Hendon Hooker wins starting quarterback job at Tennessee

Updated Oct. 4, 2021 4:03 p.m. ET

Associated Press

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Hendon Hooker has played well enough to finally earn the starting quarterback job at Tennessee.

Volunteers coach Josh Heupel had left open the issue of who his starter is the past five weeks after initially naming Joe Milton, a redshirt junior transfer from Michigan. But an injury to Milton opened the job up to Hooker, a redshirt senior transfer from Virginia Tech.

Hooker's performance in a

“As much as anything, it's great comfort and understanding what we're doing, the tempo,” Heupel said.

“He's really in control of what's going on at the line of scrimmage. He's been really decisive with the football. That comes from him having his eyes in the right place.”

In the

“He was extremely accurate the other day,” Heupel said. “... Seeing things clearly allows you to get your body in the right spot.”

Hooker certainly has size at 6-foot-4 and 218 pounds. He also is 2-1 as a starter for Tennessee (3-2, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) after going 8-7 as a starter at Virginia Tech in 2018 and 2019. He had 2,894 passing yards and 22 touchdowns for Virginia Tech and rushed 247 times for 1,033 yards and 15 TDs.

He played well in the second half of the Pitt loss. He followed that up with a win over

Milton was named the starter after preseason camp, but he was hurt in the

___

More AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25. Sign up for the AP’s college football newsletter: https://apnews.com/cfbtop25