Tennessee fans couldn’t help but wince when quarterback Hendon Hooker took a hard shot to his midsection in the second quarter of the Vols’ 40-13 win over LSU.
Hooker never left the game, but he looked shaken for a moment and his accuracy seemed to wane for a couple of plays following the big hit, which came off of an LSU defensive back blitz that wasn’t picked up.
“I’m feeling good,” Hooker said when asked about the play, adding that it was just a clean shot.
That was perhaps the one time that the Vols couldn’t score at will. It took a bit for Hooker to catch his breath. Still, he was encouraging his teammates as always.
“We had some dry spells through the game,” Hooker said when asked about his attitude during the game in Baton Rouge, “just being positive and being able to encourage my teammates and being a good leader.”
Once again, Tennessee’s fan base showed that they were ready to travel to support what is quickly becoming an all-time, fan-favorite team. UT fans were a strong presence in Tiger Stadium throughout the game.
“Shout out to Vol Nation for making that trip down here and showing up in a huge way,” Hooker said. “I feel like their presence was definitely the difference in the game.”
In fact, there were plenty of differences in the game. One came on the first play in which LSU fumbled the opening kickoff, which Tennessee recovered.
“Huge. Huge,” Hooker said, reverting back to his repetitive ways. “The offense loves to start the game with the ball. For that to happen and we get to go out there with a short field to work with, we were extremely pumped.”
The Vols scored on that drive and took an early 7-0 lead. That could have been the time to relax, thinking it was just Tennessee’s day. Hooker and his teammates made sure that one play, nor one drive, defined them.
“We just wanted to come back off of that could nine,” Hooker said. “We celebrated and we moved on and we executed like we wanted to.”
The Vols did both of those things. They executed. They celebrated. They can now turn their attention to Alabama.
