Virginia Tech Quarterback Hendon Hooker enters the transfer portal

Chris Hirons

December 17, 2020

BLACKSBURG, Va. — Six former highly-recruited quarterbacks have departed from Virginia Tech since Justin Fuente took over the program from Frank Beamer five seasons ago.

Hendon Hooker became the most recent quarterback to leave the Hokies’ locker room following his announcement Thursday afternoon.

First, Dwyane Lawson in 2016; next, it was Jerod Evans in 2017; then A.J. Bush and Josh Jackson in 2018 and 2019, respectively; more recently, Quincy Patterson a few weeks ago; and now Hooker.

“2020 had its ups and downs, but I am grateful for God’s grace,” Hooker wrote in a Tweet. “I am forever thankful to Virginia Tech for helping me become the man I am today. Thank you Coach Fuente and Coach Cornelsen for giving me the opportunity to play the game that I love and to be a thread in the fabric of Hokie nation.

“Also, a special thanks to the staff and trainers for believing in me. Thank you to all the fans that have supported me throughout the years. Upon December graduation, I have decided to enter the transfer portal. This is one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make. Being a Hokie has been an unforgettable experience. To all my brothers, I love you like blood. Captain Hook signing out. Once a Hokie, always a Hokie.”

He and fellow quarterback Braxton Burmiester will be redshirt seniors in 2021. After Burmiester reclaimed the starting role to close out the season against Clemson and UVa, Hooker became the odd man out in the position room.

“I told them both there could have been a lot of drama every single week in the quarterback room and could have taken a lot of time and energy from me and the head coach on dealing with that. And there wasn’t. There wasn’t at all,” offensive coordinator Brad Cornelsen said on Wednesday. “That’s the first thing that we talked about before they left this week. I wanted to make sure they understood I appreciated that part of it because it doesn’t always happen that way. But they both handled it the right way and we sure appreciate that.”

Hooker opened the season on the bench against NC State after non-covid related health scare and sat behind Braxton Burmiester in Tech’s second game of the season against Duke. Despite being healthy, Hooker didn’t make an appearance, even after Burmiester struggled and only completed nine of his 21 passes.

Fuente continued to roll with Burmiester for the first half of the following week against North Carolina until Tech trailed by 21 points heading into halftime. The Hokies’ head coach then turned to Hooker, who, to his credit, nearly brought the team all the way back to within five points late in the third quarter until VT fell at the hands of UNC in a shootout, 56-45.

From that point, the team leaned on the two-headed rushing attack of Hooker and Khalil Herbert to win two of the next four games to give the Hokies a 4-2 record. Then, Tech lost its next four games, including two close losses to Liberty and Miami. Two blowout losses ensued against Pitt and Clemson and Hooker was benched after fumbling a snap that knocked the Hokies out of field goal range on Tech’s first drive against the Tigers.

Earlier this week, Fuente and Virginia Tech Director of Athletics Whit Babcock spoke at length about the transfer portal and how they view players going in and out of the portal.

“I can imagine two separate divisions in your recruiting office,” Fuente said on Wednesday. “It’s like the NFL with free agency and college evaluation. For us, it’s the transfer portal and high school evaluation. I could totally see that being a philosophy.”

“…In the context of college football, [recruiting] is changing rapidly,” Babcock said on Tuesday. “There will be a whole lot of movement, so you need to recruit very well, but also recruit guys that want to stay and compete for that school. We don’t just want hired guns. It is a new era of recruiting.”

Virginia Tech convinced Hooker to stay in Blacksburg after he announced his intentions to transfer following the 2018 season. In February 2019, Hooker took his name out of the portal and eventually won the starting job midway through the 2019 season.

Following the embarrassing 45-10 loss to Duke, Fuente benched former starting quarterback Ryan Willis and inserted redshirt sophomore Hooker under center after he relieved Willis against the Blue Devils.

Hooker became everything the free-falling Hokies needed: An offensive spark plug.

The former four-star recruit was given the keys to Virginia Tech’s offense in 2019 and never handed them back. In eight starts, Hooker led the Hokies to a 6-2 record, including winning his first six starts, with both his arm and legs. The Greensboro, N.C. native accounted for 1,555 yards through the air and added 13 touchdowns, while completing 61.1% percent of his passes and throwing only two interceptions.

In 2020, Hooker regressed throwing the football but made strides when using his legs. His passing yards took a dip, down to 1,339 yards and nine touchdowns. He also turned the ball over more, throwing five interceptions. His completion rate improved, however, increasing by 4.2% to 56.3%.

Running the ball, Hooker picked up 620 yards, amounting to 5.2 yards per carry, and nine touchdowns.

Redshirt sophomore Knox Kadum, incoming 2021 three-star recruit Tahj Bullock (N.J.) and Burmiester are the only three scholarship quarterbacks that remain on the roster.

Offensive linemen Doug Nester and Bryan Hudson also announced their intentions to transfer this week. Fuente confirmed that wide receivers Darryle Simmons and Elijah Bowick would transfer on the same day he announced Patterson's intention to leave the program. Add Hooker, and that’s six players from this season’s roster that will be playing elsewhere next season.