Hendon Hooker’s final season with Tennessee ended in disappointment when he tore an ACL Nov. 19 against South Carolina.
Before the season-ending knee injury, he had thrown 27 touchdowns against just two interceptions while completing 69.6% of his passes for 3,135 yards, both career-highs. He also ran for 430 yards on 104 carries, five of them for scores.
In his four years with the Vols and Virginia Tech Hokies, he threw for 8,974 yards while completing 66.9% of his passes with 80 touchdowns through the air and just a dozen picks. He established himself at Tennessee, where he threw for 58 touchdowns and 6,080 yards.
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However, Hooker is in a stacked quarterback class, as experts see it. Hooker, Alabama’s Bryce Young, Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud, Florida’s Anthony Richardson and Kentucky’s Will Levis round out the consensus top five, and it wouldn’t be out of the question to see all five go in the first round.
Some believe the top three of Stroud, Young and Richardson, in some order, may go in the top four.
Hooker is widely regarded as the fifth-best quarterback in the class, but he isn’t buying that.
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“I would have myself at No. 1,” Hooker told USA Today when asked about where he ranks himself among the quarterbacks in the class. “I won’t give you a ranking, but I will say I give myself No. 1. My football IQ. How I’m able to process things at a high speed. My competitive nature and how accurate I am with the ball. I can make every level throw and also deadly in the run game as well.”
Hooker went 9-2 as a starter in 2022, and the Vols were the top-ranked team in the nation at one point with Hooker under center.
The NFL Draft kicks off Thursday night in Kansas City, home of the Super Bowl champion Chiefs.
