When Mike DeTillier evaluates quarterbacks at the Manning Passing Academy, he isn’t always looking for a five-star arm. Or a five-star physique. Or, as one former Tennessee football coach proclaimed, a five-star heart.
“I want to see the five-star general,” said DeTillier, an NFL draft analyst who has covered the Manning Academy for over two decades.
“I want to see the guy who takes control. You’re talking about working with 15, 16, 17-year old kids. Who takes control of that?
“I’ve been around guys with big-time reputations and it looked like the kids were running the drills instead of the counselor.”
That wasn’t the case with former Tennessee football quarterback Hendon Hooker, DeTillier said.
“He was in control of all personnel,” DeTillier said. “That jumped out at me. He was the five-star general out on the field.”
DeTillier thinks Hooker, who finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting, will be a late first-round draft pick. DeTillier has Hooker as his No. 30 overall prospect and No. 4 quarterback, behind Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud and Will Levis.
Each of his top three quarterbacks will be selected within the first six picks, DeTillier predicts.
DeTillier was not only impressed with Hooker’s leadership, but his skill set.
“His accuracy and touch throwing the football was so good at the Manning Academy,” DeTillier said. “And we saw it throughout the (2022) season. He was just fabulous with his accuracy skills and his touch.”
Hooker suffered a season-ending torn ACL against South Carolina in game 11. He missed Tennessee’s regular-season finale against Vanderbilt and the Orange Bowl against Clemson.
Hooker said he has made a rapid recovery and hopes to compete in contact drills in an NFL camp in July.
“He’s got the most looked at knee around,” DeTillier said.
If not for Hooker’s knee injury, DeTillier thinks Hooker would be drafted in the teens, or perhaps around 20 or 21.
“The injury will have some people skeptical,” DeTillier said.
DeTillier has Levis going within the top six picks, even though his comments about the former Kentucky quarterback weren’t flattering.
“The eye in the sky don’t lie,” DeTillier said. “You can’t hide that. He didn’t play well (in 2022). You can talk about the offensive line wasn’t great and he didn’t have great receivers. I get it. But he was missing open guys. He didn’t feel pressure. That jumped out at me.”
DeTillier described Levis as a “physically tough young man with good size and a real strong arm.” But he said Levis is “erratic with his consistency” throwing the ball.
“He told me when he was at Penn State, ‘They thought I’d be Taysom Hill,'” DeTillier said of a conversation with Levis.
While DeTillier projects Levis to go much higher than Hooker, the NFL analyst said Hooker is very mature and showed resiliency in battling back after not being named Tennessee’ starter to open the 2021 season.
“He changed the fortunes of Tennessee football,” DeTillier said. “It’s just amazing.”
Could Hooker change the fortunes of an NFL team?
Time will tell.
