Hendon Hooker, NFL Draft Prospect

We continue this Zach Gelb show inside the Phoenix Convention Center on Radio Row, and how about this product in front of me? Bush's Best Baked Beans, but look at it.

Hendon Hookers Baked Beans. Hendon, how you been? Doing good, doing good. What is this process like for you? Well, first off, how are you feeling after the ACL injury? Yeah, feeling great. Seven weeks out starting today, so actually being able to move around and be out of those crutches and do some more explosive drills, get back to my regular self. I'm looking forward to getting this brace off as a next step and moving around a lot more.

Now, it's only been two, three months in the process, like you were saying. If you had to kind of put a percentage on it, do you have any idea when you say be yourself how close you are to that? Mm-hmm.

I would say right now I'm like 40 to 50 percent, so once the next two weeks kind of goes by and I can get into some more running movement and jumping and things of that nature, I'll get back to kind of 60, 70. I know it was an unfortunate end for your season individually and also for the team, but this year, as a college football fan, it was awesome to see Tennessee get back to where they should be. Yeah, yeah, and that's what we were striving for and that's what I set out to do when I committed to Tennessee out of the transfer portal, was to kind of be a piece of that puzzle and come in and make some plays and leave my guys while doing it. The Rocky Top song. Mm-hmm. For someone that did not go to Tennessee, Tennessee's not my team, after you guys beat Alabama, all I could do the entire week is like, good ol' Rocky Top.

Woo! That's got to be stuck in your head 24-7. Yeah, for sure. I mean, that's what we want to do, you know, anytime that we get anyone, you know, in our house at, you know, Neyland Stadium or if we're on the road, you know, we try to turn it into a home game for us. But, you know, anytime you hear Rocky Top, that means we're scoring. So, we're trying to score and get that stuck in your head when you're leaving the stadium. That game against Alabama at Rocky Top really just defined, like, the pageantry of college football because to see that party after the game and Josh Heupel celebrating, you guys celebrating, what's the lasting memory for you in all that madness, which it's probably just a blur when you have all those fans on the field? Yeah, I remember, you know, telling my equipment managers, I handed them my helmet. Before the kick even went in, I said, man, the game's over.

Wow, really? Yeah, I said, the game's over. Y'all can wrap everything up, make sure that no one trips over while they're rushing the field.

And, you know, Chase McGrath, you know, kicked the field goal through. And I rushed on the field and the first, like, three to five seconds, I realized, like, man, I need to get to the locker room. They're going to be, you know, acting wild down here. So, you know, got to safety and ran straight to my mom, hugged her. And I was looking for the rest of my friends. And I asked my mom, where's the rest of the family? And she said that everybody rushed the field looking for you. And I said, oh, no, they shouldn't have did that.

They should have just waited for me. But just, it was my father's birthday that day, too. So, yeah, being able to give him that gift, you know, winning that ballgame and going out to eat after that, that was the most memorable thing for me. Henson Hooker as an NFL quarterback will be? You know, a great leader, you know, extremely smart, taking care of the ball per usual, the ball as a team. You know, a playmaker and very elite.

I have to apologize to you, by the way, because you see that man over there. He's my producer. Hot take. Hickey, we call him. He's the motion of all motions. Whenever he falls in love with the team, they end up losing. And I have a tweet here.

This is from October 29th, 2022. He was a little bit banged up when he tweeted this out. So it's not the greatest grammar. And he messed up a word to not sure who heads to hear this. He meant to say who needs to hear this, but Tennessee is the best team in Tennessee. He's the best team in the country.

Can't wait for them to beat Georgia next week. He's the reason why you guys lost to Georgia. I wouldn't say he's the reason we got into the red zone in in in the 36 times, and we didn't score. So that's on us, but that's the mush. That's the jinx. That's what happens. Things that never happened throughout the season start to happen when he picks your football team.

It's all good. We're going to break that we're going to break. Coach Kiki and Hendon. Hooker becoming best friends inside radio Rob. We'll talk about Bush's best baked beans in just a second. So this journey for you now. When did it sink in on what you accomplished this year? Yeah, really, when I got hurt and had surgery out in LA and just had time to reflect on everything, sitting in that hotel room with my brother, I'm sure he got tired of me ordering him around. And he kind of gave it to me a couple of times, like, man, I'm not doing this anymore. And I said, I understand. I understand, man. I'm probably being a terrible big brother, just ordering you around. But that's what you're here for. You're my little brother. And really just sitting back and watching ball in my hotel room and like, man, I had a pretty good season.

