We just witnessed the greatest season by a UT QB not named Manning

#1

perico

"Thenneshee willsh be bath..."- Dr. Lou Holtz
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#1
What’s overshadowed by an inconsistent team this year is this:

Statistically speaking, there isn’t much room for debate. Hendon’s 2021 season is the greatest by a Vol QB not named Peyton. His final numbers for the year are just insane, and he achieved these without any meaningful snaps in our opening game against BGSU to inflate his statistics. He finished the year with roughly 3000 passing yards (2,945 to be exact), 31 TDs and 3 Ints. He had the highest yards per pass attempt in program history (better than Peyton in any of his 4 seasons), and still completed 68.1% of his passes (Manning’s best was 64.3%).

Here are some comparison numbers. I’m leaving out some of the greats such as Holloway, as their numbers are pedestrian due to the offenses they ran at the time and don’t reflect on their greatness as a QB:

Single season best Yards per attempt:

Hendon Hooker in 2021: 9.8
Clausen in 2001: 8.4
Manning in 1996: 8.7
Martin in 1998: 8.1
Kelly in 1991: 8.3
Ainge in 2006: 8.6
Bray in 2012: 8.0
Shuler in 1993: 8.3
Dobbs in 2016: 8.3



Highest single season completion pct:

Hooker in 2021: 68.1%
Kelly in 1991: 63.1%
Shuler in 1993: 64.6%
Peyton In 1995: 64.2%
Martin in 1998: 57.4%
Clausen in 2001: 64.1%
Ainge in 2006: 67.0%
Crompton in 2009: 58.3%
Bray in 2011: 59.5%
Dobbs in 2016: 63.0% (63.6% in 2015 with 6 starts)
JG in 2018: 62.2%



Best TD to Int Ratio in a season

Hooker in 2021: 31 TDs: 3 INTs
Kelly in 1991: 15 TDs, 15 INTs (Great QB, but dude was an INT machine)
Shuler in 1993: 25:8
Manning in 1997: 36:11
Martin in 1998: 19:6
Clausen in 2003: 27/9
Ainge in 2007: 31:10
Crompton in 2009: 27:13
Bray in 2012: 34:12
Dobbs in 2016: 27/12

Only Joshua Dobbs had more rushing yards in a season (2015 and 2016).
 
#2
#2
I know I'm being a Debbie Downer, but here's another angle:

Hendon Hooker in 2021: 7 wins
Clausen in 2001: 11 wins
Manning in 1996: 10 wins
Martin in 1998: 13 wins and a NC
Kelly in 1991: 9 wins
Ainge in 2006: 9 wins
Bray in 2012: 5 wins
Shuler in 1993: 10 wins
Dobbs in 2016: 9 wins

QBs are the only position judged both by their wins and how they affect W/L. I think we're a 5 win team without Hooker and a 9-10 win team with better (or at least more consistent) QB play.

Without Tillman, Hooker doesn't do much. Without basically ANY WR, Purdue's walk-on QB still absolutely trashed us. That's the difference IMO. Hooker himself is very inconsistent. He has a spectacular 1st Quarter, bad 2nd Quarter, usually a good couple of drives in the 3rd Quarter and his 4th Quarter is usually his worst. That's not good for a QB.
 
#3
#3
I know I'm being a Debbie Downer, but here's another angle:

Hendon Hooker in 2021: 7 wins
Clausen in 2001: 11 wins
Manning in 1996: 10 wins
Martin in 1998: 13 wins and a NC
Kelly in 1991: 9 wins
Ainge in 2006: 9 wins
Bray in 2012: 5 wins
Shuler in 1993: 10 wins
Dobbs in 2016: 9 wins

QBs are the only position judged both by their wins and how they affect W/L. I think we're a 5 win team without Hooker and a 9-10 win team with better (or at least more consistent) QB play.

Without Tillman, Hooker doesn't do much. Without basically ANY WR, Purdue's walk-on QB still absolutely trashed us. That's the difference IMO. Hooker himself is very inconsistent. He has a spectacular 1st Quarter, bad 2nd Quarter, usually a good couple of drives in the 3rd Quarter and his 4th Quarter is usually his worst. That's not good for a QB.
I know I'm being a Debbie Downer, but here's another angle:

Hendon Hooker in 2021: 7 wins
Clausen in 2001: 11 wins
Manning in 1996: 10 wins
Martin in 1998: 13 wins and a NC
Kelly in 1991: 9 wins
Ainge in 2006: 9 wins
Bray in 2012: 5 wins
Shuler in 1993: 10 wins
Dobbs in 2016: 9 wins

QBs are the only position judged both by their wins and how they affect W/L. I think we're a 5 win team without Hooker and a 9-10 win team with better (or at least more consistent) QB play.

