The college football season is an opportunity for NFL Draft prospects to leave an impression on talent evaluators, but the window is quickly closing as November arrives. Each of the coming weeks is increasingly important as opportunities dwindle. Some of college football’s best programs are led by NFL-caliber quarterback talent and they are broken down below, as we size up the draft stock for each:
Hendon Hooker, Tennessee: Stock Up
Stats: (44-6 win over No. 19 Kentucky): 19-of-25 passes completed, 245 yards, 3 TD; 10 carries, 23 yards, 1 TD
A lot of credit probably belongs to Tennessee’s offensive design, but Hooker is an efficient player with supreme control. The Volunteers do a great job of putting defenses in uncomfortable positions just to see how they react. On the first two plays of the game, the Volunteers ran the same play that led to a missed tackle and consequently a touchdown on the first play last season against the Wildcats. Kentucky did a much better job of tackling in space but Tennessee found a new situation to exploit — inexperienced safety play.
On the first of two Jalin Hyatt touchdowns, Kentucky had a linebacker in the flat with safety help over the top. The young safety bit down on an in-breaking pattern leaving Hyatt wide open for his 13th touchdown reception of the season:
Hooker certainly missed some throws but did a good job of moving the chains.
Max Duggan, TCU: Stock Up
Stats: (41-31 Win at West Virginia): 16-of-28 passes completed, 341 yards, 3 TD, 1 INT; 6 carries, 2 yards
CBS Sports’ Garrett Podell, a proud TCU alum, cornered me in a digital Slack room and asked what Duggan had to do to be featured in this weekly article. Clearly, the answer was to lead the Horned Frogs to an undefeated 8-0 start. In all honesty, the senior from Iowa had come close to making the list a few times, but five are featured each week and three of those spots are generally earmarked for Alabama’s Bryce Young, Kentucky’s Will Levis and Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud.
Duggan has average size and mobility for an NFL quarterback. He displays good decision-making as evidenced by his 11:1 touchdown to interception ratio. Duggan is able to keep the ball down but his eyes can tip off defenders to get hands in the passing lanes. According to TruMedia, Duggan ranks No. 6 in quarterback passes batted down (8). Wide receiver Quentin Johnston is one of the biggest mismatches in
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