Josh Heupel made an important decision at Vols' Pro Day out of respect for Hendon Hooker
Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel proved once again — via a story that almost went untold — that he's a genuinely great human. Apparently, at Tennessee's Pro Day last month, NFL scouts wanted to see Joe Milton throw. Milton is known for having a cannon and scouts wanted to see up close what he […]
Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel proved once again — via a story that almost went untold — that he's a genuinely great human.
Apparently, at Tennessee's Pro Day last month, NFL scouts wanted to see Joe Milton throw.
Milton is known for having a cannon and scouts wanted to see up close what he has to offer, even though he's sticking around at Tennessee for another season.
Heupel, however, didn't want to take away from Hendon Hooker, who couldn't do much physically because of his recovery from a torn ACL.
SEC Network's Cole Cubelic told the story of Tennessee's Pro Day this week during "The Cube Show".
"So they're having their pro day and obviously Hendon's banged up, you know he had the ACL, not going to be able to do everything," said Cubelic. "And all the scouts want to see Joe and they're calling Josh and they're calling Josh and they want to see Joe. How much is he going to do? Can you do this? And Heupel shut Joe Milton down from throwing at Pro Day because he felt like it was getting to a point where it would have taken away from Hendon Hooker."
"Think about that kind of awareness and how cool that is," added Cubelic. "But also with the understanding that you could have showcased to all the NFL what you're going to have on your roster next year, and you decided to take a bit of a pass on it. Like I don't know, I thought that was amazing when I heard that over the weekend about Josh Heupel. And it just kind of again goes to show you what kind of guy he is [and] what kind of coach he is."
That's just another example of Heupel putting the players first. Heupel badly wants to win — we've heard countless times about his unreal competitiveness — but he's always going to put his players first.
Heupel could've let Milton throw, which probably would've led to some buzz about Milton being a potential first-round draft pick in 2024. And that would've obviously been great for Tennessee's program. But Heupel thought that it would've taken away from Hooker and his draft stock.
That's exactly what every player should want in a head coach. Heupel knows Milton will have plenty of chances this season and leading up to next year's draft to showcase his impressive skills. And that's why he made sure the attention remained on Hooker.
It might seem like a subtle decision from Heupel that doesn't mean much, but it shows that his talk about "family" and caring about his players is 100 percent genuine.
