One of Tennessee football’s fan favorite players this year may be headed just a couple of hours west to get his professional career underway. According to the latest ESPN NFL mock draft, Colton Hood is slotted as the No. 28 pick in the draft, which would send him to the Tennessee Titans in a projected trade for the pick.
This would make Hood the second Vol off the board with Jermod McCoy also going to the Miami Dolphins at pick No. 11 in the mock draft.
Hood has stepped into a starting role for Tennessee with McCoy out with an ACL injury and Rickey Gibson III missing nearly the entire year with an upper-body blow. In this time, he’s proven to be one of the best defensive backs in the conference, locking up some of the toughest assignments in the country on a weekly basis.
“The Titans’ second pick from our projected trade nets them one of the nation’s most balanced coverage players,” Matt Miller of ESPN wrote. “Hood is well-traveled, as Tennessee is his third school, but he’s producing Round 1 tape with the Vols. The 6-foot, 190-pounder has one interception and 11 passes defensed this season while allowing only 5.3 yards per attempt when targeted. With the Titans addressing receiver earlier, Hood would bolster a pass defense that has allowed completions on 70.6% of pass attempts, the second worst in the NFL.”
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McCoy’s stock remains high despite not playing a snap this season. With two games left in the regular season and a spot in the playoffs all but officially off the table, it remains to be seen if he’ll be healthy enough to give it a go at all this year.
However, his play as a sophomore in 2024 was good enough to get him a high draft grade. If he were eligible to declare then, many thought he would’ve been one of the first defenders off the board. Despite his ACL injury, he’s still looked at in this light.
“Before the 2025 season even started, the Dolphins lost their entire starting secondary from 2024 due to free agency, trades and injuries,” Miller of ESPN wrote. “And while some of the new additions have been positive, this defense could still use a true No. 1 outside cornerback. McCoy hasn’t played yet in 2025 after suffering an ACL tear in January but put enough great tape out in 2024 that scouts still consider him the top corner in the class. And while the Dolphins could consider a quarterback here, there isn’t one on the board that would be a serious threat to push Tua Tagovailoa in 2026.”
Next, Tennessee heads to Florida on Saturday in an attempt to win on the road in Gainesville for the first time since 2003. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. ET and will air on ABC. Then, UT returns home to host Vanderbilt the following Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET on either ABC or ESPN.
