Hendon Hooker compares playing at Virginia Tech to playing at Tennessee
Hendon Hooker started his collegiate career with the Virginia Tech Hokies before joining the Tennessee Vols ahead of the 2021 season. When Hooker transferred to Tennessee, he was mostly an afterthought. Fans didn't know much about the Greensboro, NC native and most figured he was just a depth addition by previous head coach Jeremy Pruitt […]
Hendon Hooker started his collegiate career with the Virginia Tech Hokies before joining the Tennessee Vols ahead of the 2021 season.
When Hooker transferred to Tennessee, he was mostly an afterthought.
Fans didn't know much about the Greensboro, NC native and most figured he was just a depth addition by previous head coach Jeremy Pruitt (Hooker transferred to UT before Pruitt was fired for NCAA recruiting violations).
At Virginia Tech, Hooker completed 63.1 percent of his passes for 2,894 yards, 22 touchdowns, and seven interceptions (over 18 games).
In two seasons at Tennessee, Hooker completed 68.8 percent of his passes for 6,080 yards, 58 touchdowns, and five interceptions (over 24 games).
Earlier this week, Hooker was asked by The Spun about the differences between playing under Justin Fuente at Virginia Tech and playing under Josh Heupel at Tennessee.
Hooker told The Spun that he felt like he had more freedom as a quarterback at Tennessee.
"I think the biggest thing is that I was actually able to make a lot of my own decisions," said Hooker. "I had more freedom at the line of scrimmage and I could go off what I saw. There was a lot of transparency and communication from everyone (at Tennessee), whether it was player-to-player, coach-to-coach, or coach-to-player, so being able to be in that offense was different. In Coach Fuente's offense, there was a lot of checking with the coach and it's more on the quarterback here at Tennessee."
Earlier this offseason, Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart insinuated that teams that use tempo (like Tennessee, for example) don't put as much on the quarterback.
Hooker's comments, however, push back against Smart's take. That's not to say that Georgia doesn't put a lot on the quarterback, but suggesting that teams that use tempo don't put a lot on their quarterback is nothing more than Smart trying to float a false narrative (probably for recruiting purposes).
Hooker will soon get his chance to show that Tennessee's offense effectively prepared him for the NFL. Maybe then the snarky comments dismissing the Vols' offense as a "gimmick" under Josh Heupel will finally end.
