As more and more college football players opt to do less during the NFL Draft process, Colton Hood is doing more and maximizing what is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The Tennessee cornerback could have rested on his impressive showing during his NFL Scouting Combine workout a month ago and had a lighter day at Tennessee’s Pro Day on Tuesday, but Hood instead used the stage to try to get better. Not only is that how Hood is wired, but there’s also an element of wanting to pay back the Vols for what his one season with their program meant to him.
This time a year ago, Hood was a Colorado player coming off a productive season with the Buffaloes as a backup to two-way Heisman Trophy winner (and eventual 2025 No. 2 overall pick) Travis Hunter. But he entered the transfer portal in late April and a week later committed to Tennessee. It was a return to the SEC after the Atlanta-area native played his freshman season at Auburn in 2023.
The Vols brought Hood in as cover for injured All-SEC cornerback Jermod McCoy, who tore his ACL during a January workout and wound up missing the entire 2025 season. Hood stepped in and stepped up, earning All-SEC honors of his own and shooting up NFL Draft boards. The nearly 6-foot, 193-pound defensive back racked up 50 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and eight pass breakups and scored two defensive touchdowns.
His success despite Tennessee’s overall struggles on defense have him potentially on the verge of being a first-round draft pick.
“It’s meant a lot,” Hood said after his Pro Day workout. “Like, I mean, I don’t think people understand how much Rocky Top means to me. It’s just like, just the love from the fans, just everything just in totality, all the people – just a great place, an amazing place.
“And I’ll say, like to any recruit out there, like you give your all for Rocky Top, they’re going to love you back. So definitely just overwhelmed with emotions and how this place helped me, and how I want to help this place.”
There’s an alternate universe where Hood joins forces with Tennessee’s 2024 starting cornerback tandem of McCoy and Rickey Gibson III and plays the Star position for the Vols, and their defense doesn’t skip a beat from its College Football Playoff season. But in reality McCoy’s offseason knee injury and Gibson’s upper-body injury in the first half of the season opener curtailed those visions. Though Hood blossomed, the Vols got 19 combined snaps from McCoy and Gibson, and now Hood and McCoy are off to the NFL and Gibson transferred to Texas A&M this offseason.
Hood, the No. 25 overall player in NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah’s latest prospect rankings, was a Jim Thorpe Award semifinalist and All-SEC second- (Associated Press) and third-team (coaches) selection as a redshirt sophomore in 2025. His debut against Syracuse saw him break up three passes with tight man-to-man coverage and scoop up a fumble and return it for a touchdown. He later returned his lone interception of the season for a touchdown at Mississippi State.
“I would say just the love, just the love shown to me from just everybody – all the coaches, all the fans, just all the people around,” Hood said. “I would say I’ve never been welcomed in somewhere (like this). Even my teammates, they welcomed me in as soon as I got here, you know what I'm saying, and never looked at me as a threat.
“They always looked at me as a brother, so just definitely that, just the love, you know what I’m saying, that’s it.”
Per Pro Football Focus, his 83.3 coverage grade ranked second in the SEC and 18th nationally among cornerbacks with at least 300 coverage snaps, and he allowed just one touchdown on 451 coverage snaps during the regular season.
“We appreciate Colton being a part of this team and this program, too,” Vols coach Josh Heupel said. “(He’s) an athlete that does it the right way. Coming in in May, learning what we’re doing, learning what it means to be at all on a day-to-day basis and also how he impacted the guys around him.
“He’s smart, tough, relentless competitor that cares about the people around him. You look at his performance today, at the Combine, he’s setting himself up to have a great career.”
Hood ran a 4.44-second 40 time at the Combine, but ran two 40s on Tuesday trying to better it. He was aiming for a sub-4.4 time, but said he was told he ran a 4.41. It might be close enough to lock up his first-round status for NFL teams, who might even be more appreciative of his mere willingness to compete.
“I think I did a good job,” Hood said. “I cut my 40 down some, but I definitely was expecting a little bit faster. I didn’t do right with my start, but that’s how it goes, you know what I'm saying?
“I did a good job, though, just getting better. That was just my thing, coming out here, competing and getting better.”
Hood, who only turned 21 in February, already has been on multiple 30 visits – the NFL’s version of college football recruiting’s official visits – said he has more coming as he lives out a process he grew up pondering.
“It’s just been a dream, something you dream about as a little kid,” Hood said. “I would have never – not never imagined, because I kind of had a feeling that this was always going to be my plight – but it’s just so surreal, just being in it right now. just being able to live out my dream. That little kid that was in his room, looking at the ceiling, just thinking about what it could be – just being here now, definitely it’s surreal.”
The 2026 NFL Draft is April 23-25 in Pittsburgh.