How Hendon Hooker helped Tennessee win the Orange Bowl without taking a snap

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — At a certain point, Joe Milton had enough. There was only so much film Tennessee’s redshirt senior quarterback could watch. He had to let Hendon Hooker know it, too.

“He was like hey man,” Hooker said, describing the scene late Friday night inside the Tennessee locker room at Hard Rock Stadium, “I got to take some time back, stop watching this film, it’s getting on my nerves.

“I was like, I got you.”

Hooker, who saw his season cut short after tearing his ACL in the loss at South Carolina on November 19, is a self-described football addict. Watching film with Milton, his roommate and successor at quarterback for the Vols, since suffering the devastating injury was his way of continuing to scratch that itch. Even if at times too much was too much.

“I’m a football junkie,” Hooker said, “so anytime I can get a fix, it’s wonderful.”

It was also Hooker’s way of helping prepare Milton with weeks of down time before No. 6 Tennessee faced No. 7 Clemson in the Capital One Orange Bowl.

“It’s just been a lot of film-watching at the house,” Hooker said. “Us throwing it up on the TV from the iPad. Got to a point where it became a little repetitive.”

Joe Milton named Orange Bowl MVP after throwing for 251 yards, three touchdowns

The reps paid off for Milton Friday night. He completed 19 of 28 passes for 251 yards and three touchdowns — one to Bru McCoy, one to Squirrel White and one to Ramel Keyton —  while leading the Vols to a statement-making 31-14 win. 

“I’m really proud of him,” Hooker said of Milton, who was named the game’s MVP. “Some things didn’t go his way and he didn’t change his demeanor. He came out and continued to chip away and play through the things that we would talk about. That’s all you can ask for.”

Tennessee couldn’t ask much more out of Hooker — the quarterback, the teammate, the leader. From marathon film sessions in recent weeks to calls to Milton from California, where he had his knee surgery performed. 

“That’s my brother,” Milton said. “We pretty much have to be on the same page no matter who is on the field.”

On the field, on the sideline or in the film room, Tennessee quarterbacks coach Joey Halzle considered Hooker an extension of himself. It stems from the nonstop repetitions.

“Hendon puts in more time than anyone I’ve ever been around,” Halzle said after the game. “Joe and him living together this offseason, I think, has been a huge, huge growth for (Milton), seeing how much time (Hooker) put in. That’s who Joe has become as well.”

If Halzle was watching film, Hooker was there too. If Halzle was in game-planning meetings with other coaches, Hooker was getting graduate-assistants to help him get extra work in.

Any film that Halzle watched, Hooker was going to watch with him. Then on his own. Then calling to go over it. Over and over and over again.

“Any cut-up that I would make, that we would watch in our morning meetings,” Halzle said, ”he would watch it again in the evening and he would text at night. ‘Hey, I’m ready to go for tomorrow.’ 

“He’d be looking at all the stuff before we came into meetings in the mornings. Whether he was in the building or at home, he was in football.”

Even if it was just Hooker on the couch next to Milton, Halzle knew Tennessee’s old starting quarterback was helping Tennessee’s new starting quarterback take steps forward. 

“It’s great because with a guy like him,” Halzle said, “he’s one of the most intelligent guys I’ve ever been around, regardless of position. I know that he’s not going to be out there just kind of spouting off, saying whatever. He’s dialed into what we’re doing.”

Hooker stayed dialed in with Milton on the sideline Friday night. He celebrated the touchdown passes with his roommate and talked over what the two had seen if a drive stalled. 

“Just how we were going to attack them,” Hooker said of the Clemson defense. “Seeing their weak links and what works in our scheme against their scheme. As well as personnel things, like which (defensive back) is more aggressive … just little nuances so we can attack it.”

The attack started with Milton’s 16-yard touchdown pass to McCoy for a 7-0 lead with 5:17 left in the first quarter. He threw a 14-yard touchdown to White late in the third quarter, after finding White for a 50-yard bomb in the first half. 

Milton put the game away, wrapping up Tennessee’s first 11 win season in 21 years, with a 46-yard bomb to Keyton. He stepped into a clean pocket and delivered a pass in stride to a wide-open Keyton, who ran past the Clemson secondary.

“Something Joe has worked a lot on is his touch,” Hooker said. “He knows that sometimes he has missed some guys and he wants to fix that. It’s something I have always loved Joe for. Anytime there was something wrong. He went and worked on it to get better.”

That’s why, according to Milton, nothing has changed in recent weeks. He’s been in marathon film sessions with Hooker only because the two have always been in marathon film sessions together. 

“It was no different,” Milton said. “Just because I prepare that way every week because you never know what can happen.”

Hendon Hooker accounted for 7,126 total yards, 68 touchdowns in two seasons with Vols

Hooker was part of the Orange Bowl win just like he was part of every other moment in Tennessee’s rapid two-year rise under Josh Heupel. From committing to the Vols in January 2021, after they had limpted to the finish line in a 3-7 season under the outgoing Jeremy Pruitt, to starting this season 8-0 and debuting at No. 1 in the first College Football Playoff Top 25 on November 1.

“The fact that he’s committed to his program,” Heupel said, “and to his teammates, to Joe, that he wants to be a part of this experience, that he wants to finish his legacy here the right way, I think it speaks to everything of who he is. 

“This program, this climb … this doesn’t happen without Hendon. I say that meaning that, and these guys would say it too. He’s special.”

Just like Hooker has been an extension of Halzle, he was one of Heupel’s biggest advocates in the locker room. That’s where the climb started.

“As you build a program, you’ve got to have somebody that is selling your message from the inside,” Heupel said, “that is selling that message every day and gets the locker room headed in the right direction. 

“Hendon wasn’t the only guy that did that, but he certainly was spearheading that. One of the guys that started moving us in the right direction from the inside out.”

That movement was evident on the field at Hard Rock Stadium. There was a certain trust level on display, starting with Hooker and moving to Milton, trickling down to everyone on the Tennessee sideline.

“I think it speaks to everything Coach Heupel has built here culturally,” Halzle said. “The guys care about each other. I know a lot of people use that as a tag line, but stuff like this doesn’t happen if that’s not the case … if the guys didn’t believe in who was out there on the field, that performance wouldn’t have happened just now.”

Moving forward, sitting in his locker after being named MVP of the Orange Bowl, Milton was already thinking about his next film session. This performance was good, but no performance is ever good enough. 

“It felt great,” he said, “but there’s stuff to learn from, obviously. And I’ll be in the film room probably when I get back home, just to learn from what I did wrong. 

“Just because we won doesn’t mean it’s always a great win.”