Hendon Hooker responds to idea that South Carolina had Tennessee's signs/signals in 2022
Former Tennessee Vols quarterback Hendon Hooker responded to a question this week about whether or not South Carolina had UT's signs/signals during the Gamecocks' blowout win last season. The theory is that Michigan, which we know scouted Tennessee's game against Kentucky in an effort to steal the Vols' signs/signals, shared information with South Carolina about […]
Former Tennessee Vols quarterback Hendon Hooker responded to a question this week about whether or not South Carolina had UT's signs/signals during the Gamecocks' blowout win last season.
The theory is that Michigan, which we know scouted Tennessee's game against Kentucky in an effort to steal the Vols' signs/signals, shared information with South Carolina about UT's signals so they could disrupt the Volunteers' path to the playoff.
There's no hard evidence that this happened, but it's not an unreasonable theory. South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer has gone on record in the past saying that he speaks with other coaching staffs in an effort to gain information about upcoming opponents. Beamer was also fined in 2016 for accepting information about an opponent's game plan in 2014 (when Beamer was an assistant at Virginia Tech).
Hooker was asked about the theory during a recent appearance on Outkick Hot Mic.
"They (South Carolina) came to play that day," said Hooker. "We just couldn't keep up with them on the scoreboard. I don't know, they might've had it (Tennessee's signals), or they didn't. We still gotta come out there and compete at a high level. We didn't get the job done. I mean, it still falls on us, whether they had them or not….it was he say/she say. I'm not really worried if they did or they didn't, we didn't finish the job."
It sounds like Hooker isn't shutting the door on that theory, but he's definitely not using it as an excuse, either.
I think it's probably likely that South Carolina had Tennessee's signals that night. But as I wrote late last month, I don't think that's why the Vols lost to South Carolina last season. Instead, I think it was because Tennessee was looking past the Gamecocks that night. It just a bad night to have a bad night, though the signal stealing conspiracy probably didn't help matters…
There was some pre-game drama between Tennessee and UConn
Things are already chippy at Neyland
