Josh Heupel Discusses Hendon Hooker's Heisman Candidacy

Josh Heupel finished as the runner-up to Chris Weinke for the Heisman Trophy in 2000 in a highly contested matchup. Weinke had 369 first-place votes and 1,628 points; Heupel, who led the Sooners to the title game against the Seminoles by passing for 3,392 yards and 20 touchdowns, had 286 first-place votes and 1,552 points.

Since then, Heupel served as a quarterback graduate assistant at Oklahoma when Jason White won the 2004 Heisman. He also served as the quarterbacks coach in Norman in 2008 when Sam Bradford won the prestigious award. So, it is safe to say that Heupel knows what a Heisman Trophy Winning Quarterback looks like. 

On Monday, Heupel discussed the candidacy of his current Heisman hopeful quarterback, and he thinks very highly of it. 

"I haven't gotten a chance to watch every quarterback across this country and watch every rep," Heupel said on Monday afternoon. "He is playing at as high a level as I have ever had anybody, and I've had Heisman guys. He is in complete command of what we are doing. You look at the efficiency of how he is playing, the ability to take care of the football, the dynamic plays that he has made with his arm and with his feet. We don't look like we do offensively without him. 

Heupel feels like Hooker is certainly deserving to be in the conversation, but there is still a couple of pivotal weeks ahead. 

"He certainly is deserving of being in that conversation," Heupel added. "Have to go play the right way here the last couple of weeks and hope he has that opportunity. I believe he should." 

Hooker is coming off of a stellar 405-yard and four touchdown performance on Saturday against Missouri. With contests against South Carolina and Vanderbilt coming up, Hooker has ample opportunity to improve his stock. 

When asked on Monday, Hooker was appreciative of the question but more appreciative of his teammates for helping him get to this point. 

"I’m very appreciative of that, very blessed to be in that situation. But I wouldn’t be in any of that without my teammates and coaches and support system," Hooker said. Just concentrating on going 1-0 every week. When someone approaches me with it, I have the same answer: We just want to win ball games. Any accolade that comes with that is cool, but yeah, just making sure that we’re winning ball games and continuing to build a brotherhood here at Tennessee is what I’m focused on."