Didn't end how I wanted it to, but all I can do is control what I can control and have a great attitude. I'm a Heisman voter. I cover the Heisman each and every year. And when I went to the ceremony the Friday before they do the media availability with all the finalists, I think every single person asked in the room, why isn't Hendon Hooker here? Were you surprised you weren't a Heisman Trophy finalist?

Yeah, very surprised. Especially I put up a lot of good numbers and made a lot of pivotal points in this last season to showcase why I should be a Heisman finalist. But all those guys deserve to be there as well. And I admire all their games as well.

So I mean, I had lots of them. Who's the best quarterback in the draft this year? Me.

Why is that? Just what I bring to the table. There's been plenty of times where I've competed at the highest level in the hardest conference of college football and delivered in crunch time, whether that be late in the game, early in the game, making hard throws, making tough decisions, tough runs, getting the team, rallying the team back if we're down.

I've shown it, and I'll continue to show it at a high level. What has been the kind of reports that you're getting back on where people project you to go and get drafted? I mean, nobody's really going to know where you're going to get drafted until draft day. So I take everything as a grain of salt. Now these projections and stuff.

Is it tough to block out that stuff? Because there's nothing more that you could do in this process. I think this process sometimes is so stupid. People don't even evaluate the tape anymore. It's like, what do you do with the combine? A guy doesn't do anything for four years, runs a quick 40 at a combine, then he goes in the second round. To me, I know it's a process.

I know it's a business. I think the interviews are really important. But sometimes teams ask you just dumb questions in this process.

I mean, it's tough to ignore it. But I embrace everything in control that I can control. I'm extremely confident in my abilities and my football IQ and the way that I lead and the effect that I have on people.

And that's all I can do. So approaching every day ready to work and motivated. And I got the biggest chip on my shoulder that I've ever had. And whenever I get the opportunity to go out there and showcase who I am and what I do on the field, I'm going to showcase it. And everyone is going to be, if they're pleased, if they're not, they're not.

But I'm going to be extremely excited just to get back out there and showcase it. I know you said you're the best quarterback in the draft. And you should have that mentality at the level that you competed at. When you look at a Bryce Young and also a CJ Stroud, what do you kind of, I don't want to say admire, but appreciate what they do at the quarterback position. Yeah, those are two extremely special guys.

I love their games. CJ throws the ball with extreme accuracy. And you can see him on the field.

He's a field general, for sure. Bryce, he's got that swagger to him. Extremely confident. He's got that dog in him. Yeah, he's extremely confident. And he's going to talk his talk every time. I remember talking to him at the Manning Academy, passing academy, and telling him, like, Bryce, we're going to get y'all this year.

We're going to beat y'all this year. And he was just laughing. He was just laughing at how he always does, very humble. It was fun competing against him at a high level. I wish I could have actually talked to him after the game. But since everyone rushed the field, I didn't get a chance to holler at him.

But those are two special guys. Hendon Hooker, what do you think the biggest misconception is about? Because you hear strengths and weaknesses in this process. I always just wonder from the player. What do you think your biggest weakness is? I wouldn't call it a weakness. I try to maximize every play. And sometimes that might result in a huge play. Sometimes that might result in loss of yards or something of that nature. But I just try to extend and make the most of every play.

So I wouldn't call it a weakness. But that's not a thing. All right, tell us what you're doing here today. I love this. Yeah. Bush's Best Baked Beans. This may be the best item I've seen on Radio Row this week, because it's your brand, the Hendon brand. Yes, sir.

Yes, sir. So we got the Hendon Baked Beans. We have a recipe in my family that's been passed down. My dad just finally gave it to me this summer.

I had been asking him for it for a while. You meet in Alabama, you get the recipe at the courthouse. Right. Well, that was before we beat Alabama. Oh, OK. Oh, in the summer.

Yeah, in the summer. So he gave it to me like 4th of July. And I cooked it for my friends. We all grilled out.

Joe Milton, he's a good cook. So he hopped on the grill, made chicken steak, hot dogs, hamburgers. And I made some beans. And Joe made some dirty rice.

