Hendon Hooker and Jalin Hyatt have been dominating opposing teams and the stat sheet all year, on pace to shatter records all while the Tennessee Volunteers remain undefeated.
It sounds eerily similar to what Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase did back in 2019, leading LSU to an record-breaking, undefeated season that ended with a national title.
While Hooker hasn’t quite put up the same video-game-like numbers that Burrow did to this point, he isn’t far off, and he’s quickly picking up steam. He’s completing over 71 percent of his passes, with 21 touchdown passes and just one interception.
Hyatt, on the other hand, is quickly catching up to Chase’s 20 touchdown mark with 14 already (already a single-season school record), including five against Alabama. No opposing defense seems to have an answer for him as a deep threat, and he’ll continue to play a key role in the Vols’ success, as well as Hooker’s Heisman Trophy campaign.
Perhaps NFL teams will be able to get their own version of the Burrow and Chase connection in the 2023 NFL draft, and they won’t even have to wait a year to reunite the pair, as the former Bayou Bengals experienced. Though it is likely that whatever team wants them will need to spend a pair of first-round picks, should they keep up their current trend of performances.
While Hooker and Hyatt might not the peak NFL prospects that Burrow and Chase were, they might be close enough for a team to see visions of similar potential at the next level.
