Tennessee Vols QB Hendon Hooker brings up interesting point about NIL deals and the 'outside noise'
Tennessee Vols quarterback Hendon Hooker was asked on Monday during a media session with reporters about how he blocks out the outside noise. The Vols are one of the "it teams" in college football right now and there's plenty of "noise" surrounding the program ahead of their matchup with Alabama this weekend. Hooker noted that […]
Tennessee Vols quarterback Hendon Hooker was asked on Monday during a media session with reporters about how he blocks out the outside noise.
The Vols are one of the "it teams" in college football right now and there's plenty of "noise" surrounding the program ahead of their matchup with Alabama this weekend.
Hooker noted that he typically deletes social media apps from his phone during game week. But this season he hasn't been able to because of "business reasons" (which is code for NIL deals).
"This is actually one of my first years where I haven't deleted social media off my phone during the game week just because I kind of need it for business purposes," said Hooker. "But we really just take it as a grain of salt, not getting too high, not getting too low, just staying even-keeled and making sure we're doing our job every day."
Hooker's comments about not getting too high or too low echo the comments made by Vols head coach Josh Heupel on Monday.
"The expectations that we should be concerned about are our own expectations," said Heupel on Monday. "The reason our kids have gotten and continue to build and get better is because they've paid attention to the things that matter. This week. we have to prepare the right way. We have to practice well, and the playing part of it will take care of itself. The outside noise has no bearing on how we play. Let's go compete and be our best on game day."
Outside noise has been responsible for more losses in big games than injuries and poor preparation combined (there's obviously not an official stat on that, but just trust me…it certainly feels that way).
This Vols team, however, has done a tremendous job of hearing the noise — because it's impossible to totally block it out — and not letting it impact how they play. That's the sign of an extremely mature team.
There was a lot of pressure on the Vols before the Florida game. That was a game Tennessee was expected to win. A loss would've been a sign the program was trending in the wrong direction. The Vols, though, were able to handle the noise and they got the win.
And because of the way Tennessee handled the Florida game, I don't think they'll have any issues with "outside noise" ahead of their showdown with Alabama in Knoxville on Saturday.
Featured image via Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
