Kentucky contained Tennessee’s QB two years ago in a bowl game. Can it do so again?
A lot has changed since Kentucky defeated Virginia Tech, 37-30, in the 2019 Belk Bowl, including the homes of both quarterbacks who played in Charlotte that year.
Lynn Bowden is on the Miami Dolphins’ roster. Hendon Hooker, the Hokies’ signal-caller, now suits up for the Tennessee Volunteers, who come to Lexington this week for a renewal of a border rivalry that, for much of the last four decades, has been lopsided in his team’s favor.
Hooker, a graduate transfer like Kentucky’s Will Levis, has been incredibly effective in first-year coach Josh Heupel’s offense. Through eight games he has completed 68.7 percent of his passes this season for 1,578 yards and 17 touchdowns, both statistics higher than any of the season-long totals he produced in a Virginia Tech uniform. He’s thrown just two interceptions, and brings into the game a passer efficiency rating of 179.1 — fourth best in the nation and highest in the Southeastern Conference. He leads the league with a 9.5 average in yards per attempt.
The former Hokie can run, too: he’s fourth among league quarterbacks with 419 rushing yards and has scored four times on the ground. In other words, he sounds like a nightmarish matchup for a Kentucky defense that, in its last two outings, was feasted on by Stetson Bennett (14-of-20 for 250 yards and three TDs) and Will Rogers (36-of-39 for 344 yards and a score). Neither of those quarterbacks put much pressure on Kentucky with their legs; even if a secondary that’s lately struggled contains Hooker’s arm, the first and second levels of the defense will need to have their heads on a swivel.
“Just knowing when you have him and when, in your run fits, you have to account for the quarterback,” linebacker DeAndre Square said when asked about the toughest part of taking on an assignment like Hooker. “A couple of players do each run fit. It’s just knowing when it’s your time, ‘cause you don’t want to be the guy who turns around and sees him running 50 yards down the field.”
Hooker has rushed for a touchdown in three of the Vols’ last four games (the exception was their last time out at Alabama) and had a season-best 108 yards on 23 carries in a loss to Ole Miss. He’s had 60-plus rushing yards in four games, but Kentucky, statistically, is the best rush defense he’ll have seen after Alabama, which kept him to 26 yards on 12 rushes.
UK defensive coordinator Brad White, who was in his first season leading the Cats’ defense in 2019, says Hooker’s maturity and comfort in the pocket has improved since that Belk Bowl showdown. In that game, Hooker was held to 110 yards and two touchdowns on 12-of-22 passing and 50 yards on 12 rushes, the last of which ended in a fumble that Jordan Wright returned for a game-ending touchdown.
“He’s making the right decisions,” White said Wednesday. “He’s making big plays in the air, and then when it’s time for him to make plays with his legs, he can do it on the designed QB runs and also on broken plays. When the pocket’s starting to collapse, he puts stress on you because he can break the pocket. He’s got a really nice arm, so he can still throw it down the field. You gotta stay attached to these receivers, but then if you get too attached to the receivers, he can make one guy miss and make a big play on a scramble. He puts a lot of stress on you in a lot of different ways.”
Velus Jones and Cedric Tillman have been Hooker’s preferred targets. Jones barely leads the team with 31 receptions for 453 yards; Tillman has 446 on 30 catches, and each has caught four touchdowns. JaVonta Payton, a Mississippi State transfer, has 288 yards on just 12 receptions, and leads the Vols with five receiving touchdowns.
Tiyon Evans, the top-ranked junior-college running back in the country last year, has been a strong complement to Hooker. He’s rushed for 512 yards on 80 carries and has scored at least once in every game except at Alabama. He’s not been too involved as a receiver, but did have three catches for 71 yards and a touchdown in the Vols’ loss to Florida.
Kentucky could look to render one of the two ineffective on Saturday to force the other to beat it. In the Belk Bowl, running back Deshawn McClease had quite a day — 126 yards and a touchdown on just 11 rushes — while Hooker struggled at the end to put the Hokies ahead. He’s two years older, and operating in a higher-tempo offense with different personnel, so generating a game plan based on past success isn’t wise; but it could at least provide some pointers, and a confidence boost, to a squad in need of a pick-me-up after a bad display in Starkville.
“If the coverage is good downfield, then he’ll be looking to escape somewhere,” defensive end Josh Paschal said. “If there’s no lanes to escape to, then he’ll be in trouble. So that’s what we’re going to have to focus on.”
This story was originally published November 4, 2021 at 7:53 AM.
