247Sports predicts Vols QB Hendon Hooker will break one of Peyton Manning's records in 2022
247Sports' Brad Crawford thinks Tennessee Vols quarterback Hendon Hooker will break a couple of UT records in 2022 — including one set by Peyton Manning. Crawford recently made 10 bold predictions for the 2022 college football season. One of his predictions is that Hooker will break Manning's record for all-time touchdown passes at Tennessee (the […]
247Sports' Brad Crawford thinks Tennessee Vols quarterback Hendon Hooker will break a couple of UT records in 2022 — including one set by Peyton Manning.
Crawford recently made 10 bold predictions for the 2022 college football season. One of his predictions is that Hooker will break Manning's record for all-time touchdown passes at Tennessee (the current record is 36). He also predicted that Hooker will break Heath Shuler's UT record for consecutive games with a touchdown pass. Hooker has a current streak of 12 games with a touchdown pass. The record that was set by Shuler is 18 games.
From 247Sports:
The record books will be re-written at the University of Tennessee this season thanks to All-SEC bound quarterback Hendon Hooker. Entering the 2022 campaign, Hooker has thrown a touchdown pass in 12 consecutive games with the program record set at 18 (Heath Shuler, 1992-93). That mark will come to and end when the Volunteers torch UT Martin at home in October. To get there, Hooker will have to be at his best against Florida, LSU and Alabama, among others before that pivotal Week 8 opportunity.
The second record he'll break this season is the single-season touchdown pass mark (Peyton Manning, 36). Hooker managed 31 scoring tosses last fall including six starts with three or more.
Predicting a quarterback to break records usually isn't a good idea — rarely do those predictions pan out.
But I think Crawford is probably spot on with these predictions. The Vols' offense under Josh Heupel is conducive to a quarterback throwing a lot of touchdown passes. All Hooker has to do is average three touchdowns a game and he'll be right there at Peyton's record of 36. That's very doable in this offense — especially with a couple of cupcakes on the schedule.
As for Shuler's record? Well, Hooker has thrown a touchdown in every game he's started at Tennessee. He had a couple of games with only one touchdown pass (against Georgia and Ole Miss), but he should be even better in his second year in Heupel's offense. If Hooker stays healthy, he shouldn't have any problem breaking that record.
It could be a special season for the Vols. This likely won't be a team that competes for an SEC championship, but they could very well be the first Tennessee team since 2007 to win 10 games.
Featured image via Calvin Mattheis/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK
