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Are you tired of the Joe Milton hype yet?
If you’ve been following along, we’ve heard Urban Meyer say he’s basically Cam Newton, Matt Leinart said of his arm-strength, ‘Think Patrick Mahomes, think Josh Allen,’ and Minnesota head coach P.J. Fleck called him a ‘once in a decade’ quarterback for Michigan.
No pressure on that first series now, Joe.
You can add one of his former receivers to the list of those proclaiming Joe’s greatness before he’s ever taken a starting snap at the college-level. But if someone has a good idea of what he brings to the table, it’s Nico Collins, who’s seen Milton firsthand into August.
Before he got to wax poetic about Milton’s capability, appearing on The Adam Schefter Podcast on Tuesday, Collins was asked who will be the standout playmakers for his now-former team when it takes the field on Saturday. Given that there are a lot of unknowns on the team, that means there are a lot of questions to answer.
But Collins is confident who he’ll see ball out against Minnesota, and he wasn’t at all modest about it.
“Everybody,” Collins said. “I feel like Joe Milton — he’s the starting quarterback — I feel like he’s gonna put the offense on his back, and I think he’s gonna lead the offense in the right way, he’s gonna get everybody down the right path. And the defense — you got Kwity Paye, you got Aidan, you got Josh Ross. Those guys on defense, those captains, they’re gonna push the defense, they’re gonna give good advice to the young guys and they’re gonna leave it out there Saturday.
“The team is very special. We reloaded and I feel like this team really got something to prove, and I feel like they gonna prove everybody wrong, because I feel like everybody have a chip on their shoulder and they’re just gonna go out there on Saturday and ball out.”
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OK — now to Milton.
Adam Schefter, the quintessential insider, said on the podcast that he’s heard from people close to the staff in Ann Arbor that Joe Milton has the talent to be the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft once his time at Michigan is done.
If you’ve been following along with WolverinesWire (and even more so on the Locked On Wolverines Podcast, where we’ve parroted this routinely), you’ll know that we’ve been saying this routinely. We alluded to it (yes, we toned it down, considering how difficult it would be taken to make such a declaration of a true freshman who was a three-star recruit) back in July 2018:
What they told me is that if Milton gets the playbook down (which is likely at least a year away from happening, given the complexity), their expectation is that he would start above every other QB on Michigan’s roster. The source said that Michigan’s staff is absolutely salivating over his potential, and views him as a likely first-round NFL Draft pick once his career is said and done. Part of that is his competitive nature — whereas Patterson and Peters are both more soft spoken (McCaffrey isn’t), Milton is fierce and vocal, all to go along with the immense physical talent. This is a definite stay tuned scenario.
Then we said this March 6, 2019, and we clarified a bit more:
As referenced here on WolverinesWire before, one person close to Michigan said that the expectation from the staff is that Milton’s talent is commensurate with the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft — not just first round. He has unparalleled arm talent, and can throw the ball far downfield with seeming ease.
So, to be clear, this is something that the staff believes. Turns out, so does Nico Collins.
“I believe in that 100%,” Collins said. “The things that Joe has, his skill set, his frame — I feel like he’s an NFL-caliber quarterback. Just his arm, his ability, the way his football, quarterback mechanics, it’s just amazing.
“I feel like Joe, he has potential. His first game starting as the starting quarterback and I feel like once he gets comfortable, gets to game speed, realizes the game speed, he’ll take off from there. The sky’s the limit for him.”
Additionally, when Collins was asked who’s the most comparable player out there to Milton, he went to the same well as Urban Meyer.
“He reminds me of Cam — Cam Newton,” Collins said. “He has that same body frame, same height — about 6-6, about 235-240 — he’s ready. He’s ready. He’s really on a mission, he’s on a mission right now, you can tell. His time is now, and I feel like he’s gonna take off.”
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The hype train will assuredly continue until Saturday when Michigan takes on Minnesota in primetime. At that point, it will either intensify, or, if Milton has either a middling or a bad game, fickle fans will likely declare him a bust, despite the fact that he’s set to eclipse his career total of 47 snaps all in one fell swoop — all while on a national stage for the first time.
For Collins, who made the decision to opt-out and stay opted out, it’s going to be a different experience tuning in and not suiting up. That said, he has full confidence that he’ll be witnessing a Michigan victory, albeit from afar.
“It will be bittersweet, because I want to be out there competing on the football field with my brothers, my teammates — putting everything out there, going out there and having fun with them,” Collins said. “I’ll be with them all 100%, I will be tuned in, watching them play against Minnesota, 7:30, primetime. I’m excited to see — hopefully they’ll win. They will win, I believe in them. But the grind they put in throughout the summer, I know they work really hard and I know it’ll pay off on Saturday.”
Collins says that he intends to watch Michigan’s season opener with his family. He’s currently in Pensacola, Florida training at XOS for the NFL combine, all while going to school virtually, as he’s still on track to receive his graduate studies major (social work minor) degree come May 2020.
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