Joe Milton just poured gas on the fire surrounding a popular theory among Tennessee Vols fans from 2022 South Carolina game

The 2022 Tennessee Volunteers had a tremendous season, finishing 11-2 and winning their first major bowl game since the 1999 Fiesta Bowl with a 31-14 win over Clemson. 

However, it's how things went down against another team from the Palmetto State that the year will be marred by to some degree.  Tennessee went into Columbia and get their doors blown completely off 63-38.  

South Carolina's offense was unstoppable, as Spencer Rattler completed 30 of 37 passes for 438 yards and 6 touchdowns.  Tennessee had no answers, and it was almost like the Gamecocks knew what the Vols were going to do on defense before the play even happened. 

And it's that last part that's stuck in the craw of many wearing orange ever since. 

The NCAA opened an investigation into Michigan for stealing signs in October 2023, particularly through former staffer Connor Stalions, and Tennessee-Kentucky was one of those games said to have been included in the games attended.  The theory is that those signs were passed by Michigan to the opponents of schools in contention for a College Football Playoff berth, which at that time was Tennessee.  South Carolina was the beneficiary and looked every bit the part of a team with an edge on its opponent. And Stalions admitted previously that he shared signs with a team to help their opponent lose in 2021 (shared with Ohio State to help Michigan State lose to the Buckeyes, which they did 56-7). 

It appears as though a Vol who played in that game feels that the Gamecocks had an unfair edge in their 2022 matchup with Tennessee.  QB Joe Milton, who spelled Hendon Hooker after the latter suffered a brutal torn ACL in the game, responded to a video on Instagram this week by his Dallas Cowboys teammate Jalen Brooks - who played in the game for the Gamecocks - by writing "Yall cheated mane".