Hendon Hooker is fluid on the football discipline and mobile in NFL conference rooms, the place he’s been hurdling concerns about his age, well being and actively playing design and style.
The 25-calendar year-outdated previous Tennessee quarterback who tore the ACL in his still left knee fewer than 5 months back has put in his predraft visits with groups detailing the complexity of the Volunteers’ seemingly simplistic unfold offense. It is a person that has raised worries about how his activity will translate to the execs, the place he’ll have to study the whole industry and not lock in on his most important focus on so a lot.
“I can make any throw,” Hooker claimed. “The way we operate our offense, the wide splits, these are all grown-gentlemen throws. I’m not throwing any 5-property outs. Individuals are all big-boy balls.”
Hooker pounces at thoughts about how he’ll do in a professional style offense.
“I simply cannot assist that defenders simply cannot guard my receivers. My occupation is to get them the ball,” Hooker reported. “A good deal of these queries about just one-sided reads, we have pure progressions and routes. It is not my fault that my 1st read through is acquiring open.”
And do not be fooled, Hooker extra, there’s a whole lot going on beneath that awesome demeanor of his that helps make it feel like he’s just leisurely participating in catch.
Hooker figures to be the fifth quarterback chosen in the NFL draft later on this month, guiding absolutely sure-hearth initially-rounders Bryce Youthful, C.J. Stroud, Will Levis and Anthony Richardson.
“I definitely like Hendon Hooker,” NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah reported, citing his precision, acumen and adjustability.
Hooker’s age — he’ll change 26 by the stop of his rookie season — and wellbeing — he tore the ACL in his left knee in a sport from South Carolina on Nov. 19 — have several predicting that he’ll slide into the second round. But Jeremiah has him likely to the Vikings at No. 23 in his most current mock draft.
The 2022 SEC Offensive Player of the 12 months spent three several years at Virginia Tech and the final two at Tennessee.
Patrick Mahomes is just two a long time older than Hooker but has currently performed six NFL seasons and won a pair of Tremendous Bowl rings. Jalen Hurts is 24 and has a few years’ NFL knowledge and a Super Bowl appearance.
“If you instructed me you draft Hendon Hooker in the second spherical and he is your setting up quarterback or 7, 8 definitely excellent several years, I think you get it,” Jeremiah said. “I feel Hendon Hooker has a possibility to be a real price choose for another person.”
Hooker could close up sitting down a year powering an recognized starter, way too, a thing that would assuage any considerations about his surgically repaired knee.
The additional urgent problem is how Hooker’s match will translate to the next stage following functioning in Tennessee’s tremendous spread offense, wherever he experienced to get the ball out lickety-break up and almost never arrived off his first browse.
Placing that model aside, “I’ll just say when you are assessing him, the precision, the final decision-generating, the poise, the athleticism to be able to go about and build with his legs, to throw as nicely as to operate, all people items are all there,” Jeremiah siad.
At Tennessee, Hooker was what scouts connect with a “half-industry reader.”
ESPN draft analyst Todd McShay figures that was additional a products of Josh Heupel’s offense than a flaw in Hooker’s video game.
“The reviews from each and every group I’ve talked to about him is he’s performed a terrific work finding on the board and understands ideas and can go back again to his Virginia Tech playbook and recite almost everything like he was taking part in in it yesterday,” McShay stated. “That’s portion of why it’s so critical with the quarterbacks to have unique time, private exercise routines, private meetings, to genuinely examine their mind and how they study.”
Hooker relished showing off his football acumen on the white boards.
“Any time I walk earlier a mirror and there’s an Expo marker, I’m going to draw on the mirror,” Hooker said. “That’s just something I enjoy doing since I adore the video game of football.”
Heupel reported the offense Hooker was asked to run at Tennessee was not as simplistic as it seemed.
“I’m not sure anybody in higher education football has much more on their plate than Hendon does,” Heupel claimed. “Then, you toss in the tempo that we enjoy at, you have received to be a speedy choice-maker, you have got to realize defensive construction incredibly immediately. … He managed the full video game on every solitary perform. I think that places him in a great position to be able to changeover at the subsequent amount and tackle all that is coming at him.”
Heupel mentioned the intangibles these kinds of as management and charisma are what will make Hooker somebody’s franchise quarterback.
“I’ve in no way been all over anyone that is been a stronger or much more impactful chief than Hendon Hooker is,” Heupel mentioned. “Our software is not wherever it is at today unless Hendon is a portion of our locker room.”
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AP Pro Football Writer Teresa Walker in Nashville contributed.
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