After a week of speculation, former Michigan quarterback Joe Milton made things official on Monday morning. The former four-star prospect will join the Volunteers this summer, throwing his hat in the ring of a quarterback battle that already features Harrison Bailey, Brian Maurer and Hendon Hooker.
Milton made the announcement on Instagram.
Former ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Michigan QB @Qbjayy7 makes it official to join Tennessee. ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️ pic.twitter.com/d3IUewJ14x
— Austin Price (@AustinPriceless) April 26, 2021
One minor detail to note — Milton is wearing No. 7 in the announcement photo. The No. 7 jersey was given to four-star freshman Kaidon Salter, who missed all of spring practice due to suspension. Salter is supposed to rejoin the team this summer.
Milton was a preseason pick to emerge as one of the top quarterbacks in the Big Ten last season, but things didn’t pan out. After winning the job in camp, Milton was benched midseason. He opted to leave the program this offseason, and will be eligible to play this fall for Tennessee thanks to the NCAA’s new one-time transfer rule.
The 6-5, 243 pound passer out of Orlando completed 80 of 141 passes for 1,077 yards and four touchdowns. He also threw four interceptions, on his way to being replaced midseason.
Josh Heupel now gets his chance to mold the former top prospect, who should have two seasons of eligibility remaining. Milton will have the summer to play catch-up in the quarterback race before getting his chance on the practice field during fall camp.
The question now becomes, do all five scholarship quarterbacks stick with Tennessee? That seems unlikely in today’s college football world, so we’ll see what happens there over the summer months.