Former Tennessee QB Joe Milton deserves a lot of credit for any success the Vols have early in the 2024 season

Joe Milton won't take a snap for the Tennessee Vols in 2024 -- he'll spend the season with the New England Patriots (the team that drafted him in the sixth round of the 2024 NFL Draft) -- but he'll still deserve some credit any success that UT football has early in the 2024 season.

Milton's decision to opt out of Tennessee's matchup against Iowa in the Citrus Bowl last season paved the way for Nico Iamaleava's first career start for the Volunteers.

And that start was key to Iamaleava's development as a quarterback according to Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel.

"One of the best compliments you can give to a quarterback is when they go from the practice field to the game field, it slows down for them," said Heupel at SEC Media Days. "During the course of the bowl game, it slowed down for him (Iamaleava). [I] thought he was in great command out there. Now, there’s a lot of things that he learned from that game. He’s had a great urgency in his preparation all off season."

Because of that start against Iowa, and the work that Iamaleava's put in since arriving at UT in late 2022 (ahead of the Orange Bowl), Heupel's expecting Nico to "hit the ground running" in 2024.

"We want him to hit the ground running," said Heupel. "He’s a young quarterback. [He] played really well in the bowl game. He’s going to continue to grow. Through all of his experiences here throughout the course of the season, he’s only going to continue to get better from all of those. But we expect him to play at a really high level from the very beginning. And we need that from him."

It would've been easy for Milton to tell Tennessee's coaches that he wanted to play in the Citrus Bowl. The game, after all, was played in Milton's home state of Florida. It would've been a perfect send off for athletically gifted quarterback. And a solid showing likely would've put Milton over 3,000 passing yards for the season (he finished the season with 2,813 passing yards). But instead, Milton stepped aside and allowed Iamaleava to get the start.

Because of the sacrifice, Iamaleava will be better prepared for the 2024 season. Milton's decision is just another example of the incredible team-first culture that's been created at Tennessee under Heupel.

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