Without Tillman, Hooker doesn't do much. Without basically ANY WR, Purdue's walk-on QB still absolutely trashed us. That's the difference IMO. Hooker himself is very inconsistent. He has a spectacular 1st Quarter, bad 2nd Quarter, usually a good couple of drives in the 3rd Quarter and his 4th Quarter is usually his worst. That's not good for a QB.

Bray never won more than 6 games in a season, so he must have really sucked.

Hooker completes 61.0% of his passes in the 4th quarter, and 66% of his passes in the 2nd quarter. It means that Hooker is out of this world in the 1st quarter, rather than pedestrian in 2nd and 4th quarters.
 
#4
#4
I know I'm being a Debbie Downer, but here's another angle:

Hendon Hooker in 2021: 7 wins
Clausen in 2001: 11 wins
Manning in 1996: 10 wins
Martin in 1998: 13 wins and a NC
Kelly in 1991: 9 wins
Ainge in 2006: 9 wins
Bray in 2012: 5 wins
Shuler in 1993: 10 wins
Dobbs in 2016: 9 wins

QBs are the only position judged both by their wins and how they affect W/L. I think we're a 5 win team without Hooker and a 9-10 win team with better (or at least more consistent) QB play.

Without Tillman, Hooker doesn't do much. Without basically ANY WR, Purdue's walk-on QB still absolutely trashed us. That's the difference IMO. Hooker himself is very inconsistent. He has a spectacular 1st Quarter, bad 2nd Quarter, usually a good couple of drives in the 3rd Quarter and his 4th Quarter is usually his worst. That's not good for a QB.

And you take away any of the playmakers from any of the QBs listed then they are going to see massive drop off. It’s irrelevant. It’s a lot easier to win 11 games like Clausen when you are throwing to Stallworth, Whitten, and Washington and your defense has Albert Haynesworth and John Henderson as well as an All American RB in the backfield. That’s not to take anything away from Casey’s accomplishments but they all could be inconsistent at times.
 
#5
#5
Bray never won more than 6 games in a season, so he must have really sucked.

Hooker completes 61.0% of his passes in the 4th quarter, and 66% of his passes in the 2nd quarter. It means that Hooker is out of this world in the 1st quarter, rather than pedestrian in 2nd and 4th quarters.

You know what? I'll post Hooker's 4th Quarter stats from this year and 2019 Jarrett Guarantano. You tell me which one is which.

4th Quarter: 52 attempts | 61.5% completion | 472 yards | 9.1YPA | 4 TD | 2 INT | 7 sacks | 155.5 rating
4th Quarter: 50 attempts | 64.0% completion | 501 yards | 10.0YPA | 2 TD | 1 INT | 6 sacks | 157.4 rating

He's All-American in the 1st and then quietly becomes a run-of-the-mill QB in the 4th. That's just.. how it is. Unless you want to say 2019 JG was a good QB?
 
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#8
#8
How can a guy completing over 60 percent of his passes and having a 10:1 td to int ratio be called inconsistent? I mean his passing numbers alone are ridiculously good..then them legs. A guy that lead an offense that AVERAGED almost 40 points a game. The problem is we gave up too many points. Our offense was held to under 24 points only twice this season and never less than 14. The problem is in losses we never held opponents under 30. Hendon Hooker was an outstanding auer for us this year and nationally.
 
#10
#10
I know I'm being a Debbie Downer, but here's another angle:

Hendon Hooker in 2021: 7 wins
Clausen in 2001: 11 wins
Manning in 1996: 10 wins
Martin in 1998: 13 wins and a NC
Kelly in 1991: 9 wins
Ainge in 2006: 9 wins
Bray in 2012: 5 wins
Shuler in 1993: 10 wins
Dobbs in 2016: 9 wins

QBs are the only position judged both by their wins and how they affect W/L. I think we're a 5 win team without Hooker and a 9-10 win team with better (or at least more consistent) QB play.

Without Tillman, Hooker doesn't do much. Without basically ANY WR, Purdue's walk-on QB still absolutely trashed us. That's the difference IMO. Hooker himself is very inconsistent. He has a spectacular 1st Quarter, bad 2nd Quarter, usually a good couple of drives in the 3rd Quarter and his 4th Quarter is usually his worst. That's not good for a QB.
Hey Debbie….
IMO one of the greatest Tennessee QB’s of all time, Condredge Holloway (The Artfulness Dodger), only won 7 games his senior year.
 
