Quarterback Hendon Hooker continues to climb the jersey number tree now that he is in the NFL.
Hooker wore No. 1 on the field as a senior at Dudley High School. Then, at Virginia Tech, Hooker changed to No. 2 on his jersey.
At the University of Tennessee, Hooker bumped it up again, this time going with No. 5, which is now a sacred number in the eyes of many Tennessee fans.
After being drafted by the Detroit Lions in the third round, Hendon Hooker will be wearing No. 12.
While Hooker does have his jersey, though, the former Tennessee quarterback is still working hard to get back on the field after tearing his ACL in November.
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While speaking on the May 9 episode of the Green Light with Chris Long podcast, Lions head coach Dan Campbell gave an update on his expectations for Hooker’s rookie season in the league. It’s clear to tell that despite all the upside that Hooker has, the Lions aren’t in any sort of rush to get him on the field during his first season in the league.
“Really, this is a redshirt year for him,” Campbell said about the podcast. “He’s got to get this leg right first and then he’ll learn under Jared [Goff], and then let’s see what happens. If he can eventually become your two or maybe down the road, later on, it’s more than that, but it’s going to be a long time.”
Campbell explained that the Lions went into the off-season with ideas of bringing in a quarterback, and that current quarterback Jared Goff was made aware of the draft pick before Hooker was selected.
“We did go into this offseason saying that we wanted to bring in some competition at quarterback,” Campbell said. “We didn’t know exactly where that might be, who that would be at the time. But we did like [Hendon] Hooker. We knew he was coming off the injury but there was something about him that was appealing. He is very mature. He looks the part. He’s got a big arm. He’s just got to learn how to play in the NFL. But he is a pro now.”
“I liked the fact that he was older,” Campbell continued on to say about the 25-year-old rookie. “We all kind of liked the fact he was older. I think you want your quarterback to be a little more mature – they’ve got a lot on their plate. But to be able to get him where we did, we traded back twice, and we were still able to acquire him. We felt like everything played out just the right way for us.”
It doesn’t seem like the Lions are in a rush to get Hooker on the field. But it is clear to see that head coach Dan Campbell and the staff are fired up about the player that he could eventually become down the road.
