Tennessee Vols star confirms all the hype as he’s impressing NFL Draft scouts at the Senior Bowl
Colton Hood living up to lofty expectations, shutting down wide receivers in Senior Bowl practices in Mobile, Alabama
Coming into the 2025 college football season, Jermod McCoy was the Vols cornerback that had every NFL Draft scout excited. Then Colton Hood stepped up for Tennessee in McCoy’s injured absence, becoming one of the best cornerbacks in the game.
Now, with the NFL Draft less than three months away, both former Vols cornerbacks may find themselves selected inside the first round. However, heading into Senior Bowl week (the premier college football all-star game), some scouts and media members still had questions on Hood’s abilities and upside. They likely don’t anymore.
Vols CB Colton Hood has locked down every WR at the Senior Bowl
Prior to the 2025 season, Hood had logged less than 400 total snaps of FBS college football for both Auburn and Colorado. Still, despite his lack of high-level experience, Hood impressed Josh Heupel and the Vols’ coaching staff right away, earning a starting spot immediately. He started off hot, allowing just four receptions for 32 yards and zero touchdowns through four games, and he’s been rising up NFL Draft boards ever since.
Still, considering his short resume of consistent shutdown coverage ability, it makes sense that there would be doubters. Those doubters are likely quiet now. Hood has done his best to lock down every single wide receiver he’s faced at the Senior Bowl through two days of practice. He started a bit slow, logging a couple bad reps against Tyren Montgomery (a major standout WR this week), but he’s been unbelievable since then.
By the end of the first practice session, the Senior Bowl coaching staff was clearly in love. So much so they gave him the first featured 1-on-1 rep to wrap Tuesday practice action — he shut down Jordan Hudson (WR, SMU).
Hood’s second day was even better than the first. It didn’t matter if he was working through zone drills, screen-stopping drills, 1-on-1 reps, or team sessions, Hood was frequently breaking up passes. Even if he looked beaten on his initial step, Hood would click-and-close, making impressive plays. When wide receivers would give up on the play, Hood would still leap into the fray and get his hands on the ball (as you can see on the play from 11-on-11 below).
Hood found success against every type of wide receiver too. He got comfortable playing more physical against the shifty speedsters like Tyren Montgomery and Jordan Hudson. Then throughout the second practice, Hood settled in, sticking like glue to the more powerful big-bodied wide receivers like Reggie Virgil of Texas Tech too (as you can see in Christopher Carter’s post below).
Hood has answered just about any question that NFL scouts could have this week at the Senior Bowl already. If he continues to impress, then performs well at the NFL Combine to end February, Hoods should most certainly sneak into the last few picks of the first round in the 2026 NFL Draft.
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