On Wednesday, Tennessee football star cornerback Colton Hood made it official. He will be forgoing his remaining college eligibility to enter the 2026 NFL Draft after a standout season with the Vols.
That begs the question: How high will Hood go in the upcoming draft? According to a recent mock draft from PFF, he could be a first-round selection. They have him going to the Carolina Panthers with the 19th overall pick.
“The ideal player fit here is Ohio State’s Sonny Styles at linebacker, but with him off the board to the Buccaneers just a couple of picks earlier, the Panthers opt for positional value and go cornerback,” PFF wrote. “Hood is enjoying his best college season, earning PFF coverage grades above 70.0 in both man and zone coverage.”
The other Tennessee player mocked as a first-round pick by PFF is fellow cornerback Jermod McCoy. He is slotted to the Minnesota Vikings at No. 15 overall.
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McCoy was expected to be a returning star for the Vols, but tore his ACL in the winter and was never able to return to the field. This is part of the reason UT went into the transfer portal to bring in a player to help fill the gap he’d leave. Hood joined in the spring window and wasted no time making an impact.
Hood finished the year with 50 tackles, eight passes deflected, a forced fumble, an interception and two touchdowns. He was named to the 2025 All-SEC Second Team by the AP for his year.
Before Hood’s lone season with Tennessee, he played alongside Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter in the secondary for Deion Sanders at Colorado. That year, he produced 24 tackles and two interceptions. In his first year of college football, Hood played at Auburn under Hugh Freeze. He recorded just three tackles that year while earning a redshirt in four games played.
Hood was a four-star recruit out of high school. On3 ranked him as the No. 20 cornerback prospect in the class. He is from McDonough, Georgia.
