Whatever, I have no wish to run down Hooker, I think he's a great player. I do think there is no way in hell you would have this opinion that Hooker was objectively a better transfer last year than Walker if Walker played for us and Hooker played for Michigan State and they had the exact stats/awards, etc., but that's just my opinion, which can never be proven right, nor can yours.
We were 4-6 against P5 teams last year versus 3-7 the year before. Having Bowling Green, South Alabama and Tech on the schedule exaggerates the amount of improvement. ESPN projected us to win 6.6 in the preseason last year and we won 7. Yeah, that's an improvement but lord y'all are easily impressed, you are going to need heart monitors when we get for real good again.
Looks like Michigan State jumped 77, but if we are looking at team improvement as a gauge, wins are the bottom line are they not? They went from 2-5 against P5 teams to 9-2, we went from 3-7 to 4-6. Hooker's a great player, I'm really glad we've got him, but I can't believe you guys are seriously arguing that he is objectively a better and more impactful transfer last year than the dude who won the Walter Camp award and the Doak Walker. That's a coke bottle thick orange glasses homer take, which is fine, but I just explained why I disagreed when I was quite cattily asked by someone else to name another transfer who was "a legitimate Heisman trophy contender". Btw don't read the latest ESPN CFB roundtable on Heisman candidates for next year, they don't even mention Hooker, which is BS in my opinion considering who all they do mention, but it's indicative of my point about what a small blip on the radar Hooker is outside of the state of Tennessee. That's personally fine with me, I'd rather them be surprised by his play, if we go 11-2 or something this year, he'll get plenty of accolades.
Never did, my original response to whether or not Hooker was the best transfer was: "At UT? Yes. In CFB? PROBABLY not." It's an argument for Hooker but it's not likely to gain much traction outside our fanbase. I think Walker was clearly the choice transfer for all of CFB last year and I suspect rather strongly that if he was on our team, these guys would agree.
