Hendon Hooker reacts to being in mix for Heisman Trophy entering 2022 season

Although the 2022 college football season is still a few months away and spring ball is still going on, the way-too-early Heisman Trophy conversation is already going. Tennessee quarterback Hendon Hooker is one of the names to come up already — and he shared his reaction to that this week.

Hooker had quite a year for the Volunteers in Josh Heupel’s first season as head coach. He finished in the top-five in the SEC with 2,945 passing yards and was a top-20 rusher in the league with 613 yards on the ground. He’s a proven dual threat, and that’s sure to help his case for the Heisman if he can repeat that performance this coming season.

But for now, he’s locked in on the task at hand. The Volunteers are still working through spring practice, and he’s not thinking about regular-season awards just yet.

“Honestly, right now, my thoughts are on finishing spring ball and winning ball games,” Hooker said. “I feel like the accolades will come later.”

Hooker could’ve gone to the NFL Draft and even tested the waters. Ultimately, he decided to return to Tennessee for one last go-round, and now he has a chance to keep the Heisman conversation going.

Josh Heupel gives take on managing Hendon Hooker’s reps

There’s no doubt that Hendon Hooker is heading into the 2022 college football season as Tennessee‘s starting quarterback. He’s a safe bet to be the starter, even after Josh Heupel said “every position is up” for grabs.

Hooker thought about entering the NFL Draft before ultimately deciding to come back to Tennessee for one last ride — and that’s huge for Tennessee.

While the Volunteers have been going through spring practices as part of their preparation for the upcoming 2022 campaign, Hooker has been playing with the first-team offense, which means that he’s gotten plenty of reps. But he wasn’t on the field much during the team’s scrimmage on Saturday.

Meeting with the media following the scrimmage, Heupel was asked about Hooker only being on the field for a couple series — and the coach shared how he is managing the quarterback’s reps.

“It was just unique in the way it unfolded,” Heupel said. “The first drive for the one’s had a huge play, play-count rep. Today, there’s no TV – it was strictly play-count and how we’re trying to mange each set for all of our guys.

“[Hooker] did a lot of competitive work, and he’s happy to get a bunch of it on the first drive.”