Tennessee QB Hendon Hooker to miss rest of season with torn ACL

Tennessee announced on Sunday that starting quarterback Hendon Hooker has sustained a torn ACL and will miss the remainder of the 2022 season. Hooker suffered the injury in the fourth quarter of the the Volunteers’ 63-38 loss to South Carolina on Saturday and didn’t return to the matchup.

As a fifth-year senior, his collegiate career has officially come to an end as he will now rehab and focus his attention on the 2023 NFL Draft.

After spending three years at Virginia Tech, Hooker transferred to Tennessee following the 2019 season and arrived to Knoxville, TN, just a few short weeks before the school fired former head coach Jeremy Pruitt and hired Josh Heupel to fill his place. The Greesnboro, NC, native excelled in Heupel’s pass-happy offense in 2021, throwing for 2,945 yards, 31 touchdowns, and just three interceptions.

In the 2022 campaign, Hooker was at the center of Tennessee’s re-emergence on the national stage. He established himself as a top Heisman Trophy contender, throwing for 3,135 yards and 32 total touchdowns prior to going down with the injury on Saturday. Of course, he forever cemented himself as a Tennessee legend by helping end the Volunteers’ 15-year losing streak to rival Alabama.

Backup Joe Milton will take the reigns for the team’s season finale at Vanderbilt this Saturday night.