It’s a transition year at quarterback across college football but particularly in the SEC where starting quarterbacks at Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky and Tennessee are all off to the NFL.
There’s quarterback competitions across the country but Tennessee’s starting job is all but set with super senior Joe Milton III poised to succede Hendon Hooker as the Vols’ starting quarterback and five-star freshman Nico Iamaleava poised to back him up.
But where does Tennessee’s quarterback unit rank compared to the rest of the country? On3’s Jesse Simonton ranked the nation’s 10 best quarterback units with the Vols coming in at No. 8.
“The Vols have a bit more volatility at QB with Joe Milton as the presumed starter, but with Milton’s high ceiling (see: Anthony Richardson-esque intrigue) and On3 No. 1 overall prospect Nico Iamaleva, most teams in the country would kill for that 1-2 tandem,” Simonton wrote.
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Tennessee boasts the third best quarterback group in the SEC according to the rankings with the Vols trailing only LSU and Georgia. The complete top 10 includes: USC, LSU, Texas, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Georgia, Oregon, Tennessee, UCLA and Ole Miss.
While the projected starting quarterback bares the most weight in the rankings so does the depth of the quarterback room. That’s why Georgia and Ole Miss both find themselves in the top 10 with untested players (Georgia) and a mediocre returning starter (Ole Miss).
There’s plenty of questions about how effective Joe Milton III will be at quarterback for Tennessee this fall but the super senior has seen meaningful playing time in his two seasons in Knoxville. Milton enters his final college season with 1,346 passing yards, 12 passing touchdowns and no interceptions in his two seasons in Knoxville.
One of the bigger questions about Tennessee’s quarterback room is the level of play of the Vols’ third string quarterback. Milton and Iamaleava are the only Tennessee quarterbacks on scholarship meaning walk-on Gaston Moore is the third string.
The Vols top two quarterbacks bolster as much talent as any other in the country but if the injury bug bites Tennessee badly then they could face issues.
