Football has been mostly an indoor sport this spring for Tennessee sixth-year senior quarterback Hendon Hooker.
Specifically inside the Anderson Training Center.
"It's probably eight hours a day, and that's a minimum," Hooker said Thursday during his first news conference since the late December loss to Purdue in the Music City Bowl. "Part of that is me doing recovery work in the training room or the cold tub. I spend a lot of time in the film room. I'm already in the facility, so I'll see (junior receiver) Jalin Hyatt, and I'm like, 'Hey, let's watch film.' It's just stuff like that.
"It's the little things that can change the season."
Tennessee held its ninth spring workout Thursday and will practice again Friday before scrimmaging Saturday for a second time.
The 6-foot-4, 218-pound graduate transfer from Virginia Tech exceeded all expectations last season, when he was Joe Milton's backup for the first two games before assuming the reins and setting Volunteers single-season records with a 181.4 efficiency rating and a 68.0 completion percentage. In becoming Tennessee's first Davey O'Brien Award semifinalist since Erik Ainge in 2006, Hooker completed 206 of 303 passes for 2,945 yards with 31 touchdowns and just three interceptions.
Topping that statistical output will be challenging several months from now, but Hooker has been living in the moment, much to the delight of his coaches.
"He has completely rededicated himself," Vols quarterbacks coach Joey Halzle said. "He is up in our offices all the time wanting to talk protections and wanting to talk defenses. He is learning nonstop in these offices all day."
Hooker is motivated to have a "better mental aspect" this year and serve "as a player/coach" on the field. He deflected any talk of being a potential preseason Heisman Trophy candidate and made sure he shared confidence in all of his receivers when asked specifically about Cedric Tillman.
Being asked about how coaches wanted him to avoid taking so many hits on quarterback runs later this year did bring a smile to his face.
"I'm getting a lot of, 'You need to slide,' and, 'You need to throw it away,' Hooker said.
Hooker finished last season setting Tennessee bowl records with 437 offensive yards and five aerial touchdowns against the Boilermakers. This spring was to be about having more familiarity and building off last season's successes, and Hooker seems to be doing his part.
One inside hour at a time.
"He now has a really good understanding," Tennessee offensive coordinator Alex Golesh said. "He'll speak up, but he's not big in asking you for things. He'll have the same input as a year ago, and if there's something he doesn't like, then we won't do it. Obviously it's all about him being comfortable back there."
Said Hooker: "The chemistry of the offense and the coaches knowing who they want in certain positions and who they feel comfortable with has been the biggest difference from last spring."
Well-rounded Vols
Strong showings this winter by its men's and women's basketball programs enabled Tennessee to move up to 11th nationally in the Directors' Cup standings, which is third in the Southeastern Conference behind Kentucky (No. 9) and Arkansas (No. 10).
Michigan is tops overall, with Notre Dame, Ohio State, Stanford and Texas rounding out the top five.
Tennessee certainly has the potential to finish in the top 10 with its baseball team ranked No. 1 nationally, men's tennis No. 5, softball No. 11 and men's golf No. 18.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524. Follow him on Twitter @DavidSPaschall.