Hendon Hooker picked by Detroit Lions in the third round in the NFL Draft

Hendon Hooker is finally off the board in the NFL Draft, selected by the Detroit Lions in the third round with the 68th overall pick Friday night, the fifth pick in the third round in Kansas City.

There may have been a better story in college football last year, a player easier to root for or someone you thought maybe deserved success more than Hooker, but I bet that’s an exceedingly short list. 

When Hooker signed with Tennessee and transferred from Virginia Tech after the 2020 season it barely caused a ripple. Vol fans certainly didn’t make a big deal, and it’s beyond safe to say that no one—and I mean no one—thought Hooker was going to roll in and turn the program around. 

Hooker became even more of an afterthought for fans after all the upheaval in the football program that saw Jeremy Pruitt and his entire staff dismissed in the wake of NCAA violations. 

So Hooker is in a spot where he’s transferred to a new school, and now he’s going to have to try and impress a staff that didn’t even recruit him? And play for a guy in Josh Heupel who knows a thing or two about the quarterback position.

Hooker was in an unenviable position to put it mildly. 

He didn’t really impress much in that first spring under Heupel, earning a reputation—fairly or not—as a quarterback that was reluctant to take chances, was too conservative and hesitant to push the football vertically. 

Hooker’s situation got even more precipitous when Heupel and his staff went out and brought in Michigan’s Joe Milton out of the transfer portal following the spring. That wasn’t exactly a vote of confidence. 

Then Milton exited fall camp as the starter to begin the 2021 season, Heupel’s first. 

Hooker could have stewed. He could have pouted. He could have simply left. But nope, not his style. 

He kept working, he waited for his opportunity. And when it came, he grabbed it in a death grip. 

Hooker would take over for Milton in the third game of the season against Pitt after Milton was injured, and nearly led the Vols to a come from behind win over the Panthers. 

The rest was history. 

Hooker finished the 2021 season as one of the most efficient quarterbacks in the nation. He completed 68% of his throws for 2,945 yards yards and 31 touchdowns with just three interceptions. He no longer had a reputation as a quarterback reluctant to push the ball down the field.

“As you build a program, you’ve got to have somebody that’s selling your message from inside that lives that message every day and gets the locker room headed in the right direction, and Hendon wasn’t the only guy that did that, but he certainly was spearheading it,” Heupel said of Hooker’s impact on the program. “There were a lot of guys that started moving us in the right direction from the inside out.”

After that kind of season Hooker certainly had the opportunity to declare for the NFL draft, and he likely would have been a mid-round selection.

Instead he returned for his senior season, became a Tennessee legend, should have been a Heisman finalist and probably made himself several millions of dollars with his decision.

“Really, it was just prayer, talking to my family and the coaches as well, getting their feedback on what they thought of my season and my production,” Hooker said of his decision to return at the time. “I have gotten a couple of grades back. It’s really about just trusting the process, like I’ve always done, keeping my head down, working hard and controlling what I can control.

“Now (going into 2022) it’s about being consistent in my play and leadership. I just try to build guys around me to improve their games and work ethic—just being a leader. I feel like that’s the biggest aspect of getting the offense to operate smoothly and take it to the next level that we’re talking about.”

He was even better this past season than he was in his first go round under Heupel. He led the Vols to an 8-0 start and the No. 1 ranking in the initial college football playoff poll. 

Against Alabama, in a stunning 52-49 win that snapped a 15 game losing streak to the Tide, Hooker put on a show. 

He threw for 385 yards and five touchdowns against the Tide. His most clutch effort of the night though came in the closing seconds, when he miraculously drove the Vols 45 yards in :15 to set up Chase McGrath’s game winning field goal. 

Had Hooker not gotten injured against South Carolina and missed the last two games he would have put up some truly astronomical numbers. As it stands he completed 70% of his passes for 3,135 yards with 27 touchdowns and just two interceptions.