Tennessee football: Hendon Hooker should be favorite on Golden Arm watch list
It looks like Tennessee football quarterback Hendon Hooker is on another watch list. This time, however, he should be the favorite to win that award given the circumstances surrounding it and the criteria he brings to the table.
Hooker is one of 76 quarterbacks on the 2022 Johnny Unites Golden Arm Award Preseason Watch List. Yes, he’s joined by the usual suspects you’d rank ahead of him as quarterbacks, Bryce Young of the Alabama Crimson Tide and C.J. Stroud of the Ohio State Buckeyes.
If you want to say the Heisman, the Maxwell Award, the Davey O’Brien Trophy and even the Manning Award come down to those guys, that makes sense. However, the Golden Arm Award is different and favors Tennessee football’s quarterback.
Remember, this award factors in seniors and upperclassmen. Now, technically Stroud and Young are third-year players, meaning they fall in the upper-classmen category. However, Stroud is listed as a redshirt sophomore, and typically you should be a junior to qualify for that.
Meanwhile, Hooker is a sixth-year senior, and the award even further prioritizes seniors. As a result, if Hooker, whose stats were comparable to anybody’s in college football last year depending on what you value, steps up his play this year, he should be the favorite.
Another factor to take into account is off-the-field success. This award looks into things that were done off the field, and that’s why it even further favors upperclassmen and older players. They naturally will have done more community service work since they have played more years.
For Hooker’s part, he takes his community service to another level. In terms of NIL money, he used the opportunity to right faith-based books for young athletes. How can you outdo somebody using his NIL rights for community service? It’s pretty hard.
Like so many of these awards for quarterbacks, Tennessee football’s only winner of them was Peyton Manning in 1997. However, no returning quarterback in history had as good of a season as Hooker had the previous year.
Yes, Hooker is chasing records set by Manning, Josh Dobbs and Tyler Bray. All of their stats that are ahead of Hooker’s, though, came in their final year with the Vols. As a result, it’s scary to think about what Hooker could do this year.
Remember, Hooker is chasing Manning’s single-season passing touchdown record, total offense record and total touchdown record that Manning and Dobbs have together. He came close to all of those last year despite not even starting the season.
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When you consider the fact that Tennessee football has its top receiver back, you could make a case that Hooker should compete with Young and Stroud even for the other awards. However, in this specific case, it’s enough to make him the favorite.