‘Coach Heupel definitely cared about his players’ – Colton Hood gets asked the differences in playing for Deion Sanders and Josh Heupel
Colton Hood spent time with the Colorado Buffaloes before playing for the Tennessee Vols.
Tennessee Vols cornerback Colton Hood is at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis this week as he continues his preparation for the 2026 NFL Draft.
Hood, who started his career with the Auburn Tigers and Colorado Buffaloes before landing at Tennessee, is hoping to solidify his status as a potential first round selection.
The former Vol has been regularly mocked as a late first round pick in recent weeks.
Colton Hood gets asked about the differences in playing for Josh Heupel and Deion Sanders
While speaking with reporters Thursday morning at the combine, Hood was asked about the differences in playing for a Josh Heupel-coached team and a Deion Sanders-coached team.
“I won’t really get into the differences,” said Hood. “I would say, at Tennessee, Coach Heupel, he definitely cared about his players. So he definitely did the best to keep us healthy and get to Saturday. He did a great job with that. Just a great coach, a player’s coach. I love Coach Heupel.”
Hood didn’t say much about Sanders in that answer, but he did speak positively about his time at Colorado.
“The best thing I learned from him was just how intensely you need to study film to be the best version of yourself and how it can make me a great player,” said Hood of what he learned from Sanders.
“It was definitely a great experience,” added Hood of his time at Colorado. “Just getting to be around all the NFL talent there, and going against Travis Hunter every day. We had four NFL receivers on that team.”
Hood also explained why he declared for the 2026 NFL Draft despite having two seasons of eligibility remaining.
“I think I’m the best corner in this class, honestly,” said Hood. “And there’s a lot of great players, my teammates, all the guys — they’re great players. But I honestly think I’m the best corner in the draft. I haven’t even played my best football yet. I’m a one year starter. I started 774 snaps, and I think I did a pretty good job with the snaps I played. So definitely, that played into it. I just have confidence in myself that throughout this process I’m going to continue to raise my (draft) stock.”
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