NFL draft steal? Hooker hurdles age, health, style concerns

The 25-year-old former Tennessee quarterback who tore the ACL in his left knee less than five months ago has spent his predraft visits with teams explaining the complexity of the Volunteers’ seemingly simplistic spread offense. It’s one that has raised concerns about how his game will translate to the pros, where he’ll have to read the entire field and not lock in on his primary target so much.

“I can make any throw,” Hooker said. “The way we run our offense, the wide splits, those are all grown-men throws. I’m not throwing any 5-yard outs. Those are all big-boy balls.”

Hooker pounces at questions about how he’ll do in a pro style offense.

“I can’t help that defenders can’t guard my receivers. My job is to get them the ball,” Hooker said. “A lot of these questions about one-sided reads, we have pure progressions and routes. It’s not my fault that my first read is getting open.”

And don’t be fooled, Hooker added, there’s a lot going on underneath that cool demeanor of his that makes it seem like he’s just leisurely playing catch.

Hooker figures to be the fifth quarterback selected in the NFL draft later this month, behind sure-fire first-rounders Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud, Will Levis and Anthony Richardson.

“I really like Hendon Hooker,” NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah said, citing his accuracy, acumen and adjustability.

Hooker’s age — he’ll turn 26 by the end of his rookie season — and health — he tore the ACL in his left knee in a game against South Carolina on Nov. 19 — have many predicting that he’ll slide into the second round. But Jeremiah has him going to the Vikings at No. 23 in his latest mock draft.

The 2022 SEC Offensive Player of the Year spent three years at Virginia Tech and the last two at Tennessee.

Patrick Mahomes is just two years older than Hooker but has already played six NFL seasons and won a pair of Super Bowl rings. Jalen Hurts is 24 and has three years’ NFL experience and a Super Bowl appearance.

“If you told me you draft Hendon Hooker in the second round and he is your starting quarterback or seven, eight really good years, I think you take it,” Jeremiah said. “I think Hendon Hooker has a chance to be a real value pick for someone.”

Hooker could end up sitting a year behind an established starter, too, something that would assuage any concerns about his surgically repaired knee.

The more pressing concern is how Hooker’s game will translate to the next level after operating in Tennessee’s super spread offense, where he had to get the ball out lickety-split and rarely came off his first read.

Putting that style aside, “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,” Jeremiah siad.

At Tennessee, Hooker was what scouts call a “half-field reader.”

ESPN draft analyst Todd McShay figures that was more a product of Josh Heupel’s offense than a flaw in Hooker’s game.

“The reports from every team I’ve talked to about him is he’s done a great job getting on the board and understands concepts and can go back to his Virginia Tech playbook and recite everything like he was playing in it yesterday,” McShay said. “That’s part of why it’s so important with the quarterbacks to have individual time, private workouts, private meetings, to really study their brain and how they learn.”

Hooker relished showing off his football acumen on the white boards.

“Any time I walk past 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 because I love the game of football.”

Heupel said the offense Hooker was asked to run at Tennessee wasn’t as simplistic as it looked.

“I’m not sure anybody in college football has more on their plate than Hendon does,” Heupel said. “Then, you throw in the tempo that we play at, you have got to be a quick decision-maker, you have got to recognize defensive structure extremely quickly. … He controlled the entire game on every single play. I think that puts him in a great position to be able to transition at the next level and handle all that’s coming at him.”

Heupel said the intangibles such as leadership and charisma are what will make Hooker somebody’s franchise quarterback.

“I’ve never been around anybody that’s been a stronger or more impactful leader than Hendon Hooker is,” Heupel said. “Our program is not where it’s at today unless Hendon is a part of our locker room.”