The Tennessee Volunteers have been eliminated in this season’s chase for the Southeastern Conference championship.
Georgia’s 45-19 win at Mississippi State this past Saturday sealed the second-place fate for the Volunteers in the SEC’s Eastern Division, yet Tennessee remains in the picture for the national title, and sixth-year senior quarterback Hendon Hooker is very much in the picture for the Heisman Trophy.
“He is playing at as high a level as I have ever had anybody play, and I’ve had Heisman guys,” Vols second-year coach Josh Heupel said this week. “He is in complete command of what we are doing. You look at the efficiency of how he is playing, the ability to take care of the football and the dynamic plays that he has made with his arm and with his feet.
“We don’t look like we do offensively without him, so he certainly is deserving of being in that conversation. We have to go play the right way here the last couple of weeks and hope he has that opportunity. I believe he should.”
Heupel was the Heisman Trophy runner-up as Oklahoma’s quarterback in 2000, losing to Florida State quarterback Chris Weinke by a scant 76 total points.