APOne of four players suspended for the season finale due to a violation of unspecified team rules, Matt Milton has decided to take his leave of Knoxville.
Milton’s high school coach confirmed to the Belleville (Ill.) News Democrat that the wide receiver has decided to transfer from UT to Louisville. According to the coach, Scott Battas, two factors played a role in the decision.
One, the U of L is roughly half the distance UT was from his hometown of Mascoutah, Ill. And, two, the presence of offensive coordinator Shawn Watson (pictured) on Charlie Strong‘s coaching staff. Prior to signing with the Vols, Milton was recruited by Nebraska; Watson was a member of the Cornhuskers’ staff during that period of time.
In six games this season as a true sophomore, Milton caught one pass for six yards. He was a four-star member of UT’s 2010 recruiting class, and was rated by Rivals.com as the No. 18 receiver in the country and the No. 3 player at any position in the state of Illinois.
Milton is the second receiver to transfer from the Vols in less than two weeks; after a more-than-minor brouhaha, DeAnthony Arnett was given his unconditional release and transferred to Michigan State.
At the rate Tenn. is losing receivers, their good young QB will not have anybody to throw to.
So does Milton think Louisville doesn’t have team rules?
Brutus,
I am sure that Louisville has lots of rules but they have what Tenn. is still missing. A really good coach that is dynamic and offers them a better chance to reach their potential they wish to reach. A couple of the Louisville player were suspended from their bowl game, and not allowed to play. Charlie Strong did that the right way.
Strong is just a better coach and manager. Hopefully, Dooley, will pick up that part of the training he needs there at his school.
Considering neither of those guys were going to even sniff the grass in Neyland Stadium, I think the team will be fine.
I didn’t think the Tenn. had that many good receivers on the team right now or coming in. This kid may go to Louisville and do great. Sometimes, it just doesn’t work out at a school, for one reason or another.
@woebegong
UT has the SEC’s leading WR – and he is the second best WR on the team (see Justin Hunter)
Thier starting WR are Darick Rogers, Justin Hunter, and Rajon Neal.
Their is also Ted Meline among a few others and an additional (3) 4 star WR recruits coming in for 2012…
You need to cover for injuries as well. Recruits coming in take time to get ready to play in the SEC. You do have DaRick, but I think he needs to conduct himself a little better off the field to please Coach Dooley. Dooley is wise to get that young man you have at QB, some good targets to throw to.
@td2ut
Hunter was great in 2010, but it remains to be seen whether or not he will ever play at the same level again. He might… and I certainly hope he does… but as of now Justin Hunter would be better described as a question mark than as the best WR in the SEC.
You are right there. Leg injuries are hard to recover from and come back 100% in a reasonably short period of time. It usually takes about 12-18 months to get back to 100%, if it is a bad one. Lattimore, as a runner at SC next year may be facing the same problem. His type of injury has ended more than a few NFL players career.
True about covering yourself on injured players, if anyteam knows how important depth is, Tenn does…my point is that there is a pretty constant flow of quality wr’s that come thru UTs doors…JH seems pretty optimistic that his leg will come back stronger than it was, and with the rehab schedule they have him on, that’s very likely.
I hope the young man does come back strong. I hate to see any athlete, that puts so much time in their sport for their team, get hurt.
At least he doesn’t have to sit out a year, since he is transferring to a division II school
I thought Louisville was a division one school? Aren’t they a part of the big East, or whatever it will be called now?
Hope he can learn to catch up there