Josh Heupel discusses Hendon Hooker's growth at Tennessee

First-year Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel may have walked back on his initial decision to start Joe Milton at quarterback, replacing the Michigan transfer with Virginia Tech transfer Hendon Hooker, but it seems the Volunteers have finally found consistent play at quarterback.

It certainly didn’t go as planned for Milton, who completed just 46% of his passes for 243 yards and one touchdown in his two starts. Hooker, on the other hand, has been a much different story in Heupel’s offense. The Greensboro, North Carolina, native has been excellent since taking over as Tennessee’s starting quarterback, completing 69% of his passes for 1,063 passing yards, 13 touchdowns and just one interception. Hooker has been impactful on the ground, too, rushing 66 times for 282 yards and three more touchdowns.

Hooker has burst onto the scene, and Heupel on Monday discussed what has enabled Hooker to improve so much in such a short span of time.

“Confidence, comfort, decision-making, taking care of the football — all of that comes with some time on task inside of the offense,” Heupel said of Hooker’s improvement. “Whether it’s check and run-run, check and run-pass, whether it’s RPO game, whether it’s drop back, better decision-making. The more time you have in it, the more comfort you have. The ability to handle and play within itself while we’re playing with tempo, all of those things. [Hooker] has become a better [leader], more vocal, more ownership on the football field and in the locker room with our team as well.”

Hooker’s performance of late for Tennessee has solidified him a spot atop the NCAA leaderboards, despite not starting the first couple games. He currently ranks fifth in the NCAA in passer efficiency, scoring 185.89, and leads the entire SEC in that category. This week, Hooker and Heupel’s Tennessee Volunteers will play host to an explosive Ole Miss offense led by Matt Corral, whose 185.89 passer efficiency rating slots him sixth in the country, one position below Hooker.

Hooker transferred to Tennessee after a successful four-year stint at Virginia Tech, two of which he spent as the Hokies’ starting quarterback. He amassed 2,894 passing yards and a 63 percent completion rate in 15 career starts, throwing for 22 touchdowns with seven interceptions. In his final season at Virginia Tech, the COVID-abbreviated 2020 season, Hooker started seven games and threw for 1,339 yards and nine touchdowns, while rushing for 620 yards and nine more touchdowns.

Hooker and the Tennessee offense will have its biggest home game of the year, as they play host to former Tennessee head coach Lane Kiffin, now coaching the No. 13 Ole Miss Rebels. For Hooker to further solidify himself as a top-tier SEC quarterback, he’ll have to out-duel Corral and the Rebels in what projects to be a high-scoring contest.