Milton Possesses Everything Needed to Excel, Including Patience

By Steve Kornacki

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Joe Milton has all the tools necessary to be a great quarterback. He has an arm capable of throwing the ball 85 yards on the fly, stands tall and strong when setting to throw, and possesses the speed of someone who chased and caught rabbits in Florida's sugarcane fields. He also has strong leadership traits.

Wolverine fans got a glimpse of what he has to offer in the University of Michigan's game against Rutgers, when he received his first shot at significant playing time as the backup to Shea Patterson with Dylan McCaffrey out with a concussion. He fired a 23-yard touchdown pass to Giles Jackson with great velocity and ran for another touchdown.

Milton watched his cousins, NFL Pro Bowl receiver Anquan Boldin and former Wolverines tailback Vincent Smith, go from Pahokee to success on the collegiate and pro gridirons, and he wants to do great things.

However, he has something many elite athletes lack: patience. He listens and observes while awaiting a chance to become a starter at Michigan.

"I just keep doing what I have to do," said Milton, "and make sure I'm right and my teammates around me are right. Right now, I'm going back to that same stage I had in high school. I'm a servant, learning from the older guys. I'm just taking that on, and when it's my time, I'm making sure everything is right so Michigan can be back on top."

He learned about servanthood when his mother, DeShea Bouie, took him and his siblings to church, and it was in an Orlando church pew that he prayed and believed God wanted him to attend Michigan rather than Georgia.

"I went to church that Sunday wearing red and white," said Milton, noting the Georgia school colors. "I was thinking heavily about Georgia. But as I was praying there, the school that was standing out was Michigan."

He kept repeating the names of his two favorite schools along with three others in his head, and one by one the names of the other four schools dropped from his repetition.

"I said the names of each school at least five times," said Milton, "and God just kept erasing them until the only one that stuck out was Michigan. I saw it as a message from God. I said, 'Mom, I'm going to Michigan.' She said, 'You serious?' I said, 'Yeah.' And I called Coach (Jim) Harbaugh the next day and told him I wanted to commit."

Mom's been his guiding light.

"My mom means a lot to me," said Milton. "I love to see her smile. I know that she's happy. She's my No. 1 supporter, and when she comes to the game, no matter how loud the crowd is, I can hear her. She'll shout, 'Go, Joe-Joe!' When I hear that, my body's tingling and I'm ready to play. I know she's got my back, and she's my backbone."

It's difficult for Mom to get to his Michigan games with four younger children, but Milton said she's scheduled to be in the Big House on Nov. 16 when Michigan State visits.

"She's coming up then for her birthday," he said.

Milton (6-foot-5, 245 pounds) was always big for his age, and Pop Warner coaches immediately saw him as a pass rusher rather than the passer.

"They put me at defensive end," said Milton. "I told them, 'I can throw the ball.' They said, 'You can't throw the ball.' So, then I showed them I could throw. I went home and told my mom that night, 'I'm going to be a quarterback.' She was thrilled."

In sixth grade, he began following Cam Newton, who had just won the 2010 Heisman Trophy at Auburn and become the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft by the Carolina Panthers. He was a big quarterback -- coincidentally now the exact same height and weight as Milton -- with a big arm.

When Milton ran for that touchdown against the Scarlet Knights, he did just what Newton does when he scores.

"I opened my chest," said Milton. "I always, always dreamed about doing that. I watch him every night on my computer, iPad or phone, watching every detail of everything he does. So, when I scored, I looked for the camera and opened my chest. It had finally happened. It felt great. I had an opportunity to show who I really am."

The dreams that began in Pahokee, Florida, population 6,500 and located on the shores of Lake Okeechobee, are beginning to be realized. Pahokee, which translates to "Grassy Waters" in the Creek language, is known to locals as "The Muck," referring to the dark soil rich in minerals that makes it ideal to grow sugarcane, citrus fruits and corn.

When the sugarcane fields are burned off, rabbits scatter for safety and the local boys and men chase them.

"Chasing the rabbits is a great tradition for us," said Milton. "They used to tell us the amount of rabbits you could catch determined what position you're going to play. Some people catch two rabbits, and they'd say, 'You go play defense.' Some people would catch 20 rabbits and they'd say, 'You go play wide receiver.'

"If you saw smoke, you were going over there to get you some rabbits. My cousin, Anquan Boldin, and them used to chase the rabbits all the time. (Former Wolverine receiver Martavious) 'Tay' Odoms, all those guys, my cousin, Vincent Smith, were chasing the rabbits a lot. My mom didn't like me to go, but I still went. The most I caught in one day was five. Some guys were faster than me. I was slow until I got to high school.

