Hendon Hooker reveals message to Tayven Jackson after his first touchdown in Week 3

The 63-6 performance the Tennessee Volunteers had versus Akron allowed head coach Josh Heupel to use three of his quarterbacks on Saturday. Freshman quarterback Tayven Jackson went 2-for-2 for 17 yards passing and he rushed for his first touchdown as well with less than a minute remaining in the game.

After the win, starting quarterback Hendon Hooker shared what he told Jackson following the freshman’s first score for the Vols. Although he wanted to celebrate with his young teammate, first, he had to get on him about ball security.

“First thing’s first, ball security,” Hooker said during his post-game press conference. “We don’t need him sticking the ball out over the goal line if it doesn’t call for it.

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“But, extremely proud of him, and then how poised he was in the pocket on his drive. Just seeing him grow every day is an amazing thing to see. Me and Joe (Milton) just try to guide him along and be great teammates and brothers to him.”

Jackson was a highly recruited prospect coming out of Greenwood, Indiana. He chose the Vols before his senior season and signed as the No. 186 prospect in the 2022 class, according to the On3 Consensus. He was the No. 11-ranked quarterback in his signing class.

Joey Halzle describes what Jackson brings to Vols

Going into the 2022 season, quarterbacks coach Joey Halzle explained why the Vols are excited about Jackson and what he still needs to work on.

“For Tayven, he’s obviously an elite athlete,” Halzle said. “It’s just fun to watch him do athletic things every day. Some things that you wouldn’t normally coach, he can do it and you’re like, ‘Oh wow, that’s pretty cool.’”

“It’s really for any young quarterback, the biggest thing—and I had a conversation on the field with the guys today—is just being able to reset,” Halzle continued. “You make a bad play, you’re going to. It’s expected. You’re a true freshman. You miss a read, you miss a protection, you miss something like that, awesome. Reset and go play the next play. That’s the biggest thing with a young quarterback. You have to make sure that they’re not living in the past all the time, because they’re used to being the one that is the big dog.”