How scouts are looking at Tennessee's Hendon Hooker in the NFL Draft
Wide receivers in Josh Heupel’s offense can’t be much more spread out. If Tennessee had receivers spread any father the last two seasons, they would’ve been standing out of bounds.
“For those that haven’t seen him play or have seen Tennessee play,” NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah said on a conference call with reporters, “they spread you from sea to shining sea. They are about two yards from the sideline it looks like when you are watching them on each snap where they spread you all the way out.”
But that luxury won’t follow Hendon Hooker from Heupel’s offense to the NFL. And it’s something teams have to take into consideration when scouting Hooker ahead of this spring’s NFL Draft.
“Some of the concern people have with Hooker is that, okay, this is so spread out,” Jeremiah said. “The NFL game isn’t like this, and it’s not going to be as defined in terms of your reads.”
And 51.5 percent of Hooker’s reads as a passer, Jeremiah noted, came off play-action.
“Where you are kind of riding the back,” he said, “and raising up and firing as you try and manipulate those linebackers. That was the most of any quarterback at the combine.”
Daniel Jeremiah: ‘There’s going to be an adjustment’ for Hendon Hooker in an NFL offense
“Those are some of the offense concerns,” Jeremiah continued, “and how that relates and how that translates to the next level. I’ll just say when you are evaluating him, the accuracy, the decision-making, the poise, the athleticism to be able to move around and create with his legs to throw as well as to run, all those things are all there.
“If we just put the offense to one side and say he has all these skills and all that is there for you to see so there’s going to be an adjustment.”
Hooker in two seasons at Tennessee passed for 6,080 yards, 58 touchdowns and was intercepted just five times. He completed 68.8 percent of his 632 pass attempts with the Vols, quickly proving to be the ideal trigger man in Heupel’s offense.
In 11 games this season, Hooker completed 69.6 percent of his passes, throwing for 3,135 yards, 27 touchdowns and two interceptions, leading the Vols to an 8-0 start before losing at Georgia.
Hendon Hooker’s Tennessee career: 7,126 total yards, 68 touchdowns in 24 games
Hooker tore his ACL in Tennessee’s loss at South Carolina but is aiming to be healthy in time for NFL training camp.
“You’ve got to do your homework on the medical stuff — that’s above my pay grade — and see if you are comfortable there,” Jeremiah said. “Everything I’ve heard from an intangible standpoint is really good. The intelligent stuff is excellent. While there will be an adjustment period, I think he’ll be able to handle it, and I think he has all the skills to be successful.”
For an NFL comparison, Jeremiah went with Sam Bradford, the former Oklahoma quarterback who went No. 1 overall to the St. Louis Rams in the 2010 NFL Draft.
“He doesn’t have a huge, huge arm, but it’s good enough,” Jeremiah said. “Obviously he is a lot more athletic. I thought when Bradford was coming out it was accuracy, it was decision- making. Obviously he was the first overall pick. I think Hendon Hooker has a chance to be a real value pick for someone.”
