Hendon Hooker Snubbed From Controversial Top 10 List

Yesterday, PFF College released their preseason College Football Top 10 Quarterbacks list.

The list is headed by reigning Heisman trophy winner in Bryce Young, something the college football world can mostly agree on.

After that, though, the rest of the rankings have been under an overwhelming amount of scrutiny from college football media and fans alike.

A couple minutes of scrolling through the quote tweets and replies should do the trick of witnessing the loads of distaste for the list.

Several of those negative reactions to the list mention signal callers that they believe were snubbed from the list, including Arkansas' KJ Jefferson, Mississippi State's Will Rogers, Utah's Cameron Rising, Kentucky's Will Levis, and, perhaps most of all, Tennessee's Hendon Hooker.

There is only ten quarterbacks who can make the cut for a top-10 list, of course, but it is surprising to see all four of the mentioned SEC quarterbacks miss the cut. Especially in favor of Kedon Slovis, who is in a new system and struggled last year with an 11-8 touchdown to interception ratio, Grayson McCall, whose numbers weren't as good as Hooker's a year ago despite playing in the Sun Belt, Dillon Gabriel, who is coming off an injury and has never played in a P5 conference, and even Spencer Rattler, who is ranked at a staggering No. 3 overall after his incredibly hyped up 2021 season went haywire.

Hendon Hooker put together a highly productive first season in orange and white, throwing for 2,945 on a 68.2 completion percentage with 31 scores and only three picks. Hooker was effective on the ground as well, rushing for over 600 yards and five more touchdowns.

The Vols signal caller should only improve in his upcoming final collegiate season, as the former Hokie looks to greatly improve his draft stock in year two under Josh Heupel.

It remains to be seen if Hooker will be able to stack up with the elite of the elite quarterbacks in college football. But assuming the Greensboro, North Carolina, native brings an even better product to the football field than he did last season, it's hard to imagine Hooker not being in that second tier of signal callers behind CJ Stroud and Bryce Young.

In addition to the uproar from accounts interacting with the list that declare the quarterbacks mentioned previously were snubbed, multiple Twitter users were taken aback by Spencer Rattler's ranking above C.J. Stroud. Stroud, who is entering his third year for the Buckeyes, is among the top two in preseason Heisman odds along with 2021 Heisman trophy winner Bryce Young. In addition, Stroud is an undisputed top three pick in 2023 NFL Mock Drafts, making the ranking of Rattler above Stroud all the more head-scratching.

The snubbed quarterbacks, Stroud's surprisingly low ranking and Kedon Slovis' designation as a USC quarterback, despite now playing for Pitt, has caused all sorts of commotion on social media among college football fans.

And for good reason. But as always, with any preseason rankings/lists, time will tell.

For Hendon Hooker, his sequel to a stellar first season at Tennessee begins on September 1 in Neyland Stadium, where the Vols will host Ball State to kickoff year two of the Josh Heupel era.

Photo Credit: Caitie McMekin

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