Former Tennessee quarterback Hendon Hooker can't perform in front of National Football League teams due to the torn left anterior cruciate ligament he suffered last November at South Carolina.
Hooker can meet with them, however, and that has his draft stock higher than ever.
"It's been great just to be able to sit down and watch ball and showcase some of my things from a cerebral side of the game," Hooker said Thursday afternoon in a news conference as the Volunteers conducted pro day in front of representatives from all 32 NFL franchises. "I learn from them, and they answer all my questions. I'm just having a great time.
"I think I'm just showcasing my football IQ and the character I have and what I can bring to an organization."
Hooker threw for 6,080 yards in less than two full seasons with the Vols, completing 68.8% of his attempts and racking up 58 touchdown tosses against five interceptions. The 6-foot-4, 218-pounder from Greensboro, North Carolina, began his college career at Virginia Tech before transferring, and he leaves Tennessee as the most efficient quarterback in program history, the 2022 Southeastern Conference offensive player of the year and the No. 5 vote recipient in last year's race for the Heisman Trophy.
Throughout this process, Hooker has fielded questions about benefiting from Tennessee's offensive system and whether that will translate into the NFL, something coach Josh Heupel hears, too.
"I'm getting a lot of questions about scheme and guys who want to incorporate a lot of what we're doing, so I think it will transition just fine," Heupel said. "You look at the NFL and how college football has impacted the way that game is played now. A lot of what is happening at this level is transitioning upward."
Said Hooker: "It looks easy because we make it look easy. It's not because it's just easy."
Tennessee Athletics photo / Receiver Jalin Hyatt runs a cone drill during Tennessee’s pro day Thursday afternoon.ESPN analyst Mike Tannenbaum, the former general manager of the New York Jets, released a mock draft this week that had Hooker going fifth overall to the Seattle Seahawks.
Hooker will be able to practice dropping back in the pocket within the next couple of weeks and added that he's three weeks away from straight-line running. When asked about his availability for the start of the 2023 season, he responded, "Just being with my doctor on Monday, he said that I would be good."
Tennessee is not only trending in the right direction following last year's 11-2 season that included a 31-14 thumping of Clemson in the Orange Bowl, but the Vols are certainly strengthening on the NFL front as well. The Vols did not have a single player drafted in 2019 and had two in 2020 with Darrell Taylor and Jauan Jennings and two again in 2021 with Josh Palmer and Trey Smith.
There were five draftees last year — Alontae Taylor, Velus Jones Jr., Matthew Butler, Cade Mays and Theo Jackson — but the Vols could have that many get selected next month in the first two rounds with Hooker, receivers Jalin Hyatt and Cedric Tillman, offensive tackle Darnell Wright and edge rusher Byron Young. Hyatt and Wright have appeared as first-round selections on multiple draft projections.
"I'm really excited for my teammates and the culture of Tennessee, getting it back to where it belongs at the top of college football," Hooker said.
Tennessee Athletics photo / Receiver Cedric Tillman participates in the vertical jump during Tennessee’s pro day Thursday afternoon.Savoring his roots
Young was a recent star of the NFL combine with his 40-yard dash time of 4.43 seconds, and he came to Tennessee after working as a Dollar General store manager in Columbus, Georgia, and then reviving his career at Georgia Military College. Young said Thursday that he recently visited that Dollar General and spoke to GMC players as well.
"I just appreciate everybody who helped me along the way," Young said. "I'm so grateful, and I'm never going to forget where I came from."
'Dynamic' freshman
Arion Carter, the four-star midyear enrollee linebacker from the Nashville suburb of Smyrna, continues to impress as the Vols near the midway point of spring practice. Thursday marked the sixth of the 15 allotted workouts.
"On the field, he's been dynamic," linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary said Thursday in a news conference. "I think he and Elijah Herring are tied for interceptions in our group. He finds the football. He's not always in the right spot, but he has that innate ability to make plays.
"That's why he was a high-level recruit, and that's why he's trending to be a contributor for us."
When asked whether he has any hesitations in playing true freshmen, Jean-Mary said: "Take the year out of it. If you're mature enough and can execute at a high level and can help us go win the SEC, you're going to be able to play."
Merklinger commits
The busy Thursday for Tennessee's football program included the expected commitment of Jake Merklinger, the 6-3, 195-pound quarterback from Calvary Day School in Savannah, Georgia.
Merklinger is the nation's No. 6 quarterback and No. 55 overall prospect in the 2024 recruiting cycle, according to the 247Sports.com composite rankings, and he will enter his senior season having already thrown for 6,607 yards and 75 touchdowns. There is the potential of Merklinger having to spend his first two seasons in Knoxville behind Nico Iamaleava, a five-star signee this past December who is going through spring practices as the backup to sixth-year senior Joe Milton III.
"One of the things I did throughout my recruitment was to try not to look at depth charts," Merklinger told 247Sports. "I feel like that's something that isn't healthy. I'm excited to get in there and be around the guys and hopefully get to call some of them my best friends some day.
"I'm excited to get in there and be around them."
Nkamhoua in portal
Tennessee senior basketball player Olivier Nkamhoua, who has an extra year of eligibility due to the outbreak of the coronavirus, has entered the transfer portal. The 6-foot-9, 236-pound forward from Helsinki, Finland, averaged 10.8 points and 5.0 rebounds this season and scored 27 points when the Volunteers downed Duke 65-52 in an NCAA tournament second-round matchup.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.