Hendon Hooker commends Trevon Flowers for late-game heroics

Hendon Hooker knew that Trevon Flowers would find a way to make up for his fourth-quarter mistake Saturday against Pittsburgh. After muffing a punt with 7:28 remaining that set up the Panthers for the game-tying touchdown to send it into overtime, the Tennessee safety did just that.

The Volunteers scored first in overtime to take a 34-27 lead and Pitt took over looking to answer. But thanks to Flowers, their efforts were thwarted. The fifth-year senior redeemed himself by coming up a sack on third-and-goal to push the Panthers back to the 20-yard line.

Quarterback Nick Patti took one last shot at the end zone, but it fell incomplete as Tennessee hung on for the win. Speaking with reporters postgame, Hendon Hooker revealed why he kept faith Trevon Flowers even after the error.

“Tre is a vet guy,” the Tennessee quarterback said. “He’s a next-play mentality type of guy. He works extremely hard. I see him out there a lot of times catching punts and doing extra work so he can transfer it over to game-time situations. Hats off to Tre for making up for the muffed punt. I never doubted him one bit.”

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The late sack wasn’t the only big play of the day for Flowers, though. The safety also came away with a first-quarter interception in the back of the end zone off a tipped pass from teammate Kamal Hadden. That play prevented Pittsburgh from going up 17-0 and set up the Volunteers for their first touchdown drive of the game.

Flowers finished the day tied with Hadden for the second-most tackles on the team with seven. He will look to continue to bring his veteran presence to the defense when the No. 15 Volunteers face Akron at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday in Week 3.