NEW ORLEANS (October 20, 2022) – As Tennessee star Hendon Hooker has been steadily climbing many people's Heisman Trophy lists, he is also taking over the Allstate Sugar Bowl's Manning Award Quarterback of the Week honor. The Volunteer senior has earned the honor for the third time this year thanks to his tremendous performances and the unwavering support of the Tennessee fan base. He earned the honor over seven other Manning Award Stars of the Week in the Allstate Sugar Bowl's Facebook contest.

Facebook Voting
 
This past weekend, Hooker jump-started the Tennessee offense early, connecting on a 55-yard touchdown pass just 1:27 into the game as the Vols rolled to an impressive 44-6 SEC victory over No. 19 Kentucky. He finished the game completing 19-of-25 passes for 245 yards and three TDs while also running for a score as Tennessee improved to a perfect 8-0 and earned the No. 1 slot in the first College Football Playoff Rankings of 2022.
 
In the win, Hooker extended his school record and active nation-leading streak of consecutive games throwing a touchdown pass to 20. It was also his school-record 11th consecutive game throwing multiple touchdown passes. It was the eighth time in his UT career that he has rushed and passed for a touchdown in the same game. Hooker elevated his Total QBR to 91.3, which currently ranks second in the nation. He has thrown for 21 touchdowns, run for four and has just one interception through eight games.
 
"I think with Hendon, his numbers are speaking for themselves right now," quarterback's coach Joey Halzle said. "He's been in a lot of big games this year, and it doesn't look like any big game has been too big for him. You haven't seen him shy away from the moment. You've seen him step up, and every time we've gone against a ranked team at home or on the road, he's stepped up and had one of his best performances of the year."
 
Tennessee returns to action on Saturday when they travel to Athens, Ga., for a massive showdown against SEC East rival Georgia (2:30 p.m., CBS). While the Vols are No. 1 in the CFP Rankings and Georgia is No. 3, the Bulldogs are No. 1 in the AP Poll and Tennessee is No. 2.
 
Hooker's closest competition in this week's Facebook voting contest came from Kansas State's Will Howard and Jordan Tarvis from Florida State. Howard, who was making his first start of the season, completed 21-of-37 passes for 296 yards while matching the school-record with four touchdown passes. The Wildcats piled up 495 yards of offense in a dominant 48-0 Big 12 win over No. 9 Oklahoma State. Travis was 24-of-38 for a career-high 396 yards while matching his career-best in TD passes with three as the Seminoles rolled to a 41-16 ACC victory over Georgia Tech.
 
While the Manning Award selected 30 quarterbacks for its preseason Watch List and then made 12 midseason additions in October, all quarterbacks remain eligible for the honor. Ten finalists will be selected and the winner is scheduled to be announced following the College Football Playoff National Championship.

In its first 18 years, the Manning Award has recognized the top names in college football. It has honored quarterbacks from 13 different schools and from four different conferences. The Southeastern Conference (Bryce Young, Joe Burrow, Mac Jones, Johnny Manziel, Cam Newton, JaMarcus Russell and Tim Tebow) leads the way with seven Manning Award honorees, while the Big 12 Conference (Kyler Murray, Baker Mayfield, Vince Young, Colt McCoy and Robert Griffin III) has had five winners. The Atlantic Coast Conference (Deshaun Watson twice, Matt Ryan and Jameis Winston) has had four Manning Award winners. Alabama (B. Young and Jones) joins LSU (Burrow and Russell), Oklahoma (Murray and Mayfield) and Texas (McCoy and V. Young) as the only schools with two different winners.

All the Manning Award winners follow in the footsteps of the Mannings themselves. In college, Archie, Peyton and Eli Manning combined for over 25,000 passing yards and 201 touchdowns while playing in 10 bowl games and earning four bowl MVP awards. Archie was the No. 2 pick in the NFL Draft, while both Peyton and Eli were selected No. 1 overall.