Leon Hooker would have loved this week. He didn’t take spit off anybody. So, if someone wanted to fade his grandson, Tennessee quarterback Hendon Hooker, there would be a literal fight brewing this week of the LSU game.
Leon was maybe 5-foot-9, 160 pounds. He made furniture frames in a small North Carolina town where folks sometimes grew their own food. But watch out at Little League games. He’d get in the face of umpires.
Once, when his son didn’t play the season opener quarterbacking for North Carolina A&T, Leon told him to go back to his dorm, pack up his stuff. They were leaving.
“My mom talked him out of it,” said Alan Hooker, son of Leon and father of Hendon.
“He would look for confrontations. If he thought it was injustice, he was going to deal with it.”
That’s why it’s a shame there is a key witness missing to what’s happening at Tennessee this fall. Leon was a proud, belligerent, loving grandfather to the quarterback leading the nation’s No. 1 offense. He died two years ago at age 78 having witnessed, as it turned out, enough.
“He saw Hendon play [before he died],” Alan said. “He’d tell the world how much better Hendon was than me. He would not let go. He would constantly remind me, ‘You couldn’t make that throw boy. You couldn’t make that throw.'”
Grandpa saw early what the rest of the world is now realizing: Hendon Hooker, a 24-year-old in his sixth year of eligibility, is a living example of perseverance, hard work and … crying. There was lots of crying before Hendon got to this point.
Before we go there, let’s assess. The Virginia Tech transfer is coming off the best game of his career: 349 yards passing, 112 yards rushing and three total touchdowns against Florida. A bye week has let him and Tennessee soak in the adulation prior to the LSU meeting. Tennessee’s first 4-0 start since 2016 has him out front of this quick turnaround under second-year coach Josh Heupel.
No. 8 Tennessee suddenly looks like challenger to Georgia in the SEC East. Its quarterback is certainly a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate almost halfway through the season. But in an SEC loaded with plenty of QB talent this season, Hooker is the only one who can say he leads the nation’s top offense — and that means just about everything.
The Volunteers are exciting again. Neyland Stadium is selling out. There is a hint of the old days in the air by the banks of the…
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