#11
#11
It's meaningless to compare today to yesteryear. Put Peyton in this era and his numbers go up substantially. Been teams putting up over 500 points a season since the 80s. UT just finally decided to get with the times. Peytons best year (1997) would rank 3rd this year in the sec. Burrow threw for almost 2000 more yards than Peyton in 97.
 
#13
#13
How can a guy completing over 60 percent of his passes and having a 10:1 td to int ratio be called inconsistent? I mean his passing numbers alone are ridiculously good..then them legs. A guy that lead an offense that AVERAGED almost 40 points a game. The problem is we gave up too many points. Our offense was held to under 24 points only twice this season and never less than 14. The problem is in losses we never held opponents under 30. Hendon Hooker was an outstanding auer for us this year and nationally.

This is why:

1st Quarter: 87 attempts | 70.1% completion | 983 yards | 11.3YPA | 14 TD | 0 INT | 4 sacks | 218 rating
2nd Quarter: 94 attempts | 66.0% completion | 836 yards | 8.9YPA | 9 TD | 1 INT | 13 sacks | 170.1 rating
3rd Quarter: 68 attempts | 73.5% completion | 648 yards | 9.5YPA | 4 TD | 0 INT | 11 sacks | 173 rating
4th Quarter: 52 attempts | 61.5% completion | 472 yards | 9.1YPA | 4 TD | 2 INT | 7 sacks | 155.5 rating

Now for JG's 2019 4th Quarter:
4th Quarter: 50 attempts | 64.0% completion | 501 yards | 10.0YPA | 2 TD | 1 INT | 6 sacks | 157.4 rating

We're blinded by how incredible he is to start the game. His 4th Quarter this year was almost identical to JG's 4th in 2019.
 
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#14
#14
It's meaningless to compare today to yesteryear. Put Peyton in this era and his numbers go up substantially. Been teams putting up over 500 points a season since the 80s. UT just finally decided to get with the times. Peytons best year (1997) would rank 3rd this year in the sec. Burrow threw for almost 2000 more yards than Peyton in 97.

Manning would be on the bench this year just like Harrison Bailey IMO.
 
#15
#15
I know I'm being a Debbie Downer, but here's another angle:

Hendon Hooker in 2021: 7 wins
Clausen in 2001: 11 wins
Manning in 1996: 10 wins
Martin in 1998: 13 wins and a NC
Kelly in 1991: 9 wins
Ainge in 2006: 9 wins
Bray in 2012: 5 wins
Shuler in 1993: 10 wins
Dobbs in 2016: 9 wins

QBs are the only position judged both by their wins and how they affect W/L. I think we're a 5 win team without Hooker and a 9-10 win team with better (or at least more consistent) QB play.

Without Tillman, Hooker doesn't do much. Without basically ANY WR, Purdue's walk-on QB still absolutely trashed us. That's the difference IMO. Hooker himself is very inconsistent. He has a spectacular 1st Quarter, bad 2nd Quarter, usually a good couple of drives in the 3rd Quarter and his 4th Quarter is usually his worst. That's not good for a QB.
Yeah look at every other position on the team. 2021 Vols roster isn’t comparable to any of these rosters except for the ones you left off.
 
#21
#21
If Heupel can stay here and just get a above average QBs that can understand his system, there will be a lot of records broken by this system. Doesn't mean the QBs will be great or better than many that have passed through UT. Just means this system produces great QB stats.
 
#22
#22
How can a guy completing over 60 percent of his passes and having a 10:1 td to int ratio be called inconsistent? I mean his passing numbers alone are ridiculously good..then them legs. A guy that lead an offense that AVERAGED almost 40 points a game. The problem is we gave up too many points. Our offense was held to under 24 points only twice this season and never less than 14. The problem is in losses we never held opponents under 30. Hendon Hooker was an outstanding auer for us this year and nationally.
That is a very lazy assessment of the situation.

We had an average defense that was asked to play too many snaps.

Any defense in the history of college football is going to give up points if they're out there the majority of the game. The reason Nebraska and OU had dominant defenses back in the day was because they were talented AND FRESH because their offense would control the clock AND SCORE.
Our offense scores, but when it doesn't it QUICKLY gives the ball back to the other team for numerous scoring opportunities for them.

YES, im saying the offense was OBVIOUSLY part of the problem.

Count the amount of stops any defense in the top 25 has per game and then count how many Tennessee averages.
It would be very similar.
The difference is NUMBER OF POSSESSIONS for the opposing team....which also bleeds into time of possession.
 
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