Tennessee football: Ranking all five scholarship QBs post spring practice
player. Pick Analysis. Redshirt senior. Greensboro, N.C.. Hendon Hooker. 3. Scouting Report. 839
6’4″ 218 pounds
If anybody needed to stand out for Tennessee football during the spring, Hendon Hooker was that guy. The graduate transfer from the Virginia Tech Hokies has the right size, is a true dual-threat and actually has experience running a spread offense at the Power Five level.
Aside from injuries, Hooker lived up to his four-star billing out of Dudley High School in North Carolina’s Guilford County when he played for Justin Fuente. To be fair, he was actually not bad in the spring either outside of one scrimmage. Although he had the only turnover in the spring game, he also accounted for two touchdowns, which counts for something.
Still, overall, Hooker was clearly behind one of the quarterbacks in spring ball. Even if he wasn’t bad, and even if he was just getting into rhythm, that’s alarming. Given his background, he should have been leaps and bounds ahead of everybody.
In spite of that concern, there’s no doubt that Hooker is either second or third on the depth chart right now if you look into Josh Heupel’s mind. It’s also possible that he was just off in the spring and is still the best quarterback on the depth chart or the best fit to run the offense in 2021 until Tayven Jackson arrives. We’ll just have to see.