Josh Heupel says Hendon Hooker is in a 'great position' to transition to the NFL

One knock on Hendon Hooker for some is the system he played in at Tennessee. The Volunteer offense often made it look easy for their unit to rack up yards and scores last fall. However, Josh Heupel says to not let that perception fool you about what all Hooker had to do and, in doing so, how that makes him a better prospect for the NFL.

Heupel addressed how prepared he believes Hooker is ahead of the NFL Draft this week. He said he thinks his quarterback did as much to manage the game as any other in the nation. That shows him where his processing skills are and, in turn, proves to him that he can succeed at the next level.

“I’m not sure anybody in college football had more on their plate than Hendon did. And then you throw in the tempo we play at? You’ve got to be a quick decision-maker, you’ve got to recognize defensive structure extremely quickly,” Heupel said. “He controlled some of our run game, he controlled the RPO game. (Hendon’s) making a decision on every snap. He’s got loaded box checks, he’s got alerts, he’s got kills.”

“He controlled the entire game on every single play,” said Heupel. “I think that puts him in a great position to be able to transition to the next level, handle all that’s coming at him, and be able to handle it at a really high level.”

That was a lot of responsibility on Hooker over the course of his two seasons in Knoxville. Still, he checked every box when it came to those decisions to the tune of over 6,000 passing yards, 68 total touchdowns, and only five interceptions while completing nearly 69% of his attempts.

There’s no way to measure just how much of Hooker’s success at Tennessee was due to Heupel’s system. Still, Heupel set the record straight on Hooker because he knows what all he had to do and how it will help him continue that success once he becomes a pro later this week.

Heupel shares NFL Draft advice to Hooker

Tennessee Volunteers head coach Josh Heupel is sending a quality group of players to the 2023 NFL draft following their successful 2022 season. Arguably one of the biggest names on the list of players from Tennessee headed to the NFL is none other than quarterback Hendon Hooker.

Hooker has been sidelined for much of the offseason after suffering an ACL injury late in the season. That has left his stock for the draft in question. Hearing all of the negative press around your name could be stressful for anyone. That’s why Heupel shared a few words of advice to Hooker before making the leap to the next level.

“The draft process, for everybody, as soon as you’re declared, is them trying to find a reason not to draft you,” said Heupel. “And prognosticators are going to build you up and bring you back down to earth at the same time. At the end of the day, you can only control what you can control. Enjoy the process; doesn’t matter who, when, where, and you’re in the NFL, got a chance to live it out. So, on the back half of this process, when those guys were done with the pro da? I told them all enjoy it from here until draft day. It’s one of the things that if I look back, I would have tried to enjoy the process more. I’m really excited for these guys.”