Hooker done at UT

Tennessee senior quarterback Hendon Hooker has played his last game for the Vols.

Hooker tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee at South Carolina and is done for the season. He wasn’t hit on the play, but as he rolled out his foot appeared to get stuck in the turf as he lost the ball and went down and had to be helped off the field.

A transfer from Virginia Tech, Hooker became a starter for the Vols last year and this season led them back to national prominence, including victories over Alabama and LSU.

Hooker passed for 3,135 yards and 27 touchdowns this season with 2 interceptions and rushed for 430 yards and 5 touchdowns.

“He’s got an unbelievable legacy that he’s built here, and he’s built it along with his teammates,” Vol Coach Josh Heupel said Monday at his weekly news conference. “He’s been a huge part of setting some solid cornerstone pieces to what this program is and what it’s going to be in the future.”

Heupel said Hooker deserves to be a finalist for the Heisman Trophy.

“Nobody [was] playing at a higher [level] … and you can see that with the way we’ve played and the numbers he’s put up,” Heupel said.

Last season Hooker passed for 2,945 yards and 31 touchdowns with 3 interceptions and rushed for 616 yards and 5 touchdowns.

Joe Milton, a transfer from Michigan who was Tennessee’s starting quarterback to open last season before Hooker took over, will start at Vanderbilt on Saturday