Sit back and grab some popcorn.
With the NFL Draft officially starting on Thursday night, Tennessee’s social media team dropped a new nine-minute hype video documenting Hendon Hooker’s journey to the NFL Draft.
The mini-documentary, if you will, features Hendon’s parents, Alan and Wendy Hooker, his Dudley High School football coach Steven Davis, Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel, and Hendon himself.
Starting from Hendon’s high school days, the video documents his journey playing both football and basketball in Greensboro, North Carolina. Hooker chose the football route despite having scholarship offers from both. In doing so, Hooker would follow in his father’s footsteps by playing college football.
The video then shows Hooker’s journey to Virginia Tech and the medical emergency that he encountered during COVID. While getting a route COVID scan with the Hokies’ program, doctors found an issue with Hooker’s heart that would require open-heart surgery.
In a well-known story that has been told before, Hooker wrote a letter to the game before his surgery, promising that he would dedicate his life to it post-surgery. At that time, Hooker had already been told he might never play the game again.
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With a tremendous comeback following his surgery, Hooker eventually made the move to Rocky Top and linked up with brand-new head coach Josh Heupel. The first-year coach, though, chose Michigan transfer Joe Milton as Tennessee’s starting quarterback to open the 2021 season.
While he began the season on the bench, Hooker would quickly be forced into action due to an injury that Milton suffered in the second game of the year. Hooker took the starting role and didn’t look backward for the next two seasons.
Hooker led Tennessee to a 9-1 regular season run in 2022 before suffering a season-ending ACL injury in the penultimate game of the regular season against South Carolina. Since then, the veteran quarterback has been tirelessly working to get back on the field with the NFL Draft so quickly approaching.
Despite not being able to perform on the field, Hooker still attended the Senior Bowl, the NFL Combine, and his Tennessee Pro Day. And, in a somewhat curious way, the comeback story has almost made Hooker a fan-favorite draftee across the nation with his incredible story that is told in the video that Tennessee released on Wednesday.
Check out the whole video below. And be sure to stay tuned into Rocky Top Insider’s NFL Draft coverage on social media on Thursday night!