And it went great with his dirty rice. So it's special to be able to partner with them in eating beans with my family for so long at Christmas, Thanksgiving, and big events. I'm sure my dad will whip some up for my family Super Bowl Sunday back in North Carolina. Yeah, like if I come over to your household, outside of Busch's Best Hendon Baked Beans, what else is on the dinner table? What else is on the dinner table? This side really evaluates quarterbacks by the way, what you're eating. It's going to be something green, because my mom is going to make sure that those vegetables are being consumed. The TV-12 diet comes from your mother, we get it.

Yeah, and that's how I got so tall. So it's going to be every type of meat that you can imagine. It's going to be grilled chicken, fried chicken, steak. There's going to be ribs.

It's going to be some type of rice, whether that be jasmine, saffron, dirty rice, some type of rice. And then it's going to be, just depending on the event. This is a buffet. No, every time. It's going to be a buffet every time. OK, say less.

I'm talking to Gudelli. You're not playing on Thanksgiving that Thursday. I'm coming over, all right? I'm sure if I'm playing or if I'm not playing, there's still going to be a feast somewhere in the hotel or somewhere that's going to be prepared to feast. Do you think you could play week one?

Yeah, I'll be ready to rock and roll by camp time. So eager to get going with any team that picks me, I'm eager to learn and soak up information from coaches, vets, anyone that I'm around. Last thing I want to ask you, growing up as a kid, who were the quarterbacks that you really watched that, I don't want to say shaped your game, but that you took things from and just really liked the way that they played football? Yeah, I was a huge Vince Young fan. Huge Vince Young. I got Vince Young action figures. I asked for his jersey, but I didn't get it. But I asked for his jersey growing up.

I used to wear number 10. I wanted to be just like Vince Young. He was a big quarterback. I wanted to be a tall quarterback as well. I wasn't always the tallest or the biggest or the fastest growing up.

And he had just a whippy arm. I always admired that. And I remember him, Vince Young, I'm sorry, him, Reggie Bush, CJ Spiller, they used to do this Future Stars camp. And they would go to different cities and interact with the kids. And every kid out there would ask them for the autograph.

And they would sign every shirt. And I admire that a lot, just them taking the time out and coming out there to little Greensboro or High Point, North Carolina. And being a part of those camps, they really impacted my life. Well, it was great to watch you play football this year. I thought you were one of the more inspiring stories in college football throughout the year. And good luck. And we'll see when you get drafted, hopefully early. Yes, sir.

Yes, sir, very early. Kevin Matt talks with Matt Hardy. There's nothing like a wrestling fan, you know, for better or for worse. How do you handle that, though? We're talking about people talking about your family, what they don't know about your family or your brother or you. How does one handle that from a day to day basis? Something I joke about with the Young Bucks all the time. I said, if you would Vanity Search Matt Hardy on Twitter, I said, after you got through 100 replies, you'd want to quit the business and never be seen again.

It's just, you just learn to deal with it. You know what I mean? It's the Kick Rocks Wrestling Podcast with Evan T. Mack.

Subscribe now on the Odyssey app or ever you get your podcast. Evan Mack talks with Matt Hardy. There's nothing like a wrestling fan, you know, for better or for worse. How do you handle that, though? We're talking about people talking about your family, what they don't know about your family or your brother or you. How does one handle that from a day to day basis? Something I joke about with the Young Bucks all the time. I said, if you would Vanity Search Matt Hardy on Twitter, I said, after you got through 100 replies, you'd want to quit the business and never be seen again.

It's just, you just learn to deal with it. You know what I mean? It's the Kick Rocks Wrestling Podcast with Evan T. Mack.

Subscribe now on the Odyssey app or ever you get your podcast. Evan Mack talks with Matt Hardy. There's nothing like a wrestling fan, you know, for better or for worse. How do you handle that, though? We're talking about people talking about your family, what they don't know about your family or your brother or you. How does one handle that from a day to day basis? Something I joke about with the Young Bucks all the time. I said, if you would Vanity Search Matt Hardy on Twitter, I said, after you got through 100 replies, you'd want to quit the business and never be seen again. It's just, you just learn to deal with it. You know what I mean? It's the Kick Rocks Wrestling Podcast with Evan T. Mack. Subscribe now on the Odyssey app or ever you get your podcast.