Breaking Down Tennessee QB Hendon Hooker
As with many of the other quarterbacks in this year’s NFL Draft, there doesn’t seem to be a consensus on where Hendon Hooker will be selected. Some believe he could find his way into the top-15, while others think he’ll be available in the 2nd round.
Of course, it all depends on what each team is looking for in a quarterback. Whoever selects Hooker would be banking on getting a player with good size (6’3”), the ability to stand tall in the pocket and deliver accurate downfield throws, and the mobility to threaten defenses as a runner (2,000+ yards and 25 TDs on the ground in 45 career games).
2023 NFL Draft QB Breakdowns:
Bryce Young
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They’d also likely be planning on a slow transition to Hooker over the next year or two since he tore his ACL last November and likely won’t play much during his rookie season.
The adjustment from the Air Raid offense that he ran at Tennessee to an NFL system also has to play a key role in projecting how effective Hooker can be at the next level.
We’ll get to that in a bit. First, let’s focus on the positives.
Reasons to be Excited
The thing that stands out about Hooker is that he has a very keen ability to make the right type of throw to beat the coverage. That reflects both his ability to throw the ball with accuracy as well as his vision and processing skills.
One can just look at his stellar performance against Alabama last season (21-30, 385 yards, 5 TD, 1 INT, 52 points) to see him make all different types of throws in response to what the defense was showing him.
Here’s a deep ball first, which he threw with perfect touch after seeing the deep safety sitting low and speedster Jalin Hyatt getting a free release off the line:
On this next play, Hooker made a firm throw into the seam away from rotation, hitting his receiver in stride:
This next snap came in the red zone, where windows are tighter and more precision is required. Facing tight 1-on-1 coverage and a safety lurking in the middle of the field, Hooker put the ball in the only spot he could - right on his receiver. Not only did that allow him to reel the ball in, it also prevented the safety from being able to deliver a kill-shot and jar the ball loose:
And finally, this next pass on Tennessee’s game-winning drive was thrown behind his receiver intentionally to try and settle him between defenders in zone:
The way those throws were made against the respective coverages was a good indicator that Hooker sees the field pretty well. That will translate well to the NFL.
And despite playing in an offense that attacked downfield often, he was able to complete almost 70% of his passes with a 27-2 TD-INT ratio. That tells you plenty about his decision-making ability.