Tennessee football: 10 records Vols will break in 2022

9. Hendon Hooker – Consecutive passes without INT

Current record holder: Jarrett Guarantano (166, 2018)

People may forget this given the way things turned out when Jim Chaney arrived, but in Jeremy Pruitt’s first year as head coach of Tennessee football. Jarrett Guarantano was actually highly efficient. He dealt with a historically bad offensive line to average over eight yards an attempt and throw 12 touchdowns to three interceptions.

In the process, he broke Casey Clausen’s record of consecutive passes without an interception, managing to do so 166 times even as the Vols stumbled to 5-7 in 2018 and lost six games by 25 or more points. There was reason to believe in Guarantano going forward.

Now, though, Hendon Hooker seems poised to break that, and it’s all the more impressive. That’s because like Clausen, and Peyton Manning who had the record before Clausen, these three players were tasked with carrying the offense and scoring a lot, which Guarantano was not tasked with in 2018. That’s a huge difference.

Right now, Hooker has thrown 99 consecutive passes without a pick, as he didn’t throw one in any of the final three games. He’ll have to get through Pitt, a team that intercepted him once last year and lives and dies by the turnovers, but if he can, he can get past the Ball State Cardinals and Akron Zips too. Those three games should create enough passes for him to break the record.