Vols' quarterback picture 'all fits together' for coach Joey Halzle

Tennessee Athletics photo / Tennessee quarterbacks Hendon Hooker, left, and Joe Milton go through a drill during a recent spring practice.
Tennessee Athletics photo / Tennessee quarterbacks Hendon Hooker, left, and Joe Milton go through a drill during a recent spring practice.

Eight months ago, Tennessee quarterbacks coach Joey Halzle was about to help oversee a preseason competition involving Harrison Bailey, Hendon Hooker, Brian Maurer and Joe Milton.

Halzle now has it made in the shade by comparison, as the Volunteers are five practices deep into spring drills with the cemented pecking order of Hooker, Milton and promising four-star freshman signee Tayven Jackson.

"There is less gymnastics that goes into it, especially on the front end when it was a four-man rotation and you're running three different groups," Halzle said Wednesday during a news conference. "Somebody was getting left out. Now, Hendon is taking a lion's share of the No. 1 reps, and we're working Joe in there some, too.

"Tayven is getting a lot of 3 reps and will take some 2 reps, but the worry of how this all fits together is gone."

Bailey and Maurer, incidentally, entered the transfer portal and are now competing at UNLV and Stephen F. Austin, respectively. Also in Halzle's current quarterback room are redshirt sophomore walk-ons Gaston Moore and Navy Shuler, the son of former Vols quarterback and 1993 Heisman Trophy runner-up Heath Shuler.

Though Milton started Tennessee's first two games against Bowling Green and Pittsburgh, it would be Hooker taking the reins the remainder of a surprising 7-6 season that culminated with a 48-45 overtime loss to Purdue in the Music City Bowl. A 6-foot-4, 218-pound Virginia Tech graduate transfer, Hooker set Tennessee's single-season efficiency mark at 181.41 after completing 206 of 303 passes (68.0%) for 2,945 yards with 31 touchdowns and three interceptions.

Halzle said Hooker essentially lives in the coaches' offices these days when he's not on the practice field, eagerly wanting to make the most of his sixth-year senior season.

"With Hendon, last year was a lot about, 'How do I call a play, and where do my eyes go?'" Halzle said. "Now he's grown to the next step of seeing the second and third reads and also being able to play games with the defense. He knows where he wants to go with the ball and knows what the defensive structure is, what the rules are and how to manipulate that and get the result that he wants.

"He made a huge jump in the offseason of defense understanding, and it's really showing out there on the field."

Hooker also led the team with 166 carries - 25 more than leading rusher Jabari Small - but that's a stat Halzle would like to modify. Hooker averaged 3.7 yards per carry and scored five times on the ground.

"We're not going to run our quarterback just for the sake of running him, and we want to prevent some of the hits he took," Halzle said. "We've watched every single broken play he had the entire year. If it's third-and-3, then go get it, but if it's first-and-10 and you're trying to turn a 5-yard gain to 6, get your pads down now."

Milton also displayed dual-threat abilities after transferring from Michigan, completing 32 of 62 passes (51.6%) for 375 yards and two touchdowns and also rushing 28 times for 129 yards (4.6 per carry) and two scores. Given that the 6-5, 245-pounder was Michigan's starter at the dawn of the 2020 season and Tennessee's starter last Labor Day weekend, there are plenty who expected another transfer portal situation for his fifth and final season.

Halzle is glad that wasn't the case.

"Joe has been an amazing teammate this entire offseason," he said. "There were opportunities, and I'm sure a lot of people would have taken him, but he wanted to stay here. He and Hendon have a legitimate, real friendship, and he's helped bring Tayven along as well. He has been really high-end as far as his attitude this semester."

Halzle's springtime bliss also includes the 6-3, 200-pound Jackson, who apparently has delivered on every front.

"Tayven has been phenomenal," he said. "He hasn't had a missed call yet. He hasn't called anything backwards or missed a protection call. He's completely dialed into what we're doing, which is an absolute testament to how he trained this offseason.

"Athletically, he's exactly what we thought. He is (also) a high-level basketball player who is extremely quick, smooth and fluid. I'm really excited about his development to this point."

Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524. Follow him on Twitter @DavidSPaschall.

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