Josh Heupel shares pride in former players going through Pro Day

Tennessee has five players currently projected to be selected in the first three rounds of the upcoming 2023 NFL Draft — only further building Vols coach Josh Heupel’s reputation as one of the best young head coaches in the country.

QB Hendon Hooker, WR’s Jalin Hyatt and Cedric Tillman, OT Darnell Wright EDGE Byron Young, K Chase McGrath and more were all present at the Volunteer’s Pro Day in Knoxville last month.

“When they finish their last game and they embark on this process, [there are] a lot of nervous energy and a lot of decisions that have to be made for them,” Heupel said after the event. “There’ so many situations they get thrust into for the first time. It can be the combine, it can be interviews at the combine. It can be the Pro Day … I’m really proud of this group of guys and how they’ve handled the entire process.”

Hooker, Wright and Hyatt are expected to go as high as the first-round, according to former NFL GM Tannenbaum. Hooker, who is coming off an ACL injury, wasn’t considered a top-10 commodity until his pre-draft interviews and could go as high as No. 5 overall to the Seattle Seahawks if Tannenbaum is correct.

Factors including the aforementioned injury, his age (25) and Tennessee’s offensive style are working against him. Still, many believes he could sneak into the first round, as NFL teams are intrigued by his potential. He can’t control that narrative, however, and is focusing on healing his knee before providing his services to the team that drafts him.

“I thought physically our guys did a great job of preparing themselves,” Heupel said Hooker and the rest of the group. “Testing numbers at the combine have been fantastic. I think that speaks to who these guys are, some of the development we have inside of our program, Coach Schmidt, our strength and conditioning leader — I’m proud of what they did.

“And then in individual drills I thought they handed themselves in a really good way. Guys catching the football, defensive guys and their movement patterns, breaking on the football and offensive line guys did a really good job, too. So really proud of what they showed today.”

The 2023 NFL Draft is set to take place from Thursday, April 27 through Saturday, April 29 in Kansas City, Missouri as the entire group of former Vols look to hear their names called throughout the weekend.