🏈 Covering the SEC East's shade

Hello. This is the Josh and Swain Newsletter, a quick roundup of the week’s top stories and topics involving Tennessee and the sports world.

Here’s what we have for you today:

• Josh Heupel fires back at negative comments about his offense.

• How Joe Milton has transformed and the impact of QB Hendon Hooker.

• An idea worth considering from another SEC football coach.

• Nuggets from the recruiting trail as Tennessee looks to have a big April.

DON’T QUESTION JOSH HEUPEL’S OFFENSE

Few people have been able to defend Josh Heupel’s offense.

But Heupel found himself doing that this week.

Georgia coach Kirby Smart made a curious comment recently when talking about his own team’s quarterback position.

“A true quarterback is a decisionmaker. In our system — because some systems take all the pressure off the quarterback and they just go really fast. We don’t do that. We’re a quarterback-driven offense.”

Hmm. Was Smart talking about Tennessee there?

It’s hard to believe he didn’t have the Vols in mind.

Which led to Heupel’s rebuttal. Following Tennessee’s scrimmage on Thursday, UT’s head coach said this about his quarterbacks’ responsibilities within the offense:

“Our guys control everything. I don’t think there’s anybody in America that puts more on their quarterbacks. Run checks. Run-pass checks. Load the boxes. Alerts. Kills. They’ve gotta do it all.”

No wiggle room on that one.

Heupel’s offensive results should speak for themselves.

It’s one thing to question his success coaching in the Group of 5.

Will this work in the SEC was a fair question, but he’s provided the answer.

Tennessee produced the No. 1 scoring offense in the nation in 2022.

The Vols put up 52 points against Alabama and produced the school’s first Biletnikoff Award winner.

Kirby Smart knows Tennessee has an elite offense. He recognizes the Vols are the biggest threat to Georgia in the SEC East right now.

Let’s also not get carried away: Smart isn’t afraid of Tennessee. His Bulldogs have won consecutive national titles and have as much talent as any program in the nation.

But Smart is aware of Tennessee and knows the Vols have the potential to do more damage.

Jayson Swain also pointed out on the show: quarterback Jake Merklinger committed to Tennessee last week.

Merklinger is from Savannah, Ga., and holds an offer from Georgia.

Smart learned from Nick Saban to always-be-recruiting. And Smart’s comment last week is a sly way of negatively recruiting in a public forum.

This won’t hurt Tennessee. And Georgia will keep it moving.

But it does add some off-season spice to the rivalry with Georgia scheduled to visit Knoxville on Nov. 18.

We spent more time discussing Smart’s comment and Tennessee’s offense on Josh and Swain. Watch below.

We spent more time discussing Smart’s comment and Tennessee’s offense on Josh and Swain. ⬇️⬇️

TIME FOR THE JOE SHOW

Speaking of quarterbacks, Joe Milton continues his role as Tennessee’s starting quarterback.

Milton is “competing” with highly-touted freshman Nico Iamaleava, but not for the starting position.

Milton is the guy and everyone on campus knows it. Everyone at UT recognizes Nico’s talent and potential, too.

So with that you’ll continue to see discussion on what Milton has to do to keep the job. And people will continue to speculate on when Iamaleava will take over the job.

That shouldn’t affect Milton.

He’s a different quarterback from the one who arrived as a transfer from Michigan in 2021. Remember, Milton arrived at Tennessee that summer and was starting three months later.

Now:
✔️ He knows the offense.

✔️ He’s matured as a person.

✔️ He’s developed his skills by learning from Heupel and QB coach/offensive coordinator Joey Halzle.

Milton’s development caused ESPN analyst Greg McElroy to suggest Tennessee’s quarterback as a darkhorse name for the Heisman Trophy.

“A guy that I’m very, very excited about and I’m just not that concerned about replacing Hendon Hooker. If you can maximize your potential, the sky is the limit for what Joe Milton could potentially become within Tennessee’s offense.”

Replacing Hooker is an important factor. But it’s not Tennessee’s top concern.

Part of the credit goes to Hooker.

We called it the Hendon Hooker Effect on this week’s show.

“What if Hendon hadn’t transferred to Tennessee?”

No Tennessee fan wants to know that answer.

Hooker transferred to Tennessee and the results show his impact.

What happens next at Tennessee could also be added to Hooker’s list of accomplishments. He left a legacy in Knoxville.

We discussed the Hendon effect on Tennessee football below.

SPORTS NUGGETS

⚾ Not an ideal start with Tennessee losing to Florida 6-1 on Thursday. Here’s weekend info for Games 2 and 3 against the Gators.

🏈 Tennessee’s hearing with the NCAA has been scheduled for later this month. Ross Dellenger of SI has more details.

🏈 Auburn coach Hugh Freeze proposed schools should play other schools in spring games. What do you think?

🏈 NFL Mock Drafts: This one from Bruce Feldman has college coaching intel on two Vols. And Lance Zierlein gets a little wild here but with three Vols in the first round.

⛳ The Masters leaderboard is star-studded. We should be in for a fun weekend.

🏀 See where Tennessee landed in ESPN’s way-too-early top 25 for next season. Reminder: this is a very fluid situation.

🏁 It’s Bristol, Baby. Here’s the schedule and event info for the weekend.

STICK TO SPORTS!

Who’s ready to go to the movies?

“AIR” hit the theatres this week.

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon star in this movie about the partnership between then-rookie Michael Jordan and Nike, which wouldn’t be Nike today if not for signing MJ.

The movie has scored a BIG NUMBER from both critics and ticket buyers.

Via Rotten Tomatoes: 94% from critics, 98% from the audience.

Check out the trailer below.

ONE LAST BYTE OUT THE DOOR

Want more updates on Tennessee’s spring practice + the latest in recruiting?

Of course!

Austin Price of Volquest joined us for his weekly hit and covered both topics… including a recruiting tease to close the segment.

Our conversation with Austin Price, who discussed Tennessee’s coaches “clearly trying to push some players” in practice, from this week’s show. ⬇️⬇️

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Thank you for reading.