TAMPA, Fla. — He is older than Kyle Trask and less than three years younger than Baker Mayfield. He can’t work out due to a torn anterior cruciate ligament suffered nearly five months ago.
But Tennessee quarterback Hendon Hooker will visit the Bucs next week, and there are plenty of reasons why they might be wise to select him with the 19th overall pick in the NFL draft.
Rewind the clock to Nov. 19, when the Vols were at South Carolina and probably two victories shy of reaching the College Football Playoff. They lost 63-38. Worse yet, Hooker’s season also was over.
Had he not gotten hurt, Hooker likely would have been seated at the Heisman Trophy ceremony in New York, a strong candidate to win. He passed for a staggering 58 touchdowns and only five interceptions in two seasons at Tennessee while completing 69% of his passes for 6,080 yards.
But because he arrived as a transfer from Virginia Tech around the time Josh Heupel took over as the Vols’ head coach, some have had a tough time determining how much of Hooker’s success is scheme-driven.
He makes no apologies.
“I mean, I can’t help that defenders can’t guard my receivers,” Hooker said during his media session at the NFL scouting combine in March. “My job is to get them the ball. A lot of these questions about one-sided reads, we have pure progressions and routes. It’s not my fault that my first read is getting open.
“We have pre-snap looks: one-high, two-high. Double footwork combo. We have progressions with an alert, an option. Any of these questions, they’re cool and all, but when you dig into our offense, just watch the film and you’ll understand. … How fast we are going, I have to process a lot of information. And communicate with everyone.”
Hooker said he gets questions from NFL teams about his control of the Vols’ offense. And he notes that he isn’t making short, easy throws.
“On film, a lot of times I make protection calls, make a lot of checks at the line — run to pass and pass to run — and then I can make any throw,” he said. “The way we run our offense, the wide splits, those are all grown-men throws. I’m not throwing any 5-yard outs. Those are all big-boy balls.”
It’s helpful to remember, too, that Hooker produced at the highest level in the SEC, which routinely plays the toughest defense and sends the most players to the NFL.
“Man, Hendo is such a fascinating story,” said new USF head coach Alex Golesh, who served as Tennessee’s offensive coordinator/tight ends coach the past three seasons. “I said it at my introductory press conference, Hendo should’ve been in New York (for the Heisman ceremony), and Hendo was the best player in college football.
“I didn’t get to see everybody that was in New York, but there was nobody that did what he did statistically, perseverance, willing a team to win, leadership, putting a team on his back and taking care of the football and creating what he created — there was nobody better in college football last year.”
Hooker said many of the discussions he’s had with teams centered around his preparation and leadership.
“First of all, my overall leadership, connecting with everyone in the building and gaining that trust, communicating with any and everyone,” he said. “And then, like I said, just learning. Those are the biggest parts, and football comes after that.
“I spend countless hours in the facility, or at home, me and my roommate, (quarterback) Joe Milton, spend a lot of time watching film. I spend a lot of time watching film with coaches, by myself. My preparation is ridiculous. If I sat here and told you my whole weekly process, we’d run out of time. My preparation is huge. I want to be prepared for any and every situation.”
The Bucs have to prepare for the possibility of Hooker being available when they pick late in the first round.
While Mayfield appears to be a good fit for Tampa Bay’s new offense, he’s joining his fourth team since July and has only a one-year contract. Trask has earned the chance to compete for the starting job. But if he fails to win it, he would be entering his fourth and final season with the Bucs in 2024 having never progressed beyond the No. 2 job.
Chances are, the Bucs will win too many games this season to have a top-5 pick in the 2024 draft to be guaranteed a shot at one of college football’s best quarterbacks.
There’s no urgency to play Hooker this season, allowing him a chance to heal and learn. The Bucs are committed to adding at least two more quarterbacks prior to training camp, and it’s likely they will select one at some point in the draft. Stetson Bennett, who won two national championships at Georgia, remains a good option in the middle rounds.
But Hooker could be special. The only knock on him was the ACL injury. Then, there’s his age. He could turn 26 before his rookie season is over. Alabama’s Bryce Young and Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud are 21, while Kentucky’s Will Levis is 23.
“(Hooker) is a young guy that’s persevered through a lot now, coming off an ACL, and it’s so funny to watch,” Golesh said. “You see mock drafts come up on Twitter. It started out like, ‘Man, maybe he’s a mid-second-round guy, late second-round.’
“And then as it’s gotten closer to these dudes actually investing real money in people, and as somebody actually sat down and watched the film and then sat down and interviewed him, now all of a sudden it’s, ‘Man, could he be a top-10 pick? Is he the best quarterback in the draft?’ ”
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Staff writer Joey Knight contributed to this report.
