Hooker was drafted by the Lions in the third round of the NFL draft. Hooker attended James B. Under his leadership, Dudley won two state championships, with Hooker awarded the championship MVP with 6 touchdowns. While playing football, he also played basketball for the high school scoring over 1, points and named a three-time All-Metro conference selection. Coming out of high school, Hooker received numerous Power 5 offers. Hooker was named the starter in after their current quarterback Ryan Willis threw seven interceptions in four games.
In the season, Hooker appeared in eight of the Hokies' 11 games. On October 17, against Boston College , he passed for yards and a touchdown to go along with 18 carries for rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns in the 40—14 victory.
During his career with Virginia Tech, he started 15 of 25 games, completing of passes for 2, yards, 22 touchdowns and seven interceptions. In , Hooker transferred to the University of Tennessee. Hooker returned to the Volunteers in for his final collegiate season.
He threw the go-ahead touchdown pass in overtime to Cedric Tillman. Tennessee reached 2 in the AP Poll, their highest ranking since Tennessee's 11 wins, of which Hooker was the starting quarterback for nine of them, were the most for the program since and tied for the second-most in school history.
Hooker was born in Greensboro, North Carolina , on January 13, Hooker is a Christian , stating it was a "blessing" to have parents who got him and his siblings to be active in church at an early age. Hooker has credited his parents for his work ethic. With his knowledge of the Bible and a desire to influence the younger generation and his younger cousin Landon, Hooker and his brother, Alston, created a children's book called The ABCs of Scripture for Athletes.