"Growing up in Pahokee, it was difficult. It was fun, too, but we went through a lot with hurricanes coming through and the stuff that was down there. It was very difficult there, and the only way out was football. I had to find a way out, and I knew I had enough talent to get where I needed to go.

"And then my mom moved me to Orlando to get into a bigger city and get used to talking to all kinds of different people. She moved us all. I have two brothers and two sisters, and I'm the oldest. And I have to do what I can do to provide for them. My mom works day and night, and she provides for us. She's a nurse. But I need to get where I need to be to make sure she doesn't have to work again, and they all have whatever they want. I want to be a big brother that everyone looks up to."

He moved to Orlando and Olympia High in 2015, in the middle of his freshman year after playing junior varsity football at Pahokee High and receiving his first scholarship offer from Iowa State.

"Life changed a lot," said Milton. "Growing up in the neighborhood I grew up in, I saw a lot. I saw people that got shot. I saw a lot of fights. It prepared me not to be scared of anything. And when I moved to Orlando, there was still a lot of violence. But it wasn't on my side of town. Walking home at night in west Orlando I was safe. But I was prepared for anything in Pahokee.

"And as for the football aspect, it made me a better athlete. I was getting faster, getting stronger. And when I got to Olympia, I knew I could do something with the team. But first I was a servant, and I had to do what I had to do to become the guy I wanted to be. As a servant -- my coach was new, we both were new to the program -- I just listened to him and was very observant. So, when my time came, I knew what to do and what not to do."

Olympia coach Kyle Hayes remains a close friend.

"He's still in my life now," said Milton. "He was a defensive specialist and he taught me a lot. Even though I was playing quarterback, Coach Hayes taught me how to read coverages and when to throw this pass and when to throw that pass. So, when I got the opportunity to lead the team, I knew what to do. And in my junior year, I took over."

Milton threw for 3,975 yards and 35 touchdowns in three seasons at Olympia and was a four-star recruit everyone in the SEC wanted.

There were other reasons he chose Michigan, too.

He researched what Harbaugh had accomplished as a quarterback here and then in the NFL, as well as his knack for developing top quarterbacks both at Stanford with Andrew Luck and as the coach of San Francisco 49ers, whom he took to a Super Bowl.

Milton said, "I thought, 'I can go a long way at Michigan.' Then I checked out the receiver stats and thought, 'Man, they have some fast receivers. I can do something here.' And this program has great tradition."

"But another thing that turned me to Michigan was the snow. I'm from Florida and had never seen snow a day in my life. Unless you go to like the Miami Dolphins or Tampa Bay or Texas, it's probably going to be cold in the NFL. So, I'd rather get used to it now rather than later."

Joe Milton, Shea Patterson Milton (left) and Patterson

He arrived in Ann Arbor along with Patterson, a five-star recruit who had transferred from Ole Miss, and learned the ropes. Milton completed 3-of-4 passes for 58 yards and ran seven times for 31 yards in four games as a freshman. He threw a 43-yard pass to Nico Collins and scored on a four-yard run at Ohio State.

Milton said he can throw a football 85 yards, and while that turns heads, it won't turn around games. Having a cannon for an arm is a great thing on out-cut passes and post routes, but it isn't enough to be a complete quarterback who must also throw slant and fade routes.

Touch is required, and Wolverine quarterbacks coach Ben McDaniels put him in touch with touch.

"Coach McDaniels has these drills," said Milton. "We stay in the pocket and they have these big bags (to simulate large blockers at the line of scrimmage), and we have to find a hole to throw through. We have this big quarterback net and we have to throw the ball high enough for it to just drop over the net into one of three holes like it's going into a receiver's hands. Yeah, it's like throwing it into a basket.

"You have to learn that sometimes the throws can't be hard because they have someone covering them. You have to know how to soften it up and throw it early. I worked on that in high school, but now we have more details to work on that."

He's completed 3-of-7 passes for 59 yards with one interception and one touchdown this season.

Watching his potential, even for just a few possessions, has created anticipation among Michigan fans for what he just might do.

"What are my own dreams?" said Milton, repeating the question. "In college, I want to win the Heisman and the national title. Beyond that, I want to be a first-round draft pick and hold up that No. 1 jersey (on draft day). I want to get drafted with the first pick and win the Super Bowl and be the youngest to ever do that.

"But mostly what I want to do is whatever my team needs to win."

The "servant" is on a mission.