Tennessee Vols quarterback Hendon Hooker made several other draft-eligible quarterbacks look silly this week and he didn't even have to throw a football to do it.

Hooker has been in Mobile, AL this week for the Senior Bowl. Hooker received an invite (and subsequently accepted the invite) to the Senior Bowl despite not being able to participate in on-field activities (Hooker tore his ACL in November).

Senior Bowl director Jim Nagy made the unusual decision to invite Hooker because he believed the former Vols quarterback deserved the opportunity to meet with teams and media at the event.

“With interviews and meeting room time being so critical for quarterbacks, and with Hendon being the person he is and the season he had — I mean, he was the face of college football for a good chunk of the season,” said Nagy this week. “I’ve gotten to know Hendon a little bit. I met him at the Manning Camp, I met him on campus in August when I went up there. He deserves this opportunity.”

Hooker's made the most of the invite. He's been praised all week for his attentiveness, engagement, and his presence in general.

In fact, ESPN's Mike Tannenbaum, Todd McShay, and Louis Riddick praised Hooker for how engaged he's been at the Senior Bowl. McShay even noted that it would've been easy to stay at home and skip the event.

ESPN's Mike Tannenbaum: It's really impressive to see @henhook2 @Vol_Football so much involved in each drill here at @seniorbowl

Louis Riddick: Engaged isn't he?

MT: Really, really engaged. Really, really impressive.

Todd McShay: It would be real easy to stay at home right? ? pic.twitter.com/oVbkEipYJU

— Vince Ferrara (@VinceSports) February 2, 2023

McShay didn't mention other quarterbacks skipping the event, but it felt like his remark was directed at two specific quarterbacks — Georgia's Stetson Bennett and Kentucky's Will Levis.

Bennett and Levis both declined Senior Bowl invites. Bennett has been training in Texas for the 2023 NFL Draft, though he was recently arrested for public intoxication in Dallas. The former Georgia quarterback's arrest comes after Bennett blew off Georgia's media availability the day after the Bulldogs won their second straight national championship. Bennett also appeared uninterested in interacting with fans during Georgia's championship parade. Instead, he looked down at his phone for most of the event.

Stetson Bennett needed someone to tell him to get off his damn phone during a parade and to show some graciousness and appreciation to the fans that were sitting in that stadium.
You want to crush the media you think were mean to you do it a press conference.#Badmoments

— steakshapiro (@steakshapiro) January 17, 2023

Skipping the Senior Bowl to train only to get arrested at 6:00 AM for drunkenly banging on doors isn't a trait that will endear Bennett to NFL teams. And considering he's not a slam-dunk early-round pick, he probably could've used some good PR at the Senior Bowl.

The decision by Levis (who is dealing with an injured toe) to skip the Senior Bowl isn't nearly as egregious. Levis is viewed as a top-10 pick, despite his lackluster 2022 season. He probably wouldn't have helped himself much by going to the Senior Bowl, though a recent report from Pro Football Network suggested that the pre-draft hype surrounding Levis isn't necessarily shared by NFL teams. PFN noted that scouts weren't happy about Levis skipping the Senior Bowl and the Shrine Bowl.

From PFN:

An injured toe will prevent Levis from participating in the January scouting events. And while his toe is injured, it was misdiagnosed as turf toe when, in fact, his toe was actually broken. Scouts are not happy Levis will not at least show up and try to compete over the
next week.

While many on the outside grade Levis as a potential top-10 pick, the feeling in the scouting community could not be any more different. Talk to scouts, and they’ll tell you Levis is a big-armed athlete with great size who’s still far from being a complete quarterback. As they say, he’s more of a thrower than a passer.

Given the long history of quarterback success at the Senior Bowl with prospects such as Mac Jones, Daniel Jones, Carson Wentz, Philip Rivers, and, I dare say, Tim Tebow, cashing in on the success of great practices, the decision is a bit head-scratching.

Bennett and Levis created more questions for themselves while an injured Hooker likely boosted his draft stock.

Who looks like the smarter quarterback here?

Of course, Tennessee fans won't be surprised. What Hooker has done in Alabama this week is what he did for the last two seasons in Knoxville — he's a player with extremely high character and there's absolutely no one that can dispute that.

Featured image via USA TODAY Sports