Tennessee football: Hendon Hooker’s rank among Vols’ Heisman robberies
Pick Analysis. 2022. Hendon Hooker. 3. 839. Scouting Report. Quarterback. player
Winner: TBD
He’s the only player on this list to not even be a finalist, and it’s a travesty. Hendon Hooker lost out to Georgia’s Stetson Bennett along with C.J. Stroud of the Ohio State Buckeyes, Caleb Williams of the USC Trojans and Max Duggan of the TCU Horned Frogs. Even playing at least a game and a half less than all of them, he should’ve received an invite.
Hooker completed 229 of 329 passes (69.6 percent) for 3,135 yards, 27 touchdowns and two interceptions to go along with 104 carries for 430 yards (4.1 yards per carry) and five touchdowns. Every one of those numbers are better than Bennett’s numbers except passing yards.
Now, you could say team success and winning matters, but if that’s the case, why did Williams and Stroud get invites? Hooker had more efficient numbers, even if not better raw numbers, than both, as he did Duggan while playing a tougher schedule than all three of them. Williams, like Hooker, has two losses as a starter.
If it was to be about team success, Blake Corum of the Michigan Wolverines, despite his injury, should’ve also been invited. Again, though, he got hurt. Tennessee football would not have been 10-2 without Hooker in 2022, but UGA would’ve been 12-0 without Bennett.