and execute.”

‘There’s a lot of things that we can control and do at our level’

Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said the woes weren’t all on Milton, who missed some throws in the first half. It wasn’t all on the receivers, either, who had drops of their own. 

“This was a combination,” Heupel said. “There’s times where we were pushing it down the field. We were a little bit off in particular early in the football game. There’s some things, situationally, where we were off. Joe, wide receiver combination of both things where we’re just not in sync in some critical situations.”

Heupel pointed to third down, where Tennessee was 3-for-12. And turnovers, with the Vols losing a fumble. And a field fourth-down conversion, too, going 0-for-1 there.

“So there’s a lot of things that we can control and do at our level,” Heupel said.

Up Next: No. 11 Tennessee at Florida, Saturday, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN

Milton stayed in control despite the early frustrations.

He finished 21-for-33 passing for 228 yards and two touchdowns. He accounted for another score on the ground, carrying three times for seven yards on the day.

“I thought he was calm,” Heupel said. “I thought our sidelines in general were calm.”

But moving forward, Tennessee will need much more and will need it much more quickly. The Vols open SEC play at Florida on Saturday (7 p.m. Eastern Time, ESPN) at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville.

“We gotta get into the flow of the football game,” Heupel said. “And that can be Joe driving some of those (throws on) big drops, it can be us going up and making a difficult catch. It can be great ball security out on the perimeter.”

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