Vols’ new OC Joey Halzle ready to get to work with Joe Milton, offense

Tennessee has had very little staff turnover since Josh Heupel took over the program following the 2020 season, but the Vols are breaking in an important new hire this fall. Joey Halzle is taking over as offensive coordinator to replace Alex Golesh after Halzle had previously been the Vols’ quarterback coach for the past two seasons.

This is Heupel’s offense, so it’s not as though Halzle is working to implement a new system and he’s obviously familiar with the players he’s going to be working in. Still, he’s in a new role with more responsibility, so there will be a learning curve.

One important detail that should ease Halzle’s transition is that he’s working with an experienced quarterback in Joe Milton.

Milton is technically a new starter, but he’s started four games for the Vols previously; two games at the beginning of the 2021 season and the final two games in 2022 after Hendon Hooker suffered a torn ACL.

Halzle has seen the strides Milton has made in his two years inside the program. Everyone got to see those strides when Milton led the Vols to wins over Clemson and Vanderbilt to close last year, and Halzle feels like Milton is going to use that experience as a springboard into 2023.

“There’s no substitution for actual playing time on the field as much as he does in practice, as much as he does off the field, there’s nothing like standing back there with flying bullets,” Halzle said.

“So like you said, obviously not a great situation the way it occurred (with Hooker’s injury), but the fact that he got those two games under his belt before taking it over this year, huge for his development and huge for our team to see the level at which he played. We have a ton of confidence in him from that game.”

WHAT ABOUT NICO?

Milton looks poised to have a big year, but he’s not the only quarterback on the roster that has fans excited.

Freshman Nico Iamaleava, on3’s top ranked recruit in the 2023 class has generated tremendous hype since arriving in Knoxville last December for bowl practice and taking part in spring practice.

If everything goes according to plan this fall Iamaleava will only see the field in mop up duty in blowouts. While that may be true, Halzle has already seen enough from the freshman to feel good about his future.

“(I have) Huge confidence in him. That guy is mature beyond his years. He didn’t come in like a true freshman,” Halzle said of Iamaleava. “He came in one wanting to learn, not thinking like I know I’m a highly rated recruit, I got it figured out.

“He came in understanding ‘I want learn, I need to know.’ And then the way that guy just has his calmness on the field, just his demeanor. I think the guys believe in him as well, that if he’s called upon to do a job like that dude will step in and compete at a high level, a high level. So we have a ton of confidence in that guy.”

WHAT’S DIFFERENT ABOUT YOUR DAY COACH?

Heupel has had two openings on his staff since he arrived in Knoxville, one after each season and neither was a lateral move. That sort of continuity says something about the work environment Heupel creates. Further enhancing that continuity, Heupel promoted from within to fill both staff vacancies.

Following the 2021 season wide receiver coach Kodi Burns left for the NFL and the New Orleans Saints. Heupel promoted Kelsey Pope from an off field role. To replace Golesh, Heupel simply promoted Halzle and moved Alec Ablen from an offensive analyst role to tight ends coach.

Halzle’s responsibilities have certainly grown, but to listen to him describe it, it doesn’t feel like much has really changed for him.

“It’s mainly been, you know, now you’re running the meeting, so on the front end of it, everything has to be prepared instead of walking in, waiting to hear, okay, what we’re doing and how does this just affect my quarterbacks? That’s the main difference, is the setup for the day,” Halzle said of the difference in his day-to-day routine. “I have to be making sure it makes sense for everybody. Not just taking in what I’m hearing and then making sure it makes sense for the quarterbacks and only looking through that scope.

“I gotta look through it through the scope of, well, is this right for the tackle? Is this good for the backs? Is this good for the receivers? Is it good for the tight ends? Not just does it affect my position, which we did as a staff. I’ve said a bunch since I’ve taken over this job, extremely communal in the way we operate and we work, but for me on the front end, I have to be more intentional about an entire offensive scope and not just a scope.”

THORNTON TURNING HEADS

Though Cedric Tillman battled injury virtually all last season, the Vols technically still lost a pair of 1,000 yard receivers in Tillman and Biletnikoff winner Jalin Hyatt. There are some question marks at the position, but more in terms of who is going to get the bulk of the playing time, not necessarily a concern about talent.

The Vols bring back some proven veterans in Bru McCoy (52 rec., 667 yards, 4 TDs) and Ramel Keyton (31 rec., 562 yards, 5 TDs). Squirrel White (30 rec., 481 yards 2 TDs) flashed plenty of ability as a freshman in 2022 and the Vols added Oregon transfer Dont’e Thornton to the mix in the spring.

At 6-foot-5 and 214 pounds Thornton turned heads the moment he stepped on the practice field in the spring and Halzle feels like he’s got the ability to do some big things in this offense.

“He does, to use the word, he has freaky talent,” Halzle said of Thornton. “A guy that has size, that can run like that, is rare. He is rare. There are good players and then there are guys that have rare traits like that. That guy is extremely rare at what he can do on a football field.

“And yeah, whenever we come in, it’s completely different than what most people do. There’s a learning curve. He’s done a great job. He spends as much time with the quarterbacks as anybody.

“He’s always with Joe as well, like, alright, how do you want that? How do you see that? Like you see it the way I’m seeing it? So he’s once again not an older guy that’s coming in like I got it, kind of trying to be a mercenary. He’s trying to learn too and trying to do it the way we do it. So really happy with where he’s at now. It’s, you know, tomorrow’s time to go show that you got it.”

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