As if Josh Heupel couldn’t look any worse after the way Tennessee Football lost to the Arkansas Razorbacks 19-14 Saturday night, he basically acknowledged he gaslit everybody on Joe Milton III in the postgame. The damning acknowledgement was all to protect his current quarterback, Nico Iamaleava.
At the end of the game, Iamaleava made a dumb mistake by running out of bounds as time expired rather than take a shot at the end zone for a game winner. It was the exact same mistake Milton made against the Ole Miss Rebels back in 2021. Heupel, however, tried to defend Iamaleava.
“Different situations,” he said when asked about the two side by side. “Older quarterback versus first (year) guy experienced.”
Did you catch that? Heupel made it very clear that Milton’s mistake was far more inexcusable because of the fact that he was older. Now, that’s certainly true, but you could also say Milton had to come in late because Hendon Hooker went down in that matchup.
More importantly, that play was in 2021, and Heupel stuck with Milton two years later, running Tayven Jackson off into the portal while not going for a transfer quarterback. He didn’t even consider starting Iamaleava last year for Tennessee Football.
See the issue? Heupel went out of his way for years to defend Milton against the fan base, in large part because he wanted to cover himself for making the critical mistake of starting Milton over Hooker to begin the 2021 season. Now, all of a sudden, he wants to throw Milton under the bus?
Sorry, it doesn’t fit. If Heupel is willing to do that now, why should we believe him when he protects Iamaleava? After all, if he was willing to think Milton’s mistake was inexcusable, which he implied, he likely thinks the same thing about Iamaleava, regardless of what he tells us.
Talent evaluation and player development have been key concerns of the Heupel tenure with Tennessee Football. They are now back to the surface with the failures of the offensive line in Saturday’s loss to the Hogs. However, in defending his quarterback, Heupel further admitted how badly he messed up with Milton. That’s his original sin.
