Hooker’s potential makes him virtual lock to be top-10 pick
It turns out, while Malik Hooker was flying around the field and making all those interceptions last season, including three he returned for touchdowns to set an Ohio State record, he might as well have been stacking chips at a poker table.
That’s because, if the majority of the 2017 NFL draft projections are close, he appears to be a lock to go in the first 10 picks when the first round unfolds Thursday night in Philadelphia. Either he or cornerback Marshon Lattimore will be the first Ohio State player taken, with teammate and cornerback Gareon Conley projected to go in the top 25, too.
“I don’t really have one,” Hooker said when asked for a dream team. “I’m just grateful to be in this position, to play in the NFL and to be even talked about as a top-10 pick. … I had a dream of being an NFL player always. Just to be on this stage, it’s a blessing.”
What makes his situation more interesting is that he has not been able to work out for a team the past three months because of surgery to repair the labrum in his hip. He was hurt late in the regular season but played through it in the Fiesta Bowl, a loss to Clemson that served as a College Football Playoff semifinal.
His draft status was built on his highlightstrewn antics on the field as a third-year sophomore, his first season as a starter. The injury is simply an example of the career jeopardy a football player faces if he opts not to leave early for the NFL, especially when his name is hot.
That was the message from the man Hooker refers to as his father figure and “uncle,” John Cox, a cousin of his mother. They sat down after the Clemson game and discussed whether Hooker should apply for the draft.
Cox has overseen Hooker’s rise from a youngster in New Castle, Pennsylvania, and persuaded a basketball-bent Hooker to give football another shot during his junior year of high school because he thought it was Hooker’s true calling.
“I put it like this: This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance because his season was great, and I said, ‘You’re really banking on the idea of having to go out there and duplicate that season or even do better, or you may lose your stock,’ ” Cox said. “If you’re going in the first round, it’s really hard to say, ‘OK, but if I stay I’ll go first pick next year instead of seven.’ ”
Hooker decided to ride the wave. If the draft order stays the same, some see him going as high as third to the Chicago Bears, which ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. projected in a recent mock draft. ESPN’s Todd McShay forecast him No. 5 to the Tennessee Titans. Cox said the Los Angeles Chargers seem extremely interested at No. 6.
Ohio State defensive coordinator Greg Schiano, former coach of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, understands why, referring to Hooker’s “rare skill set,” the likes of which he has seen only in former perennial Pro Bowl safety Ed Reed.
“That’s pretty rare company,” Schiano said. “The other thing is he has tremendous upside. I know he’s coming off an injury, but I think it’s a manageable situation. … He has only started 13 games. Here’s a guy who hasn’t even played football that long in the grand scheme of things.
“So what do you have? You have a guy whose body is relatively fresh, and a guy that I think did some incredible things but has a lot more to get better at. So, yeah, it’s an exciting pick for an NFL team, for sure.”