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MINNEAPOLIS — Imagine: you’ve been waiting your whole life to prove what you’re capable of. And it finally comes.
But, unlike a lot of other college football quarterbacks getting their first start, yours is in primetime, on national television, as one ranked team playing another ranked team on the road.
Yes, it was something of a pressure environment for Michigan quarterback Joe Milton, who made his first start leading the No. 18 Wolverines at No. 21 Minnesota.
All eyes were on him. The national question of how good — or not good — he might be dominated the college football news cycle all week. And on Saturday night, we finally got our first glimpse.
And it was a good one. Milton went 15-for-22 for 225 yards and a touchdown, along with 8 carries for 52 yards and another touchdown.
It wasn’t flashy, but with a running game that accumulated 256 total yards on the ground, it was everything it needed to be.
So, what was that like for Milton to arrive in Minneapolis, to take the field under a suddenly visible, but waning sun, knowing the eyes of the nation were about to be on him? It was emotional, sure, but the stage never felt too big.
“To me, in the beginning I was fine,” Milton said. “I was listening to my music, so I was fine. Then I got to the locker room with my teammates with my headphones off, and I started tearing up, because it was real, and it’s time to prove to the world who I am and what I could do.
“In the beginning it was like, ‘Oh, alright. It’s game time.’ Then when I got to the locker room, it was like ‘Oh ish — it’s real!'”
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For a competitor like Milton, he was just relieved to get that first start under his belt. He’s only been on campus for a couple years, but all he wanted to do was get his chance to shine.
Now that he’s done that, he isn’t looking back, resting on his laurels. He’s more so just happy that he wasn’t witnessing another quarterback wearing the winged helmet, taking snaps that could have been his.
“Yes — I wouldn’t say satisfied, but I was happy that I was playing,” Milton said. “I didn’t have to watch anybody else play.”
Milton said that he only recently was told that he would be starting in this game, but that it was also evident that he would be doing so, based on the amount of reps he’d been receiving in practice.
But when it comes to what he’s most proud of, it wasn’t any of the plays where he was rolling left, throwing across his body and hitting a receiver. It wasn’t any of his long receptions.
In fact, it wasn’t any play at all.
For Milton, the best moment was knowing that he won the game and that he and his teammates made a strong enough effort to come away from TCF Bank Stadium with a victory.
“Just keeping the jug at home — that was the most important thing for us as a team,” Milton said. “And just executing plays — offensively, defensively, special teams — just making sure we do the right thing. And just keeping the jug at home!”
Up next for Milton, he moves from his first start to a rivalry game as Michigan State comes to town.
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