Clay Hendrix will get his first crack at coaching against Tennessee this Saturday, and the Furman head coach already has one old quarterback memory tied to the Volunteers.
The game that was supposed to happen in 2020 never got played because of COVID, so this weekend marks the first time Hendrix will actually be on the sideline opposite Tennessee. But during his game-week press conference, he went back to a 2019 matchup against Virginia Tech and the backup quarterback he thought should have been on the field more.
That quarterback was Hendon Hooker.
Two years before Hooker transferred to Tennessee, he was backing up for the Hokies, and Hendrix said he was puzzled even then by how little Hooker was used. Furman nearly stole that game anyway, but Virginia Tech held on for a 24-17 win after a controversial onside kick ruling late. Hooker never put up any stats and played just one snap.
“I always say in these games, who can your defense matchup with?” Hendrix said.
“Yeah, you’ve got to try to score points, but it’s who can your defense matchup with, and are they challenged at quarterback? Virginia Tech was challenged at quarterback.
I made this comment, told a guy the other day, I remember standing over that day, and if you remember, they were playing two guys. I thought the second one was a lot better than the first one, but they weren’t playing him.
His name was Hendon Hooker. And he ended up at Tennessee and was great.
I was thinking, why are they not playing that guy? We had every opportunity to win that game and didn’t get it done.
We had an onside kick taken away from us at the end.”
This time around, Tennessee will hand the keys to true freshman Faizon Brandon. Hendrix said he doesn’t expect Brandon to have a rough afternoon, even if Furman tries to make things uncomfortable. He called the Vols’ young quarterback a ’12-star recruit’ and said Tennessee’s coaches will put him in good spots.
Hendrix also pointed to another freshman debut he knows well. In 2018, Trevor Lawrence made his first Clemson appearance against Furman, and the Tigers rolled 48-7. Lawrence went 9 of 14 for 137 yards and threw three touchdowns without an interception.
“And golly, we played Trevor Lawrence in his first game,” Hendrix said. “I thought the same thing that day.
They’re going to need to play him. Now, they’ve had four first-round picks on the defensive line and all kinds of players, but I thought for me, that’s what it comes down to.
Can you matchup and are they struggling at quarterback? I don’t think they’ll struggle (at quarterback).
I don’t think Tennessee is going to struggle at quarterback.”
Tennessee and Furman are set to kick off at 3:30 p.m. ET, with the game airing on SECN+.
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