Mark Richt still doesn't understand why Virginia Tech football didn't play Hendon Hooker
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Former Georgia football coach Mark Richt doesn't have a doubt that Tennessee quarterback Hendon Hooker put his name in the running for the Heisman Trophy.
Richt covered Hooker at Virginia Tech as an analyst on ACC Network's "ACC Huddle" – a job he said he got after retiring from Miami because they needed "a token old guy." Richt said they still don't know why former Virginia Tech coach Justin Fuente didn't play Hooker, who has led No. 3 Tennessee (7-0, 3-0 SEC) to an undefeated start this season.
'We're still trying to figure out why Coach Fuente didn't really – he didn't like the kid," Richt said with a chuckle Monday at the Knoxville Quarterback Club meeting at Calhoun's on the River. "Course, Coach Fuente doesn't have a job anymore."
Tennessee quarterbacks coach Joey Halzle added the fun thing with Hooker this season has been his play-calling.
Hooker knows their thought processes and what they want to accomplish on each play, but he has the playbook at his disposal, Halzle said. Hooker even called the play on his 78-yard pass to Jalin Hyatt that gave Tennessee a 42-35 lead at the beginning of the fourth quarter in the win against Alabama.
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"He walked up to the line of scrimmage and I was watching him like, 'Oh, here he goes,' " Halzle said of the play. "He sent Jalin vertical and took it based on the look he saw. That was his call from the line of scrimmage, so as soon as he sees a look that he likes or a look he doesn't like, he knows what he's getting into, and he's got the full playbook at his disposal."
Halzle said Hooker is highly intelligent and he has always made good decisions. But this season, there's a difference in his approach to his decisions.
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"This year, what's making him even more special is he's even more aggressive," Halzle said. "That's what we talked about ... you gotta be able to walk the line of aggressive and reckless, and he walks it extremely well. He's extremely aggressive, but he doesn't cross the line over to reckless and put the ball in danger."
Hooker has only thrown one interception this season, down from the three in 2021. His accuracy is a bit higher at 70.6% compared to last season's 67.9%, and he's crushing his yards per game average of 226.5 in 2021, averaging 299 yards through seven games.
His rushing has been more efficient this season, too. Hooker averaged about the same rushing yards per game last season, but this year his rushing yards for loss is only at 67 – last season it was 200 after 13 games.
Hooker has thrown for 2,093 yards and 18 touchdowns in addition to the three rushing TDs. He can add to the total on Saturday (7 p.m. ET) against No. 17 Kentucky (5-2, 2-2) at Neyland Stadium.
"The biggest thing we work on, literally every single day of practice, is pocket movement," Halzle said. "I believe that's where the game is won and lost ... What makes Hendon special is that when it does start to break down, now he's got the eject button and he can go and he can run it as well as anybody in the country, across all positions.
"So he does a great job at hanging in the pocket, working in the pocket, and then when it's time to go, he gets out vertically and stretches the defense really quickly."
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Mark Richt doesn't understand why Virginia Tech didn't play Hendon Hooker
